How much will the pension be? Demand for a flat-rate raise has arrived
Following the determination of the minimum wage, eyes have turned to the raise rates for civil servants and retirees. Retirees, who have been left to survive on poverty-level wages and are struggling to make ends meet, have issued a demand for a flat-rate raise.
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At the general assembly meeting held at the Social Security Institution (SGK), a demand for a flat-rate raise was issued by retirees to the government.
According to the report by Erdoğan Süzer from Sözcü, Satılmış Çalışkan, President of the All Retirees Association, requested that a flat-rate raise of 10,000 TL be added to the average base pension of 8,000 TL, along with an increase at the rate of basic food inflation.
Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan did not attend the meeting, which was joined by representatives from various sectors. Işıkhan sent his deputies in his place.
Satılmış Çalışkan, President of the All Retirees Association, who was present at the meeting, stated that the lowest pension should be increased to 22,500 TL.
President Çalışkan emphasized that the raise rates applied do not even reach the hunger threshold, and stressed that the government must increase its economic support for retirees. Furthermore, Çalışkan expressed that, as a requirement of the social state principle, the government must find the necessary resources for retirees. He suggested that rents obtained from lands belonging to the SGK could also be used to increase pension payments.