Minimum wage statement from unions that completed political party tours: 'It has become a general wage'

TÜRK-İŞ President Ergün Atalay, DİSK President Arzu Çerkezoğlu, and HAK-İŞ President Mahmut Arslan completed their political party tours today, which they began yesterday at the TBMM with the demand for 'justice in taxation'.

The presidents of the three confederations issued a joint statement after meeting with the group deputy chairmen of the political parties, the Chairman of the Planning and Budget Committee Mehmet Muş, and the Chairman of the Health, Family, Labor and Social Affairs Committee Vedat Bilgin.

TÜRK-İŞ President Ergün Atalay stated the following:

We are facing an economic hardship that we have not seen in the last quarter-century. We have been pursuing our demands for 130 days in various provinces of the country through strikes, rallies, and work stoppages.

Exactly one month ago, we held a large rally in Ankara's Tandoğan Square with 150 thousand participants. What was the issue? In this harsh winter weather, no political party or anyone else could gather 150 thousand people here before.

One of our main problems regarding taxes is that the salary we receive in January is not the same as what we receive in December. In the past, we would start at 15 percent and only reach 27 percent in December.

We work for 12 months, and workers give two months of their earnings to taxes. There is no acceptable side to this. In the past, the tax bracket was 17 times the minimum wage. Now, when you look at it, it is five times. Even if it returns to the old regulation, we will have solved at least a part of the problem.

SUBCONTRACTORS, INTERNSHIP VICTIMS, RETIREES...

The expectation of the workers in the country from us is this. The Minister had given a promise regarding subcontractors during his term. Then the earthquake happened. Subcontractors have expectations. Internship victims have expectations from us. The salary received by retirees is obvious.

They have expectations from us. Right now, as we are holding this press conference here today, 500 mine workers in Çayırhan locked themselves in the mine this morning. Such a privatization is being carried out in Çayırhan, Nallıhan, and Beypazarı that there are no workers left, no families left. Sports facilities and lodgings are being sold.

I have met with all the authorities regarding this to date, and after meeting with the authorized unions, we have not received a positive response so far. There is a tender on December 4th. Our friends locked themselves in there this morning.

Our friends will not come out until they get a positive result. The mine workers have expectations.

Public workers were pioneers in wages in the past. It has reached such a point that due to this inflation, public workers have fallen to the level of the minimum wage. Public workers are currently receiving salaries around 30-35 thousand liras.

Technical personnel working in the defense industry, energy, and transportation. As if this were not enough, they introduced a retirement system. If you do not retire by January 14, you have a 35 percent loss.

According to one figure, these people are around 150 thousand, and according to another, around 200 thousand. These friends of ours are in their 40s. We explained this to everyone who governs the country. But they have not given a positive response to this so far.

This country has an economic policy but no social policy. Therefore, there is a need for social policy in this country.

MINIMUM WAGE STATEMENT

The minimum wage is currently on the agenda. Minimum wage negotiations have been going on for 40 years. It has been signed four times to date. It has not been signed 36 times. For two terms, the entire Minimum Wage Determination Commission has been composed of workers. Last term, they came to us and said, ‘Let it be 18 thousand liras, and let it be twice a year’.

We also put it before those who govern the country. We said, ‘Let it be 18 thousand liras. Let it be twice a year.’ No positive work has been done to date. At the rally, we gave our word to the minimum wage earners, subcontractors, and retirees.

The minimum wage has reached such a point that international organizations, capital institutions, and many people, institutions, amounts, and increase rates are being announced, primarily by the IMF. A perception operation is being carried out here. The necessity of a low minimum wage is being defended to fight inflation. Instead of announcing a figure, the principle that should be taken as a basis during the determination is this.

A minimum wage should be determined at a level that will allow a worker to live humanely with their family according to the economic and social conditions of the day and that will be compatible with human dignity. We defend this. Unions other than us also defend this.

While economic policy continues, you cannot ignore social policy. Do not ignore us. We, the workers in this country, are currently in difficulty. We cannot make ends meet. We have a problem with making ends meet. The same problem exists for retirees.

ÇERKEZOĞLU: THERE IS A GREAT INJUSTICE

Workers and laborers, those who live on wages, retirees, women, and young people in Turkey are facing a very serious struggle to make ends meet. We are experiencing a process where our purchasing power is decreasing more and more every day in the face of high inflation and unemployment. This impoverishment that we all experience,

It is not happening because Turkey is becoming impoverished. The fundamental issue in Turkey is a matter of distribution. We all work, we produce, but there is a great injustice in the sharing and distribution of the value we produce.

We live in a country where we should not be talking about any of these things we are experiencing. In such an extraordinary geography, in a country where our underground and above-ground resources are extremely rich, and where the total value we all produce by working is more than enough to allow 85 million people to live humanely, we are experiencing this today due to the policies of the government that manages the country, even though we should not be talking about all of this.

This unemployment, poverty, and cost of living we are experiencing do not arise spontaneously or due to simple incompetence, but as a result of the preferences of the political power that governs the country. The fundamental issue is the matter of distribution. That is why we say ‘justice in income’.

The share that labor and employees receive from the total national income has fallen to 25 percent. We are experiencing the lowest levels in the history of the republic. This was done by suppressing wages and turning all of Turkey into a minimum wage country.

"THE MAIN ISSUE IS NOT BY WHAT PERCENTAGE THE MINIMUM WAGE WILL INCREASE"

The determination of the minimum wage, which has become an average wage today, is the biggest collective bargaining process. Therefore, the process of determining the minimum wage must be democratized and be a real collective bargaining. It should be a real collective bargaining where we have the right to strike in case of a dispute.

Turkey must be saved from being a minimum wage country. The way to do this is to remove the obstacles in front of unionization and the exercise of union rights.

In a country, the fewer the number of unionized workers and the more limited the scope of collective bargaining, the more the rate of those working for the minimum wage increases in that country. Our main issue is not what the minimum wage will be or by what percentage it will increase, but purchasing power.

The view that the minimum wage and all wages are the cause of this high inflation must be abandoned. The effect of wages on inflation is extremely limited. As we go towards the determination of the minimum wage, we see that wages are seen as the cause of this high inflation.

There is talk of lowering inflation by suppressing wages. The minimum wage was not revised or increased in the middle of 2024. Did inflation fall? No. On the contrary, the government had to increase its year-end inflation expectation by 8 points.

When determining the minimum wage, it must be a wage that the worker can live on with their family, the loss against real inflation must be compensated, and the minimum wage must receive its share from growth and the increase in national income.

This country is growing, we all express this. But the workers and laborers who create this growth cannot get their share from this growth and the increase in national income. Because of these policies, this must first change.

"THE FIRST TAX BRACKET RATE SHOULD BE FIXED AT 10 PERCENT"

We live with the most unjust tax system in the world in Turkey. Article 73 of the Constitution is very clear. Our constitution says, ‘Everyone must pay taxes according to their income.’ But today in Turkey, the entire tax burden is on the worker, the laborer, and the people. A fair tax system.

In other words, for a fair tax system where those who earn less pay less and those who earn more pay more, indirect taxes should be reduced, and at the same time, the first tax rate in income tax, that is, the tax we all pay in advance before we even receive our wages, should be fixed at 10 percent.

When we calculate from the year 2000, if tax brackets had increased by the revaluation rate, the first tax bracket, which is 110 thousand liras today, would have been 288 thousand liras. While determining the tax brackets for 2025, they should increase by at least the revaluation rate, with retroactive losses also being compensated.

The first tax bracket rate should be fixed at 10 percent. Since the application of exempting the minimum wage from tax, which we achieved with great struggles, has problems, and because it is a deduction from tax instead of a deduction from the tax base, the minimum wage tax exemption is not applied in favor of the worker. This must be changed.

We all work. We all produce. And we work extremely efficiently. There is also a source for all these regulations to be made. As long as the preferences change.

The total value we all produce by working is more than enough for the 85 million people of this country, its workers, laborers, the unemployed, women, young people, and our children to live humanely.

As long as these preferences change. Without making a distinction between government and opposition, we expect all political parties to pass the regulations on this issue, especially the tax justice law, unanimously in the TBMM.

HAK-İŞ PRESIDENT ARSLAN: THE STATE TAXES WHAT IT CAN CATCH

We held our meetings on three main issues. First, we are truly facing an unjust tax system in Turkey. No matter how you look at it, there is a regression that cannot be compared with the past. Turkey is developing and growing. Turkey is taking important steps in every field.

But it is obvious that we have gone backward in terms of taxes. We are at a stage that further expands both the tax brackets and the difficulties we have encountered regarding taxes to date.

Both regarding rates and unfortunately, if we want to talk about a rate in Turkey, 66 percent of taxes in Turkey are indirect taxes, 34 percent are direct taxes, and 2 percent are taxes on wealth.

Unfortunately, taxes still cannot be collected from finance. Taxes on deposits are still very low. For the first time, some taxes have started to be collected regarding public-private partnerships. But none of these are sufficient.

The state taxes what it can catch. Most of all, our workers and wage earners pay serious taxes in this regard. We are talking about a labor segment that pays much more tax than those who are self-employed. Therefore, regarding taxes, we want tax rates and tax brackets to be re-evaluated accordingly, taking into account the revaluation rate at least when we reach January.

Second; every pension system we objected to in the past, both the salary calculation system and our social security system, needs to be put back on the table with a holistic approach.

There is a fact that a worker who will retire in 2024 will have their salary drop by 35 percent if they remain in 2025, which is unacceptable. We are making a call here to both our Minister of Finance, our government, and the parliament. A solution must be found immediately for this distortion and this injustice.

EMPHASIS ON RETIREES

Turkey does not deserve the discussions regarding the minimum wage. It should be underlined not how much the minimum wage will be in the Minimum Wage Determination Commission, but what kind of commission it should be.

The structure of the Minimum Wage Determination Commission should change. The minimum wage in our country has become a general wage. If we do not make a regulation regarding retirement by January, we will pave the way for a great grievance.

Regarding taxes, if we cannot at least update our tax rates and our new tax system in the new year according to the revaluation rate, a really difficult process awaits us. We will continue our joint work.

News Source: 12punto