Özgür Özel on 'minimum wage': They didn't give a raise, they gave a cut!

As discussions regarding the minimum wage increase continue, Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel said, “The purchasing power of the 17,002 lira minimum wage set 11 months ago has eroded by 7,000 lira today, falling below 10,000 lira. Two nights ago, they gave a 5,000 lira raise to the minimum wage. In other words, while giving a 5,000 lira raise to a minimum wage that has lost 7,000 lira in value, they have perhaps for the first time in the history of the Republic given not a raise, but a cut to the minimum wage.”

CHP leader Özgür Özel, who attended the 'Turkish Foresters Association 100th Year Symposium' organized by the Turkish Foresters Association, had the minimum wage on his agenda. In his speech there, Özel stated that 57 out of every 100 workers in Turkey earn the minimum wage and that 87 percent of wage earners are directly affected by the minimum wage.

EMPHASIS ON PURCHASING POWER

Stating that salaries at or slightly above the minimum wage account for 87 percent of all wages and that the rate of increase in the minimum wage determines the rate of increase for other salaries as well, Özel made the following assessment:

“The purchasing power of the 17,002 lira minimum wage set 11 months ago has eroded by 7,000 lira today, falling below 10,000 lira. Two nights ago, they gave a 5,000 lira raise to the minimum wage. In other words, while giving a 5,000 lira raise to a minimum wage that has lost 7,000 lira in value, they have perhaps for the first time in the history of the Republic given not a raise, but a cut to the minimum wage. The point where the minimum wage received a 30 percent raise actually stems from such an ugly perspective. They say, if we raise the minimum wage, inflation will increase. The Central Bank has studied this. When you raise the minimum wage by 1 percent, inflation increases by 0.07 percent. In other words, the minimum wage increase is almost non-existent among the factors that increase inflation.”

THE BIGGEST DECEPTION WE SEE WITH OUR OWN EYES AND HEAR WITH OUR OWN EARS

Criticizing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regarding the minimum wage, Özel said, “Before Tayyip Bey came to power, you could buy 7 quarter gold coins. Today, you can buy 3 quarter gold coins; 4 quarter gold coins are lost. We are expressing all the examples of how it has been crushed by inflation, crushed by gold, crushed by simit, and crushed by bread with all clarity. But this time, even according to the figures of TUIK, the statistical institute that does not upset Tayyip Erdoğan, inflation is 48 percent. They gave a 30 percent raise, but unfortunately, he came out and said again, 'I did not let them be crushed by inflation.' This is the biggest deception we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears.”

Emphasizing that the share of national income received by wage earners in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries is between 50 and 55 percent, Özel stated, “We are also among the OECD countries. We are in the worst position after Mexico. In European countries, the share received by wage earners is between 60 and 70 percent. In Turkey, this rate is only 25 percent. There is no such country on earth.”

News Source: 12punto