The Minimum Wage Commission meeting has ended for now. All parties have agreed to reconvene and conclude discussions on Tuesday afternoon, Yeniduzen reports.
Speaking to Yeniduzen, participants underscored that the forthcoming minimum wage would surpass the inflation rate of the past four months, standing at 22.98%. Additionally, a consensus was reached for the new wage to be backdated from May 1st.
Prior to the session, Labour Minister Sadık Gardiyanoğlu highlighted the legal groundwork laid for adjusting the minimum wage every four months. Reminding all present of the approximate 20% increase in the cost of living, Gardiyanoğlu expressed anticipation for agreement as in prior meetings.
Following Gardiyanoğlu’s remarks, the employers’ representative voiced a need for concrete figures and confessed uncertainty regarding the meeting’s immediate outcome. Conversely, the workers’ representative clarified the focus on discussing the welfare share rather than the cost of living, emphasising the significance of unionisation in the private sector.
Addressing the assembly, employer representative Ahmet Serdaroğlu drew attention to a recent surge in the bread line, rising by 2,000 TL in ten days, while also lamenting the oversight of poverty line discussions.
Serdaroğlu disclosed calculations indicating the poverty line at 58,986 TL and asserted there was no necessity to delve into the cost of living or prolong proceedings, insisting on rectifying the 8% income loss experienced by minimum wage earners. Serdaroğlu noted this loss from one and a half years ago when the minimum wage was set 8% below the cost of living, a discrepancy that persisted.
According to data released by the Statistical Institute, the inflation rate for the previous six months stood at 22.98%.
