Minimum wage meetings to start

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Minimum wage meetings will be held throughout December at the Minimum Wage Determination Commission where the most representative trade union confederation of workers (Türk-İş), the confederation of employers' unions (TİSK) and the government are each represented with five representatives.

The meeting schedule of the commission is going to be announced today (December 1).

With Türkiye's official inflation rate surpassing 85 percent last month, for a family of four, the starvation line is estimated at 7,786 lira (403 Euro), and the poverty line is 25,365 lira (1,313 Euro) per month, as announced by Türk-İş confederation.

And a single's 'cost of living' is assessed at 10.171 lira (526 Euro) per month.

As of today, the minimum wage in Türkiye stands at 5,500 lira (280 Euro), meaning a single person working for the minimum wage must find another 4,671 lira (238 Euro) to make a living.

Again it means that the income of a family of four does not reach even half the poverty line for the family, where there are two adults receiving the minimum wage.

Meeting schedule will be announced today

Minister of Labor and Social Security, Vedat Bilgin will today meet with Türk-İş President Ergün Atalay and TİSK President Özgür Burak Akkol today (December 1) in Ankara in order to determine the meeting schedule of the Minimum Wage Commission.

Announcing this meeting yesterday, Bilgin told the journalists that he will also be meeting with Mahmut Arslan, HAK-İŞ President and also with Arzu Çerkezoğlu, DİSK President on the issues related to labor relations, and most significantly the minimum wage. Hak-İş and DİSK are two other trade union confederations but are not represented in the commission.

Bilgin also said "We will not let workers be crushed by inflation," "we made a 94 percent increase last year but the devastation caused by inflation is continuing. We will make an arrangement taking this into consideration."

Different figures suggested for minimum wage

The parties are already announcing the monthly minimum wage they will be arguing for in the talks.

Türk-İş is arguing that a single employee who does not have any children can only subsist the cost of living as of today on 10,171 lira (518 Euro) a month.

DİSK argues that the minimum wage should be at least 13,000 lira (663 Euro) on the grounds that the poverty level is 26,213 lira for a family of four.

The tendency on the employer's side is that the minimum wage should be set between 8,000 - 8,500 lira (408-433 Euro). (AEK/PE)