'Figures are a lie, poverty is real': Union members protest TurkStat after inflation announcement
Photo: AA
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The Confederation of Public Employees' Trade Unions (KESK) held a demonstration in front of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) after the announcement of the inflation rate today (January 3).
The KESK members displayed a banner that read "Figures are a lie, poverty is real," accusing the TurkStat of being an "instrument" of low wage policies.
The TurkStat, whose figures are widely disputed, announced the annual inflation rate as 36.08 percent whereas the Inflation Research Group (ENAG), an independent group of economists, stated the inflation rate was over 82 percent.
"The increase in basic foodstuffs in the last month alone has exceeded 25 percent. The increase in the last year has reached 80 percent," said Osman Özyurt, the spokesperson of the KESK branches in Ankara. "In the last year, electricity prices increased by 155 percent and natural gas prices increased by 43 percent."
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"Both the starvation and poverty lines for a family of four have increased by 55 percent in the last year. The starvation has exceeded 4,000 lira and the poverty line has exceeded 13,000 TL.
"The minimum wage increase, which is boasted about all the time, fell below the monthly cost of living in less than 20 days.
"While the lowest civil servant salary of 3,932 lira was worth 533 lira at the start of 2021 ... it decreased to 313 dollars today. As all employees, public employees have become poorer in this period.
"Therefore, under these circumstances, six million public workers and retirees cannot be expected to be content with the salary increases in collective agreements, which have already become obsolete with the inflation difference derived from fake data."
Salary increase
The increase in civil servants' salaries should be at least as much as the increase in the minimum wage, said Özyurt. The government announced this year's minimum wage as 4,250 lira, up by 50 percent from the previous year.
The lowest civil servant salary should be above the poverty line for a family of four, he added.
The salary increase for civil servants is expected to be announced today. (HA/VK)