Turkish labor union to start minimum wage negotiations with government at hunger threshold

Duvar English

Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türk-İş) President Ergün Atalay, who will sit at the table with the government on behalf of the workers in the minimum wage negotiations for 2024, said that they would start the negotiations from 14,025 Turkish liras, the hunger limit of a family of four people as of November.

The negotiations that will affect the salaries of millions of employees in the country will start on Dec. 11. 

Turkey’s hunger threshold reached 14,025 Turkish lira ($485) and surpassed the minimum wage (11,402 liras, $394) by $91 in November.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Dec. 1 stated that they will hike the minimum wage once in 2024 despite the last two years’ practice of implementing a second raise at the mid-year.

Speaking to the TV channel NTV, Atalay said that the minimum wage should be above this figure and said, "Let alone at the end of the year, people cannot sustain their lives with this wage for three months."

Trade union Hak-İş President Mahmut Arslan also stated that the increase should have been calculated according to the cost of a family of 4 people, not a single worker.

Lastly in July 2023, the minimum wage was raised by 34 percent, from 8,500 liras to 11,402 liras. When it was first increased, minimum wage was $483 on June 20. As of Dec. 3, it decreased to $394 due to severe depreciation of lira.

As of the latest data announced by the Labor and Social Security Ministry in July, there are 16.4 million workers in Turkey who can be members of labor unions. About 2.42 million of them, approximately 15 percent, are members of a trade union established in their line of work.

Türk-iş, with more than one million members, holds the power to negotiate with the government during the collective bargaining process. It is followed by Hak-iş and the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK).