CHP's Kış: Minimum wage earner lost 23 gold coins under AKP rule

Gülcan Kış, a lawmaker from Turkey's main opposition CHP party, has strongly criticized the economic policies of the ruling AKP government, drawing on a recent report that details the "living crisis" faced by workers.

“

Turkey today has been transformed into a country where one gets poorer by working, not richer. In its 24 years in power, the AKP has taken meat from the worker's table, gold from their pockets, and peace from the retiree.

The "Worker Class Living Crisis Report" by DİSK-AR, a labor confederation, reveals a systematic impoverishment of labor in Turkey. Kış stated that the data presented in the report quantifies the crisis affecting millions of workers, transforming Turkey into a country where "one gets poorer by working, not richer."

Highlighting a particularly stark finding, Kış pointed to the loss in the value of the minimum wage in terms of gold. In 2005, a year's minimum wage could purchase 31.5 "Cumhuriyet" gold coins, a traditional store of value in Turkey. Today, the same annual wage can only buy 8.1 gold coins, a deficit of 23 coins. "Gold is not just an investment for this society; it represents weddings, children, the future, security," Kış emphasized, lamenting that people's hopes of saving have been dashed.

“

Not only did money leave the worker's pocket. A full 23 Cumhuriyet gold coins are gone. Gold is not just an investment for this society; it is a wedding, a child, a future, security.

Furthermore, the report indicates a declining access to basic food items. A minimum wage earner can now afford only 27 kilograms of beef per month, compared to workers in the Netherlands (107 kg) and France (84 kg) with their respective minimum wages. Kış argued that a nation's true wealth is measured by what its workers can bring home, not by the "splendor of palaces." She noted that millions of parents now face sticker shock at the supermarket, unable to buy what their children want.

“

A country's true wealth is not measured by the splendor of its palaces, but by the bread and meat its workers can bring home.

Kış concluded by stating that the net minimum wage, even upon its determination, falls below the poverty line. For a family of four, the cost of healthy nutrition alone is 34,808 Turkish lira, while the poverty line stands at 114,348 lira. With a minimum wage of 28,000 lira, she asserted, it's impossible to live humanely, let alone cover rent, utilities, transportation, or education. "You cannot call forcing people to work below the hunger line employment policy," she declared.

“

With a minimum wage of 28,000 lira, you cannot even meet basic food expenses, let alone live humanely. There's no rent, no electricity, no natural gas, no transportation, no children's education.