Food Engineers Protest Suspension of Mandatory Minimum Wage

The TMMOB Food Engineers Chamber staged a protest outside the ISS Turkey General Directorate, challenging a Council of State decision to suspend the mandatory minimum wage for personnel. The chamber argues this ruling, initiated by ISS Hazır Yemek Üretim ve Hizmet AŞ, jeopardizes food safety and the rights of qualified professionals.

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The exploitation of labor is the very essence of exploitation. Science serves the people, not the patron. The labor regime in Turkey has been reshaped for many years in line with the needs of capital. In this process, insecurity has been widespread, low wages have become permanent, and qualified labor has been systematically devalued. Today, a large part of the workers are struggling to survive with incomes at or around the minimum wage. This picture is not a coincidence, but a direct class choice. Food engineers are also targeted by this exploitation order. Our colleagues, who are the guarantee of food safety; are subjected to low wage policies, insecure working conditions, and deliberate discrediting.

İbrahim Uğur Toprak, the Chamber President, asserted that the exploitation of labor is rampant in Turkey, with low wages and job insecurity becoming the norm. He criticized the current labor regime for prioritizing capital's needs over workers' well-being, leading to the systematic devaluation of skilled professions like food engineering. "Food engineers, who are the guarantee of food safety, are being subjected to low wage policies, insecure working conditions, and deliberate discrediting," Toprak stated.

Toprak emphasized that the mandatory minimum wage application, implemented by TMMOB's Food, Chemistry, and Agricultural Engineers Chambers, is not merely about wage security for engineers but also a fundamental pillar for the public's access to healthy and safe food. He views the lawsuit filed by ISS and the subsequent suspension of the ruling as a direct attack by capital on labor. This move, he contends, aims to disorganize labor, eliminate standards, and reduce engineering work to cheap labor.

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The Mandatory Personnel to Be Employed (ÇZP) Minimum Wage Application, implemented by TMMOB Food, Chemistry, and Agricultural Engineers Chambers, is not only a wage guarantee for our colleagues but also one of the fundamental pillars of the public's access to healthy and safe food. Therefore, it is directly targeted. The lawsuit filed by the multinational company called ISS against the ÇZP minimum wage and the stay of execution decision obtained through the Council of State is a clear indication of capital's attack on labor. This initiative is not just a legal process; it is a move to disorganize labor, eliminate standards, and reduce engineering labor to cheap labor. We are facing an exploitation system that cannot even tolerate wages below the poverty line. This system sees labor as a cost item. It completely disregards people, health, and society. The abolition of the ÇZP minimum wage means forcing tens of thousands of engineers into lower wages, discrediting the profession, and most importantly, weakening the public's right to access safe food.

The chamber urged ISS to withdraw its lawsuit, highlighting the contradiction between the multinational company's claims of "social responsibility" and "livable wages" and its actions in Turkey. Toprak declared that the attack is not solely against food engineers but against labor and public health itself, exposing the hypocrisy of the capitalistic system. The removal of the minimum wage would force tens of thousands of engineers into lower pay, further devalue the profession, and critically weaken the public's right to access safe food.

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We know that this attack is not only on food engineers. This attack is directly on labor. This attack is on the health of the people. The contradiction between ISS's "social responsibility" and "livable wage" discourse and the policies it pursues in Turkey reveals the hypocrisy of the capital regime.