ANKARA (CIHAN) - The commission set up to determine the minimum wage is to hold its second meeting this Tuesday to determine the minimum wage in Turkey for the period from July 1 to December 31, 2004. The commission includes workers, employers and representatives of the government.
Employers want no increase to the minimum wage due to the current increase in the foreign exchange, while workers want it to be increased to the minimum wage of the minimum government salary. It is not expected to be a high increase because the IMF delegation does not look at a minimum wage increase warmly.
A 34 percent increase was made for the first six months of 2004 after much bargaining in December 2003. The Turkish Treasury met a part of that cost with an increase over inflation but this increase has not satisfied anybody. The minimum wage for January 1 and June 30, 2004 was gross 423 million Turkish Liras and net 303 million TL for the workers who are over 16 years old, while the minimum wage for the workers who are below 16 years old was gross 360 million TL and net 257 million 940 thousands TL.
It was stated that current fluctuations in the Turkish economy and the record increase of oil prices in the international market will have a negative effect on the minimum wage number. In addition, the increase cannot exceed 10 percent to maintain current economic program targets.
The 15-member commission set up to determine the minimum wage includes five people from the Turk-Is representing workers, five people from the Turkish Confederation of Employers' Unions (TÝSK) representing employers and five people from the Turkish Government. The first meeting of the commission was held on May 28 but failed to reach an agreement.