HAK-İŞ: The Increase in Minimum Wage Does Not Reflect the Realities of Our Country

The HAK-İŞ Confederation Board stated that the minimum wage announced as a net 22,104.00 TL for the year 2025 is a figure that does not take into account the realities of our country and is far from meeting the expectations of workers.

In a written statement, the HAK-İŞ Confederation Board made the following evaluations:

"The minimum wage, which concerns a significant portion of employees, has been set at a net 22,104.00 TL for 2025. The determined figure does not consider the realities of our country and is far from meeting the expectations of workers.

Unfortunately, we continue to face a theater every December. We are confronted with an undemocratic commission that does not represent all workers. Since the commission is not designed with a participatory understanding, an equitable and realistic determination cannot be made, and unfortunately, every year a mouse is born.

When the minimum wage is implemented as a tool for determining the minimum level of wages, the figures set may seem normal; however, in our country, half of the workers are employed on minimum wage. Therefore, the minimum wage in our country is a subsistence wage.

In recent years, while a figure has not been set below the actual inflation during minimum wage assessments, the announcement of a figure below the actual inflation for 2025 will deeply impact workers economically. Additionally, these figures set below inflation will create a negative situation that will adversely affect the collective bargaining system.

While the share of the wage-earning segment from the national income continues to erode each year and income inequality increases, seeing workers as the cause of inflation and expecting economic data to improve through workers is not an acceptable approach.

As HAK-İŞ, we emphasize once again the importance of continuing negotiations by remaining at the table with a social dialogue-based approach, which we have always highlighted in the determination of the minimum wage. We reiterate our demand for the structure of the minimum wage determination commission, which is far from being pluralistic, participatory, and inclusive, to be changed urgently with a participatory understanding that represents all sections.

HAK-İŞ states that the determined minimum wage is not compatible with the current economic and social conditions and believes in the necessity of making a fundamental change regarding the minimum wage, providing protection for all workers against the cost of living, not disrupting the collective bargaining system, and enabling workers and their families to live humanely."