The Executive Committee of the Confederation of Public Workers' Trade Unions (KESK) issued a written statement prior to the third meeting of the Minimum Wage Determination Commission.

KESK demands are listed as follows:

“* Minimum wage should not be determined by the Minimum Wage Detection Commission, which is the place where political power-employer cooperation develops, but through a collective bargaining at a national scale and should include the right to strike in case of conflict.

* The country's undersigned international agreements and conventions must be fulfilled, the minimum wage account must be based on the family of the worker.

* ILO Convention 131 on the determination of minimum wage must be ratified and the reservation made in the article on minimum wage of the European Social Charter should be abolished.

* Losses incurred by minimum wage earners who have not been granted a share of National Income for years should be compensated.

* The minimum wage should be completely excluded from tax and brought to a level of human life, not misery."

Regional rallies

KESK will organize a regional rally in Amed on December 22 with the slogan “We want to live humanly”.

KESK co-chair Mehmet Bozgeyik called on workers to join regional rallies that will be held in Mersin on 21 December, Amed on 22 December and Izmir on 11 January 2020.

Bozyegik together with political party and civil society organization representatives made a statement on Sanat Sokak in Istanbul.

Bozgeyik noted the increasing unemployment in the country. "90 percent of the tax comes out of our pockets," he said.

Bozgeyik expressed that the country's tax champions are workers, public laborers and those who receive minimum wage and drew attention to the latest suicides which have been blamed on unemployment and poverty.