The north’s net minimum wage was reduced by 120TL (€3.43) per month on Friday following an appeal by business owners.
The net figure had initially been set at 29,640TL (€848), but has now fallen to 29,520TL.
Public sector workers’ union (Kamu-Is) leader Ahmet Serdaroglu, who represents workers at the north’s minimum wage determination commission, said he had chosen not to vote at the commission’s meeting to reduce the wage on Friday.
“We did not take part because we did not see the need to take part”, he said, adding that the ‘government’ had said they were able to reduce the minimum wage as “they are bringing us cheap meat”, in reference to their plans to import meat from the Netherlands and possibly Spain.
“The government set its sights on the 120TL in the pocket of a minimum wage worker. I do not understand what they are trying to prove. The government does not know what it is doing,” he said.
The original gross monthly figure was the equivalent of €975, just €25 short of the Republic’s minimum wage, though the new figure will likely now fall closer to €30 per month less.
Though just shy of the Republic’s, it is noted the north’s new gross minimum wage is higher than that of 13 European Union member states, including Greece.
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