Trade union leaders and opposition figures in the north on Friday night expressed fury at the new minimum wage, which was announced following a meeting of the minimum wage determination commission.

The commission set the monthly minimum wage at a gross figure of 43,469TL (€1,195) – exactly €195 higher than the Republic’s figure of €1,000. The net figure is 37,818TL (€1,039), which is €154 higher than the Republic’s net minimum wage of €885.

However, Cyprus Turkish trade unions federation (Hur-Is) chairman Ahmet Serdaroglu, who represents workers on the commission, was furious at the figure, saying it is much too low, calling on Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel to answer for it.

“I invite the president and the prime minister to make a statement from here. The president, who said, ‘can $1,000 (€969) be the minimum wage?’, gave this good news back then. The information we received is that the prime minister had a meeting with employers on this issue beforehand,” he said.

The fury stems from the fact that the north’s statistical institute had set the “cost of living rate” at 11.12 per cent, meaning that public sector employees, including Tatar and Ustel, received corresponding pay rises at the end of the year, while the minimum wage has only increased by 7.5 per cent from its previous figure of 40,436TL (€1,111).

“Just shame on you! This is a great shame for those who govern this state. They voted for a 7.5 per cent increase while they received an 11.12 per cent increase on their own pay,” Serdaroglu said.

Opposition party CTP leader Tufan Erhurman also expressed his distaste for the low figure, asking, “do public sector workers and private sector workers shop at different supermarkets? Are the supermarkets where private sector workers shop cheaper? What is going on here? What is the logic behind this?

“Or is the ‘government’, as it does on many other issues, first announcing a 7.5 per cent increase to measure the intensity of the reactions and say, ‘if necessary, we will offer an 11.12 per cent increase on objection’, and if there is no reaction, I will just lie about it?”

He also pointed out that the “cost of living rate” indexes public pensions and other welfare benefits offered in the north, meaning that with a 7.5 per cent increase in wages and an 11.12 per cent increase in payouts the ‘government’ will lose money.

He then moved on to the matter of purchasing power, saying, “this ‘government’ had boasted about ‘increasing’ people’s purchasing power, but now, it is saying without hesitation, ‘if you want, you can go to the south and shop there’”.

In the event that an objection to the new minimum wage is filed, the minimum wage determination commission will convene again.

If no objection is filed, the new minimum wage will be retroactively put into place to apply from January 1, meaning that all workers living in the north will receive at least €1,195 at the end of this month.

If the north were in the European Union, it would the ninth-highest minimum wage in the bloc.

As well as the Republic of Cyprus, the north’s new minimum wage is higher than that of Greece, Poland, Portugal, and Malta, among various other EU member states.