Ergün Atalay, Chairman of TÜRK-İŞ, stated in his statement that immediately after the increase in wages and salaries, there was a high increase in taxes and fees in many items.
Expressing that the employees are under a heavy burden with direct and indirect taxes, Atalay said, "Most of the workers entered the 27 percent tax bracket as of July. For this reason, a worker has an average loss of around 2 thousand liras. The tax system applied on employees is not a fair and correct tax system. Those who earn a lot should be taxed more, and those who earn less should be taxed less. Tax brackets should be reduced, and the tax system burden on employees should be alleviated."
Stating that the employees continue to feel the effects of inflation and that the prices of products and services have increased with the effect of tax increases, Atalay said, "We cannot solve any problem with wage increases following inflation. Whenever wages and incomes of workers exceed inflation, then the issue of livelihood is resolved. The raises continue to rain like rain without the employees getting their increased wages."
“THE SUBCONTRACTOR ISSUE MUST BE REMOVED”
Atalay stated that the problem of subcontracted labor in the public sector continues and stated that nearly 100 thousand subcontracted workers, mostly in the energy, transportation and transportation business lines, are waiting for the good news of the staff.
Reminding that many politicians promised to recruit subcontracted workers before the election, Atalay continued as follows:
"Today, the staffing problem has come to the point of disrupting the work peace in the workplace. There is a great expectation in society about this. For this, we need to remove the subcontractor issue from the country's agenda. Whatever the cost of subcontracted workers to the public is, they should be recruited based on this cost. We are always following this issue. We ask politicians to resolve this issue in Parliament so that it does not come to the fore again."
“HIKE MADE FOR RETIREES MUST BE REVIEWED”
Pointing out that different employee segments, especially some civil servant unions, have recently compared their incomes with the wages of public workers, Atalay said, "We, as workers, exist in all areas of life. We continue to work in difficult conditions. We pour asphalt in the heat of summer, and we climb to the top of the lamppost in the cold of winter. Our workers are very uncomfortable with the wage comparison. All wages and salaries must reach a certain level. Workers, civil servants, retired people should unite in prosperity. The condition of retirees is deplorable. The increase applied to civil servants should also be applied to all retirees. The lowest pension is 7 thousand 500 liras. Millions of retirees whose root wages are below this will not receive a 25 percent raise. This needs to be reviewed."