LET US NOT ACCEPT THIS WAGE OF MISERY!
LET’S UNITE AGAINST THE SYSTEM OF EXPLOITATION, LOOTING, WAR!
The minimum wage of 2022 is once again announced as the wage of misery. It was seen that in the minimum wage meetings workers are not represented and the whole process is nothing but a play. It’s clear that the commission has no purpose but to act like Hitler’s propaganda minister Goebbels’ lie production machine. Erdoğan, Ministry of Labor, TİSK (T/N: employers’ union) and the bureaucrats of Türk-iş (T/N: a confederation of workers’ unions, yellow unionism) confronted the public each time with statements that seek to protect the interests of capital.
They frequently expressed the propaganda that if there is a high increase in the minimum wage, layoffs will increase and millions will be unemployed, and that the way to increase employment is to turn the country into a cheap labor paradise. By manipulating perceptions with such statements, they tried to intimidate workers to create the basis of condemning workers and laborers to wages of misery.
2022 minimum wage is announced as 4250 TL. The announced amount does not even compensate for the loss of purchasing power of the minimum wage as announced at the beginning of January 2021. For example, the minimum wage, which was $380 at the beginning of the year, is currently $270. Those who are part of the play of minimum wage are the leading actors of the problems experienced by workers and laborers. The reason behind their reckless attitude lies in the fact that the working class does not have strong organizations. Representatives of the government, all actors of the politics of the system and TİSK are direct representatives of the exploiter class. Türk-İş bureaucrats, on the other hand, are agents and a part of the exploiter classes within the working class.
We did not create the crisis, and we will not pay its price!
Capital and the government turned the crisis into an opportunity for themselves. By turning the pandemic conditions into an opportunity for themselves as well, they implemented a reduction in wages, short-time working allowance[1], Code 29 attacks[2], and long and hard working conditions. Capital owners announced huge growth figures during the period these attacks were perpetrated. The same growth figures were also announced for the country’s economy. Despite all these announcements, the share of workers and laborers in the Gross National Product decreased day by day. The gap between wealth and misery widened. Even TUİK (Turkish Statistical Institute, TurkStat), which is the bullhorn of the government, could not completely cover up this reality.
There are new price hikes on basic consumer goods every hour. While bread was 1.25 TL at the beginning of the year, it has now increased to 3.5 TL. The queues in front of the People’s Bread kiosks are getting longer every day where people can buy bread that’s a little cheaper. Products such as sunflower oil, cheese and olives have become a luxury for those who have to live on minimum wage. Real inflation is rampant. Turkish lira depreciated by 95% against foreign currency in 1 year. Those who ask what do you have to do with dollars buy their bids at the dollar rate, and tell millions to “be grateful”. The country has turned into a hell for workers and laborers. They try to silence those who say “We can’t make a living” or “We want humane working and living conditions” with police batons and arbitrary bans. They fear the anger of those who are condemned to live on wages below the poverty line even according to official figures. Those who turn the crisis into an opportunity, who are concerned about increasing their wealth, cannot offer humanity anything but hunger, poverty, lack of future, blood and tears. It is time to raise the voice of “enough is enough” against those who try to protect their profits and order against the destruction of all living life. It is time to grow the struggle to say “We did not create the crisis and we will not pay its price”.
The only option against the order of exploitation is the struggle!
The capitalist system of exploitation and the AKP government under its helm do nothing but seize the wealth produced by workers and laborers. As long as the system of exploitation continues, they will continue to steal our labor and sweat. There is only one solution to the problems we experience: To organize as workers and laborers. It is to stand up as a class against those who condemn us to hunger, poverty and lack of future. What we need to do for this is to unite from the ground in factories, industrial basins, businesses and wherever there is life, and to use our power from production, which is our most important weapon. We must grow the struggle in order to expel from their seats the bureaucrats who work as the agents of the capital and have taken over the unions which were established as organizations of struggle for the working class, and turn the unions into real workers’ organizations. There is no other way to take what they stole from us than to strengthen our unity and grow the struggle.
From here, we invite all workers and laborers, all those who are oppressed and exploited under this order, to increase the struggle against the system of wage slavery and not to accept the wages of misery!
We invite you to participate in the rally/gathering where we will shout our demands and call to grow the struggle on 18 December 17.00 in Bakırköy Square, and show the power of our class to the capitalists and their lackeys.
Not a Minimum, A Humane Life!
The Unity of Workers Will Defeat the Capital!
Overthrow the System of Paid Slavery!
Signatory Organizations:
- Vardiya İşçi Dayanışması
Bağımsız Devrimci Sınıf Platformu (BDSP)
Birleşik İşçi Kurultayı (BİK)
Birleşik İşçi Zemini (BİZ)
Devrimci Demokratik Sendikal Birlik (DDSB)
Devrimci Hareket
Devrimci İşçiler
Devrimci Tekstil İşçileri Sendikası (DEV TEKSTİL)
Dostluk ve Kültür Derneği (DKDER)
Ekmek ve Onur Emekçi Hareket Partisi (EHP)
Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi (ESP)
İnşaat İşçileri Sendikası (İnşaat-İş)
İstanbul KHK’lılar Platformu
İşçi Hareketi Koordinasyonu (İHK)
İşçinin Kendi Partisi (İKEP)
Kaldıraç
Kırmızı Gazete
Partizan
Proleter Devrimci Duruş (PDD)
Sosyalist Dayanışma Platformu (SODAP)
Sosyalist Emekçiler Partisi (SEP)
Turizm, Eğlence ve Hizmet İşçileri Sendikası (TEHİS)
Tüm Otomotiv ve Metal İşçileri Sendikası (TOMİS)
[1] T/N: It is an implementation that is claimed to provide income support to the employees for a period not exceeding three months in cases where the weekly working hours in the workplace are temporarily reduced by at least one third due to the pandemic.
[2] T/N: It is a practice that turns into a weapon in the hands of the bosses against the workers who unionize and seek rights during the pandemic period when the “prohibition of dismissal” is applied.
In the current regulation, Code 29 covered all cases such as sexual harassment, swearing, theft, drug use, as well as cases about morality, intentionally and constant neglect of duty, absenteeism.
Bosses can fire workers without compensation on the basis of Code 29 without providing any evidence.
