Election Board Bans Union’s Magazine

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Distribution of Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey’s (DİSK) magazine called Voice of DISK’s special edition entitled “Enough has been forbidden by Izmir Konak Election Board.

While emphasizing the loss and damage of workers during 16 years of Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, the facts that Turkey finds itself among the countries of which economical states are the worst, minimum wage earners’ share in the national income increase has dropped, workers are prevented to use their right of strike, workplace murders have increased, nothing has done to solve the unemployment problem and of which rates hit the top in women and youth, worker rental system even worse than subcontracting was introduced, prolongation of work hours and finally an extraordinary increase in household debt are the topics underlined in the special edition.

Prolongation of work hours, increase in occupational homicides and preventing strikes 

Some data underlined in the very period of AKP are as following:

-Between 2004 and 2007 real minimum wages incurred losses in front of real national income growth.

-In 16 years 15 strikes were postponed, approximately 200,000 workers were prohibited to go on strike de facto.

-Since 2002, proportion of household debt to household income has increased from 4 percent to 50 percent.

-On the contrary to the dropping direct taxes, the indirect taxes have increased.  The share of indirect taxes, which was 59 percent in 2000, increased to 65 percent in 2017. While the share of direct taxes dropped to 35 percent from 41 percent.

-21 thousand people have lost their lives in workplaces. While murdered workers were 878 in 2002, this figure increased to 2006 in 2017.

Despite the fact that in European Union countries, proportion of working 40 hours per week is just 20 percent, in Turkey it rose to 74 percent. (ŞA/HG/TK)