Walkout over govt response to crisis
PRICE hikes and government handling of the economic crisis will be the focus for a threehour walkout by civil servants from 9am on Monday.
The stoppage, called by the Kamu-Sen trade union and backed by eight other unions under the Hür-İş federation, will see strikers gather in front of Parliament to demand the government take “serious steps” rather than “just imposing price hikes”.
Kamu-Sen leader Metin Atan said their aim was not political, but to protest at the soaring cost of living which was making people poorer.
“If the government takes significant steps to get through the economic crisis we will stand by them,” he said.
“But if they say the foreign exchange rates are going up and nothing can be done, then strike action will be stepped up.”
Meanwhile, Trade Department inspectors tasked with protecting shoppers against profiteering during the TL crisis have fined two shops for stocking goods without price tags, during a series of swoops across the country on Thursday.
Penalties of 2,620TL each — equivalent to one month’s gross minimum wage — were issued by the team, while two more shops were also fined for offering out-of-date food.
Items worth 4,316TL were confiscated, the 1,207TL-worth without price tags then distributed to benevolent associations.
Trade Department dirctor Alpay Çelebi said 21 supermarkets in Lefkoşa, Girne, Gazimağusa and Güzelyurt had been visited and their checks would continue amid a deluge of complaints to the dedicated 171 consumer hotline about high prices in the wake of the Turkish lira collapse.
“Consumers are right — prices are rather high,” said Mr Çelebi, adding: “There are certain products which are not under our remit, therefore we cannot intervene over the prices. Presently the only product that comes under our direct control is petrol. Only there we can make adjustments.
“This is why the most effective ‘control’ for all other products are consumers themselves.”
Head of the Domestic Trade Inspection branch Savaş Metcooğlu said they were “trying to cope” with the level of calls coming into the 171 phone line.
He explained that they had been authorised by Cabinet decree to request documentation for goods with prices deemed “astronomical” and could issue fines of up to five times the minimum wage to stores which failed to provide the information within three days.