As Fitch lowers Turkey’s credit rating, 65 strikes in 40 days…

From couriers to factory workers, Turkey is on strike

Originally published on Global Voices

A screenshot from BBC video. “What do the couriers want? What is the gig courier model?”

Prices are rising in Turkey and people have had enough. The leader of a Turkish opposition party recently tweeted he won’t be paying inflated electricity bills following January price hikes on basic commodities. At the same time, shop owners have been posting their electricity bills on shop windows calling for help, fearing bankruptcy. Meanwhile, scores of couriers, factory workers, and grocery store employees have been protesting across the country demanding minimum wage increases amid soaring inflation rates. For others, the only option remaining as a result of economic hardships is to leave Turkey in search of better employment opportunities abroad.

Across the country, workers are protesting rising living costs and stagnating wages as Turkey faces its worst economic crisis in decades, with the annual inflation reaching 48.7 percent, the highest since President Erdoğan took power two decades ago. Independent economists say the actual inflation rate likely twice the official numbers. As a result, Fitch Ratings, “cut Turkey’s sovereign credit rating further into junk, citing factors including the nation’s vulnerability to high inflation.”