The north’s minimum wage determination commission on Thursday ruled against an appeal to raise the minimum wage further, after it had been set at a gross figure of 43,469TL (€1,168) per month earlier in the month.

Thursday’s commission meeting began with ‘labour ministry’ undersecretary Tahir Serhat, who chaired the commission, defending himself from accusations that his own salary is 250,000TL (€6,716) per month.

He told commission members that he in fact only earns 141,000TL (€3,788) per month.

Cyprus Turkish Workers’ Union (Turk-Sen) chairman Arslan Bicakli nonetheless expressed his distaste at the minimum wage, saying that the 7.5 per cent increase from the previous figure of 40,436TL (€1,086)is unsatisfactory.

The fury stems from the fact that the north’s statistical institute had set the “cost of living rate” at 11.12 per cent, meaning that public sector employees, including Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, received corresponding pay rises at the end of the year, while the minimum wage has only increased by 7.5 per cent.

Despite workers’ objections, employers’ representatives and the ‘ministry’ voted through the unchanged minimum wage, which will now enter force retroactively from January 1, meaning that every worker in the north will receive a gross salary of at least €1,168 when they are paid their salary for this month.

That figure is exactly €168 higher than the Republic’s gross minimum wage of €1,000, while the net minimum wage of 37,818 (€1,016) is €131 higher than the Republic’s net minimum wage of €885 per month.

If the north were in the European Union, it would the ninth-highest minimum wage in the bloc.

As well as the Republic of Cyprus, the north’s new minimum wage is higher than that of Greece, Poland, Portugal and Malta, among various other EU member states.