ILPC 2026

Assistant Professor Dr. F. Serkan Öngel

Gaziantep University

Management Department

fsongel@gmail.com

Dr. Denizcan Kutlu

Namık Kemal University

Labour Economics and Industrial Relations Department

denizcank@gmail.com

Seniority, Wage and Indebtedness Patterns of Poor Chain Workers in Turkey:

Case of Metal Sector

This study focuses on the seniority, wage and indebtedness patterns of unionised chain workers in Turkish metal sector who work at workplaces linked to global commodity chains on the basis of wage relation and indebtedness dynamics. The study is based on two conceptual backgrounds: global commodity chains and working poverty. Along with the organization of production on a global scale; the level of wages, working and living conditions of the chain workers involved in these production networks also differ depending on the position of the country in the international division of labour. In this process, Turkey has mainly specialized in the production of buyer-driven, low-tech consumption and intermediate goods and low-value-added labour intensive industries. However, there are such workplaces operating in capital and technology intensive production branches linked to producer-driven commodity chains in Turkey. The study, discusses the relationship between wages, income and livelihoods of unionized chain workers in the metal industry which mainly produce in such producer-driven commodity chains and investigates the workers' poverty levels and coping strategies with poverty. Working poverty is the poverty of working individuals in terms of disposable net income. Individual level based on the status of people in the workforce and collective level based on income levels of the household are can be defined as two basic poverty scales. The study, evaluates the poverty of unionised chain workers based on this method.

The research is based on a survey completed with a total of 981 workers identified by systematic random sampling among 21,000 union members and semi-structured in-depth interviews, some of which are completed and intended to be done with 20 workers.

It is observed a strong indebtedness tendency among poor chain metalworkers employed in a low-wage regime depends on wage difference per hour, which is based on seniority. Thus, it appears that there is a strong linkage between the regulation of the labour process on the basis of seniority and the reproduction of labour power in the metal sector. In the metal sector, the length of seniority and the duration of unionization of chain workers influence the main labour income in the positive direction. In terms of education level, graduating from a vocational school is a decisive element in the positive direction compared to other levels of education. Although the main labour income of women is less than that of men, women are far less likely experience poverty than single or married men in terms of household income. The main reason of this situation is the fact that 62 percent of men and only 15 percent of women live in a single income household. Workers who have experienced unemployment experience a greater risk of poverty. In terms of coping strategies with poverty, variables such as additional work, indebtedness, overtime and participation in trade union struggles are the key elements. One of the main findings is the existence of a level of wages that does not get out of debt. The average amount of debt is 10 times the monthly household income. The main findings of the study are revealed by statistical comparison of poverty threshold data with gender, seniority, experience of unemployment and level of education.