Turkey bans layoffs, offers salary support

GBNEWS24DESK//

Turkey has launched a temporary wage support scheme and banned layoffs in 10 cities yesterday to protect workers and businesses from the financial impact of the massive earthquakes that hit the south of the country earlier this month. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake on February 6 killed more than 47,000 people, damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings in Turkey and Syria and left millions homeless. In Turkey, 865,000 people are living in tents and 23,500 in containers, while 376,000 are in student dormitories and public guesthouses outside the earthquake zone, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. Under Ankara’s new economic relief plan , employers whose workplaces were “heavily or moderately damaged” would benefit from support to partially cover wages of workers whose hours had been cut, the country’s Official Gazette said yesterday. A ban on layoffs was also introduced in 10 earthquake-hit provinces covered by a state of emergency. Business groups and economists have said the earthquake could cost Ankara up to $100 billion to rebuild housing and infrastructure, and shave one to two percentage points off economic growth this year. Erdogan has promised swift reconstruction, although experts say it could be a recipe for another disaster if safety steps are sacrificed.