27 February, 2008Police arrest 70 workers striking for health and safety improvements at the Tuzla shipyard where 18 workers have been killed in the last seven months.
TURKEY: Seventy Turkish shipyard workers were arrested today after participating in a sit-down strike to protest the horrendous working conditions in the Tuzla shipyard where 18 fellow workers have been killed in the last seven months.
The President and the General Secretary of Limter-İş, the union representing the shipyard workers, were among those arrested.
In a statement released to the press the union pointed out that the precarisation of shipyard jobs is largely to blame for the increasingly dangerous conditions on the job. "Neither our jobs nor our lives are safe...They say they will find a solution, but they do not. Laws are allowing the chaos, the subcontracting, the flexible employment, the exploitation and the employment of unregistered workers," the union said.
"Either these laws will be changed: the subcontracting system will be abolished, bosses who employ workers without paying their social security contributions and without taking measures for a safe working environment will be punished, or the deaths will continue."
The demands Limter-İş has put forward include:
- Workers should work no more than 7.5 hours a day, and this needs to be implemented urgently.
- The main employer must pay full social security contributions for workers.
- The payment of wages must be guaranteed by the main employer.
- There must be hygienic housing for workers, as well as changing rooms and food which is adequate for the physical work the workers do.
- Social rights, including tea breaks at 10 am and 3pm, need to be respected.
- All shipyards must allow the possibility for workers to organise representatives.
Istanbul's Tuzla district hosts 95 percent of the country's private-owned shipyards, where subcontracting and precarious work is becoming the standard. According to the union, there are around 1,000 subcontractor firms in Tuzla's shipyards, making union organising, safety regulation, and the enforcement of basic workers' rights and protections near impossible.
Limter-İş is working to get collective bargaining rights on behalf of subcontracted workers. The union is pressing for main shipyard firms to pay the social insurance premiums of subcontracted workers and to enforce the required security measures themselves rather than leaving it to the subcontractors.