12 September, 2007Within a two week period, five workers die due to unsafe working conditions.
TURKEY: Last month, five shipyard workers were killed due to unsafe working conditions at the Tuzla shipyard in İstanbul, where expensive ships and yachts are built. The recent deaths mark a dramatic increase in occupational fatalities at this busy shipyard, where workers toil long hours for sub-standard wages with little to no health and safety protections, and even less job security or social benefits.
Since 2000, there have been a total of 31 occupational fatalities at the Tuzla shipyard. In 2006 alone, six workers were killed. "They are all victims of occupational murder, not occupational accidents," said Musa Çam, general secretary of the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DiSK), one of four national union centres in Turkey. "The list of the workers who were injured or crippled because of insufficient job security is much longer. Some of the workers have no social security so they couldn't benefit from health service."
Shipyard employers are some of the worst exploiters of precarious workers. The Union of Port, Dock, Ship Building and Repair Workers (Limter-İş), an affiliate of the International Metalworkers' Federation, represents workers at the Tuzla shipyard and operates under intense difficulties. On May 31, 2006, police attacked workers protesting the company's failure to pay wages for two months. Six workers were seriously injured and 16 were arrested, including Limter Is president Cem Dinç and union official Kamber Saygili, who remained in jail for 40 days.
"How many more men and women must die in vain, before shipyard workers win living wages, permanent employment, social security and basic worker protections that all workers are entitled to?" asked Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary. "The IMF fully supports Limter-İş and their struggle to improve working conditions at the Tuzla shipyard