At least 1886 workers died in 2014

in News / on 22 Ocak 2015 at 13:31 /

Soma, Ermenek, Torunlar, Isparta, Şırnak, Mersin and many more… At least 1886 workers died at work in 2014. This is what AKP-Government calls “New Turkey”!

At least 1886 workers died in 2014

Workers’ Health and Work Safety Assembly – WHSA (İşçi Sağlığı ve İş Güvenliği Meclisi) is a labor organization founded by workers, public employees, victims’ families, doctors, engineers, scholars, journalists and their organizations. WHSA; is independent from the state and the capital, and it coordinates – the common struggle for safety and health at workplaces…

Based on what we could monitor from print press, visual and digital media, and the information we have received from labour and professional organisations, and the victims’ relatives, at least 1886 workers have lost their lives in 2014. This figure adds up to 14,741 lost lives at work (or during work related incidents) during the 12 years of AKP government since 2002.

Of the 1886 lives lost in 2014,

– 1693 were wage workers or public employees,

– 161 were small farmers,

– 32 were tradesmen and

– 193 were self-employed.

Of the 1886 lives lost in 2014,

– 29 lives were lost due to occupational diseases.

– 423 of them were from construction, 386 were from mining and 309 were from agricultural sector.

– 421 lives were lost in “traffic” accidents (service vehicles transporting workers involved in accidents); 395 deaths were due to poisoning / suffocation whereas 298 worker deaths were due to falling.

Of the 1886 lives lost in 2014,

– 54 were child workers,

– 131 were women and

– 53 were migrant workers…

– Also 331 of them were either actually retired or working at the retirement age.

– Of all deaths 343 were from Manisa (Western Turkey); 198 from Istanbul and 67 were from Kocaeli (a highly industrialised city neighbouring Istanbul).

We Demand Healthy, Safe and Secure Work…

1- All obstacles preventing the workers’ right to organize must be removed. Workers should be able to choose their unions freely and they should have job security.

2- Health and Safety Boards (HSB) at workplaces should be active and functional; and they should have the authority to intervene at any stage of the production in case of any effects on workers’ health. Workers should constitute at least half of their membership.

3- Also teams set up by the labour unions, professionals organizations and specialists should be actively involved in the decision making process concerning Health and Safety issues.

Last but not least, we hereby announce that we will continue our struggle for the justice, equality, freedom and dignity, focusing on the struggle against the work murders and any other attacks against workers.

We shall keep the memory of 1886 workers lost in 2014 in our struggle…