At Least 128 Workers Lose Their Lives Due to Coronavirus in 2 Months

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG Assembly) has announced that at least 128 workers lost their lives due to novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the first two months of the outbreak from March 11 to May 10.

In a recent report released by the Assembly, it has been noted that the outbreak is a question of class. The report has indicated that the highest number of fatalities and positive cases among the workers has been detected in the provinces where production centers are located, which "has aggravated the outbreak as a disease of working class/ a question of class."

"The policies that were introduced in the second month of the outbreak to protect the capital and ro push the working class to herd immunity have caused the virus to spread in the workplaces and living spaces of workers quickly," the Assembly has added in its report.

'Most basic healthcare needs not met'

Stressing that the numbers shared in the report are "minimum" numbers, the Assembly has indicated that the state does not share detailed information as to the deaths despite the data it has. The report has summarized the government's fight against coronavirus briefly as follows:

* The mask crisis has proven the lack of planning and inadequacy of the policies pursued to protect public health. The most basic healthcare needs of the public have not been met during the pandemic.

* While the "stay home" calls continued in the second month of the outbreak, curfews were imposed in such a way to be in force at the weekends and bank holidays as well. However, workers kept on being sent to workplaces on these days with the understanding of "We have to produce." That the police shot a Syrian textile worker to death in Adana on the ground that he did not abide by the stop warning during the curfew has clearly shown the work regime imposed on workers and the press of "death" faced by those who have to work in pandemic conditions.

* While the members of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) were taken into custody due to social distance on May Day, workers have kept on working side by side at construction sites, in fields, at docks and in several other workplaces. On the day when President [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] visited the workers at a construction site during the curfew, he greeted the workers from afar while workers were piled up without keeping any of the social distance rules, which has manifested the class aspect of the quarantine and "normalization process."

* In a "special" decree issued by the Social Security Institution (SGK) in May, it has been decided that the infection of workers with COVID-19 cannot be considered within the scope of occupational accidents or diseases. With that decision, a heavy blow has been dealt to the legal ways where workers can seek their rights in the days of outbreak.

* Towards the end of the second month of the outbreak, the policies of revitalizing the economy in the name of "normalization" without the outbreak taken under control have gained pace. There were preparations to reopen shopping malls, which are one of the places with the highest risk of contact. Under these circumstances, it was apparent that the second wave of the outbreak discussed by scientists would again target workers.

'Fatalities caused by COVID-19 on the increase'

According to the report, the number of workers who caught COVID-19 while working and lost their lives due to the virus in the first two months of the outbreak has shown the insufficiency of the measures taken.

Indicating that "at least" 128 workers lost their lives in occupational homicides caused by coronavirus, the report has noted, "Production continues, occupational homicides caused by COVID-19 increase."

The report has shared the following details:

* While 199 of the deceased workers were men, 9 were women.

* The average age of the deceased workers was 50.

* 98 of the deceased were wage earners (workers and civil servants), 30 workers were working on their own behalf (farmers and shop owners).

* The distribution of deceased workers by lines of work was as follows: 37 workers in trade-bureau; 31 workers in healthcare; 11 workers in municipal-general affairs; 8 workers in tourism-accommodation; 7 workers in textile; 5 workers in transportation; 5 workers in defense-security; 4 workers in banking; 4 workers in metal and 14 workers in others.

* At least 18 (15 percent) of the deceased workers were members of a union.

* 78 of the workers who lost their lives due to COVID-19 in the first two months of the outbreak were in İstanbul (60 percent) while 9 were in Kocaeli, 7 in İzmir, 5 in Bursa, 3 in Ankara, 3 in Antep and 23 in other provinces.

* In the second month of the outbreak (April 11-May 10), at least 13,043 workers in at least 204 workplaces were diagnosed with COVID-19. (HA/SD)

Click here to read the full report (in Turkish)