At least 158 workers killed on the job in October

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At least 158 workers were killed on the job in October, according to the monthly report of the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG) released today (November 3).

The main topic of the October report was the mine explosion in Amasra where 41 workers were killed. İSİG said in the report that "41 miners digging the dark in order to be able to see the sun were slaughtered" and added that yet another mine massacre was added to the Karadon, Elbistan, Kozlu, Soma, Ermenek and Şırnak mine massacres, all in Türkiye.

İSİG underlined that the explosion could be avoided, making evaluations from the expert report for the mine disaster.

İSİG held responsible in the first degree for the massacre the Turkish Hard Coal Authority which did not take measures and did not allocate a budget despite reports by Chamber of Accounts and the Turkish Hard Coal Authority itself, the General Directorate of Mining and Petroleum Affairs, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

95 percent of workers killed were non-unionized

At least 158 workers were killed on the job in October according to the report and 90 of those who lost their lives were women while 1431 were men. Only 85 of the workers killed were unionized while 1,436 of them (94,4 percent) were nonunionized.

Child workers and migrant workers also killed

In October 2022, 22 child workers under 14, 32 child/young workers aged between 15-17 were killed on the job. Again 250 workers aged between 18-27, 729 workers aged between 28-50, 314 workers aged between 51-64 and 85 workers aged over 65 were killed. İSİG was not able to determine the ages of 89 workers who were killed.

Also 80 migrant/refugee workers were killed in the first 10 months of 2022. These workers were coming from Syria (37), Afghanistan (17), Turkmenistan (6), Uzb)ekistan (4), Iran (3), Russia (3) and Azerbaijan, Belarus, İndonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Nigeria, Pakistan, Serbia, Ukraine and Greece (1 from each country).

İSİG also reported that violence against workers was spreading and that deaths of motorcycle couriers were continuing. The report also pointed out that the search for justice continued in courts in the cases of killing on the job. (HA/PE/VK)