Although Stores Closed due to Pandemic, Many Workers Continue Working in Risky Conditions

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While many workplaces have been shut due to the coronavirus pandemic, factories continue to work and few have taken precautions against the disease, according to a union chair in İstanbul.

"If a precaution is to be taken, putting the elderly into homes, reducing public transport, closing schools, are not the only way to do this. It should be ensured that millions of employees stay at home with paid leave," said Sinan Ceviz, the spokesperson of İstanbul Platform of Workers' Union Branches and Liman-İş Union İstanbul Chair. The platform comprises of the İstanbul branches of Türk-İş, Hak-iş and DİSK union confederations.

"Employers have not taken precautions"

There are difficulties in supplying personal hygiene products to employees in almost every sector, Ceviz told bianet.

"Our friends continue to work nonstop in the transportation, metal, food and construction sectors. The situation is no different in shipyards and ports. In the workplaces where hundreds of people work side by side, employers have not taken the necessary precautions yet.

"What kind of necessity can be there that our colleagues are still forced to work? The construction sector or shipyards in Tuzla [İstanbul district]... Luxury yachts are produced or maintained in shipyards in Tuzla. What is the necessity of this in such a period?

"Especially in ports, service efficiency has significantly decreased. There is a serious drop in the number of incoming ships. However, workers continue to be called for shifts.

"There are many firms that granted paid leaves for their employees but this does not reflect the general situation. Our colleagues are forced to use their annual leaves."

"Shops are closed but work continues in the background"

While measures have been ramped up after the severity of the situation increased, it is still not enough, Ceviz said.

"In the service sector, shops, shopping malls are closed but workers continue working in the background. Closed shops directed shopping to their websites. Don't people work in the depots of these shops? These are places where hundreds of people eat side by side.

"Gloves, masks, disinfectants... Whatever you do, places occupied by hundreds of people pose a risk. For this reason, we say that dismissals should be banned and workers should be granted paid leave." (HA/VK)