At least 212 workers killed on the job in May
At least 212 workers died in work-related incidents in Turkey during May, bringing the total number of worker fatalities in the first five months of the year to at least 835, according to the monthly report from the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).
The group recorded 155 deaths in January, 129 in February, 149 in March, and 190 in April. İSİG compiled 68% of the data from national media, while the remaining 32% came from colleagues, families, occupational safety experts, workplace physicians, unions, and local press.
Seven child workers were among those killed in May, according to the report, which highlighted child labor ahead of the Jun 12 World Day Against Child Labour. Four of the children worked in agriculture, one in commerce, one in construction, and one in the metal sector.
One vocational student killed
One child was working under the Vocational Education Center (MESEM) program, an initiative that has faced long-standing criticism for exploiting child labor. Mahir Buğra Karagön, a 15-year-old 10th-grade student in the MESEM food and beverage services department, was electrocuted on May 1 at a pastry shop where he worked as an intern in the İskenderun district of Hatay.
The report categorized his death as a consequence of child labor and the MESEM program. Karagön’s family stated that although he was supposed to attend school one day a week, he was forced to work constantly, leaving for the workplace early in the morning and returning late at night.
"This child is an intern, but he is being worked like a regular worker," the report stated, quoting the family.
The İSİG report emphasized that MESEM cannot be viewed merely as a poor education model, describing it instead as a mechanism financed by public resources to provide low-cost or free child labor to employers.
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Under the program, children are theoretically assigned to a schedule of one day at school and four days at a workplace. However, the report noted that in practice, children work five to six days a week for 10 to 12 hours a day. The wages paid to these children range between one-third and one-half of the minimum wage, and these payments are covered by the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
The organization warned that children are being drawn into the workforce at an early age under the guise of vocational training, adding that recent steps to expand the MESEM program to the middle school level have effectively lowered the age of entry into the workforce to 10 or 11. (HA/VK)
