‘Men earn 120 lira, women 85 lira, Syrians even less’

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The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs are in Turkey's Mediterranean province of Mersin as part of their "Meetings for Jobs and Food."

HDP Vice Co-Chair Responsible for Economy Commission Garo Paylan, HDP Vice Co-Chair Responsible for Labor Commission Şaziye Köse and MPs Serpil Kemalbay, Necdet İpekyüz and Rıdvan Turan met seasonal agricultural workers in the early morning hours today (March 12).

"Workers are made to go to their deaths," said the HDP MPs, who were in the bus stop where thousands of seasonal agricultural workers go to different fields across the city to work at 5.30 in the morning.

Meeting the HDP delegation, Precarious Workers Association (GİŞ-DER) Chair Abdulselam Kutlu said, "We go to work at 4 in the morning; there are times when we cannot go back home at 9 in the evening. We cannot rest even for half an hour to eat something."

He noted that the working conditions are not humane conditions, adding that the fines imposed by the state come on top of it.

'It hits the news when people'

Speaking to the HDP MPs, workers said that gender inequality is prevalent in their field, as is the case everywhere. They noted that while male agricultural workers get 120 lira* a day, women get 85 lira. The daily wage of Syrians is even less, according to the workers' statements.

They underlined that one of their major problems is transportation: "There were times when we saw that 66 people got in a 16+1 vehicle. Accidents occur very often. It hits the news when people die. An accident happened in October. Two people died. We could not even find a place to treat the wounded due to COVID-19. When we die, people neither know about it nor do they talk about it. Men or women, it makes no difference. Sometimes we cannot find even a glass of water to drink."

Some workers also complained that dozens of people are made to get in a minibus amid COVID-19 pandemic conditions.

They said that if their daily wage is increased by 5 lira, the amount of crops they are expected to collect is increased, too: "If the employer raises the daily wage by 5 lira, the crops that we collect also increases by one box. We don't want precarious work. We want justice." (AÖ/SD)

* 1 Turkish Lira (TRY) is approximately 0.13 US Dollars (USD) and 0.11 Euro as of 4.30 p.m. on March 12, 2021