Suicide, unemployment, and COVID-19
Workers struggle with risky working conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. And the rate of unemployment is rising and this causes people to commit suicide. Şaziye Köse defines suicides due to unemployment as work-related murders and she says, “We can already see that the number of suicides will increase.” Workers have kept working even if no measure has been taken to protect them from the pandemic. And many of them were infected with Covid-19 and died. Köse emphasizes that their deaths are work-related murders.
Workers struggle with risky working conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. And the rate of unemployment is rising and this causes people to commit suicide. Şaziye Köse defines suicides due to unemployment as work-related murders and she says, “We can already see that the number of suicides will increase.” Workers have kept working even if no measure has been taken to protect them from the pandemic. And many of them were infected with Covid-19 and died. Köse emphasizes that their deaths are work-related murders.
News Center- The Health and Safety Labour Watch (ISIG) has published a report on work-related deaths in 2020 in Turkey. In 2020, 2,427 people, including 148 women and 68 children, died at the workplace, according to the report.
The report also states that 101 migrant workers died at the workplace in 2020. 2,023 dead workers were salaried employees while 404 of them were self-employed workers. The area where work-related murders occurred the most in 2020 is the agriculture/forestry sector; 442 workers lost their lives. The report says that a total of 7 laborers in the field of journalism/press lost their lives during the year.
We talk with Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy Co-chair for Labor Şaziye Köse about the report published by the ISIG and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on workers.
Lack of independent and objective audit
Pointing out that occupational health and safety issues actually have serious deficiencies in-laws, Şaziye Köse says that the reasons for all problems is the formalistic implementation.
“27 workers lost their lives just in December of 2020. Nowadays, occupational safety representatives are selected in the workplaces to control the health and safety of the workers and eliminate various problems. In fact, all the problems begin during the selection of these representatives; because these people are usually determined by the employers. Naturally, they never prepare constructive reports against employers. The lack of an independent and objective audit is the biggest problem.”
741 workers died from Covid-19
At least 741 workers died from Covid-19 in 2020, according to the report of the ISIG. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has been becoming a professional disease. And healthcare workers have faced risks due to the coronavirus.
“Unfortunately, healthcare workers have to work under difficult conditions. They have been banned from asking to be appointed and changing their workplace. They cannot move anywhere. They have to work long hours, they are tired and exhausted. And this causes an increase in work-related deaths among healthcare workers. 23 healthcare workers lost their lives in the last month. 330 healthcare workers lost their lives in a year.”
Suicide committed by workers is also a work-related death
Last year, workers committed suicide due to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Şaziye Köse thinks the suicide committed by workers is also a work-related death.
“We are currently facing terrible unemployment. We know that the rate of unemployment will increase in 2021. Workers are fired under Code 26 every day. People have to work in all kinds of jobs that are unsafe for them. Occupational health and safety reach an extremely critical level. Small companies have to declare bankruptcy. People commit suicide due to unemployment. 2021 is a very critical year for labor and workers. Women are the most fired people.”