Selah Shipyard reopens after deaths
The Selah Shipyard in Istanbul's Tuzla region, which was shut down due to the recent spate of deaths among workers, reopened Monday evening, news agencies reported.
Workers returned to work yesterday morning. The Labor Ministry shut down the shipyard a week ago after three workers died within 10 days due to work-related accidents. Last Friday Labor Ministry inspectors examined the shipyard one more time and decided that the lacking safety measures were implemented, CNN-Türk news site reported.
The Port, Shipyard, Ship Construction and Repair Workers Trade Union, or Limter ??, demanded the Labor Ministry and the shipyard owner explain how the lacking safety measures were implemented.
Shutting down not a solution
Both workers and employers, together with the Transportation Ministry, were against shutting down shipyards as a solution to deal with work-related deaths. ?We had said shutting down the shipyards would not be a solution when Selah was closed down,? said Cem Dinç, the head of Limter ?? to the Turkish Daily News. These are the kind of practices to save the day, to tone down public reaction and make it forget about Tuzla, he said. Dinç emphasized work-related deaths could be prevented by rooted structural changes, like preventing informal working, subcontracting and establishing an independent control mechanism over shipyards about safety measures. Shutting down shipyards will not provide a solution to the problem of workers' deaths, said the Transportation Ministry Undersecretary Mehmet Habib last week, noting that workplace safety should be considered together with the issue of unemployment in the industry. The closure of the Selah Shipyard last week had angered some workers who turned up to work, reported CNN-Türk. One worker had said they were not informed about when the shipyard would be reopened. Another worker had said closing the shipyard was not a solution. ?There were 300-350 workers here. Who will pay their rent? Who will bring bread to their homes??
Source: Turkish Daily News
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