We Condemn the Police Attack on Doruk Mining Workers!
Workers
employed in mining operations across Turkey are forced to work under
harsh and unsafe conditions. This situation has led to the loss of many
workers’ lives as a result of repeated accidents over the years. These
accidents, caused entirely by unsafe conditions, are essentially
industrial homicides. Furthermore, the non-payment of wages in many
companies has led to workers seeking their rights and engaging in
resistance. Indeed, the recent resistance carried out by Doruk Mining
workers stands out as a current example of this process.
“We don’t want charity, we want our rights”
Workers
at Doruk Mining, a company affiliated with Yıldızlar SSS Holding in
Eskişehir, are continuing their struggle—initiated in response to unpaid
wages, redundancies and obstacles to the right to organise—in order to
bring their cause to the public’s attention.
Organised
within the Independent Miners’ Union, the workers marched from
Eskişehir to Ankara under the slogan “We don’t want charity, we want our
rights” to make their voices heard. At the end of their nine-day march,
a police raid on the press conference they intended to hold outside the
Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources resulted in the arrest of
union officials and many workers, and their planned meeting with the
ministry was blocked. The workers, however, have refused to back down
from their resolute stance and have announced that they will continue
their resistance with a hunger strike.
Who is Yıldızlar SSS Holding?
Following
the transfer of the mine—which had been seized by the TMSF (Deposit
Insurance Fund) in 2016—to Yıldızlar SSS Holding in 2022, many of the
workers’ rights were violated, and payments for severance pay, notice
pay, overtime and wages ceased. As a result, the number of mine workers
has fallen from 1,200 to 300.
Yıldızlar
SSS Holding owns numerous mining and energy operations across Turkey
and frequently comes under scrutiny for practices such as the
non-payment of workers’ wages, seniority and notice pay, and forcing
workers onto unpaid leave without their consent.
The miners’ demands are as follows:
They
are demanding the full payment of unpaid wages, bonuses and annual
leave entitlements accrued both before and after the TMSF takeover, as
well as the reinstatement and safeguarding of their trade union rights.
This also includes redressing the grievances of workers who were
unfairly dismissed and whose compensation has not been paid. The demand
is for the abolition of the compulsory unpaid leave imposed on workers
without their consent, the provision of working conditions compliant
with OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) regulations, and the
reinstatement of workers dismissed for leading the trade union struggle.
Furthermore, in order to ensure job security and safeguard the mine’s
sustainability, the nationalisation of the company and the legal
safeguarding of workers’ job security are being demanded.
Your Resistance Is Our Resistance!
Hundreds
of workers have lost their lives in the workplace tragedies caused by
the slave-like and precarious working conditions faced by miners. The
attacks on the protests organised by workers to voice their most basic
demands—such as the improvement of health and safety conditions, the
payment of their social entitlements and wages—constitute an attack on
all workers and labourers.
As
the Confederation of Turkish Workers in Europe, we support the
resistance of all miners in Turkey, particularly that of the workers at
Yıldızlar SSS Holding, and we condemn the police’s attack on the
workers. We call on all workers and labourers, particularly the miners,
to embrace the resistance initiated by the workers of Doruk Madencilik
through international solidarity.
The Miners’ Resistance Is Our Resistance!
Long Live International Solidarity!
ATIK