It is claimed that Ciner Group, owner of the collapsed mine that killed 16 workers on November 17, 2016, will employ Chinese workers after firing 450 workers in total.
16 workers were killed on November 17, 2016, by a collapsed mine in Şirvan, Siirt. The mine is owned by Park Elektrik corporation, a part of Ciner Holding. The event was another Occupational murder due to lack of control and efficient judiciary system. It is claimed that Park Elektrik is now considering to employ workers from China, after firing 450 workers from the mine in Şirvan.
450 WORKERS WERE FIRED
Park Elektrik has fired 450 workers employed by the corporation’s subcontractors on December 31, 2016.
According to one of the workers, employers wanted all the workers to help the rescue operations after the incident and they all worked until the last day. However, says a worker, “the employers called us immediately after and told that our contracts were terminated and we had to sign the termination documents”. The excuse of the corporation was that the mine would no longer be operated. The total number of the workers fired after the event that killed 16 was 450.
According to the same worker, it is claimed that Park Elektrik plans to bring 300 Chinese workers to work in the same mine.
REPORT OF INVESTIGATION COMMISSION
A commission on occupational accidents and diseases from CHP (Republican People’s Party) investigated the mine collapse in November. According to the report published by the commission after the investigation, “the occupational murders in Şirvan are thought to occur, as in most of the cases so far, because of the employers’ greed for profits leading to excessive and illegal subcontracting. These subcontractors risk occupational safety to make more money by cutting the production costs, increasing the production, not taking measures to prevent landslip despite the symptoms and using explosives on an excessively wet soil.”
The report also included the information that “the families of miners working at the site and workers under the ground stated that cracks of 80 cm occurred after a landslip in the same site. They added that although the management was warned that these cracks posed a danger, no precautions were taken and this accident happened.”
ERDOĞAN OPENED THE MINE IN 2004
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the prime minister in 2004 was invited to the opening ceremony of the copper mine in Şirvan, owned by Ciner Holding. The CEO of the holding gave a speech in the opening ceremony and demanded “to clear the ways” for the corporation from Erdoğan. Erdoğan also said that he was very excited about that Ciner Holding won the tender and opened the mine in Şirvan.
