Metal-İş, affiliated with the organized TÜRK-İŞ, made a press statement in front of the HABAŞ Iron and Steel Factory in the Aliağa district of Izmir.
The workers, who strongly demanded that all aspects of the incident be fully revealed, the necessary legal processes be carried out against those responsible for fault and negligence in the incident, and the full implementation of occupational health and safety rules in the workplaces, chanted the slogans "Murderer capital, collaborator AKP". Reading the press release, Mürsel Öcal, Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Metal Union affiliated with Türk-İş, stated that the explosion could not be considered as a work accident and said:
"Today, we are experiencing another painful event in the history of our country and the union movement. On November 9, we experienced a major workplace murder that caused us to lose 19 lives at the HABAŞ workplace where we are organized. Our pain, grief and reaction are greater than we can describe. We wish God's mercy to our brothers who lost their lives and recovery to the injured. We do not call what we experienced a work accident. There is only one name for this. It is work murder. What happened is not a fate. Those responsible for this work murder Those responsible are those who see the workers they employ as a cost of production. Those who ignore the human right to life and the lives of workers. This tragedy should be a painful lesson to those who sacrifice people's lives for this and ignore the lives of workers. "Those responsible who are convicted will be held accountable before the judiciary."
"THOSE RESPONSIBLE MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE AND PUNISHED"
Stating that occupational murders do not only occur in HABAŞ, similar incidents also occur in different business lines, Öcal stated that they will follow the process to punish those responsible and continued as follows:
"This is not the first of what happened. Even in the last year, we have witnessed many occupational murders in different business lines, especially in mines. We have not forgotten any of them, we will not forget them. We have always been victims of accidents, we have always died. We have always died in workplaces that engage in under-the-counter manufacturing, in workplaces that employ unregistered illegal workers, and in mines. We have always been injured. However, nothing happened to those responsible for these. Except for a few people, almost none of them were punished. However, this should not be the case this time. Those responsible must be held accountable and punished. We are responsible for this work. We are the union, the home, the hearth, on which our brothers rely. That's why we will follow up on this tragedy until those responsible receive the punishment they deserve. We no longer want to die in work-related murders. We want to go to our workplace safely, work safely, and return to our homes and children safely."
"WE WILL NOT BE SILENT ANYMORE, WE ARE HERE"
Stating that union managers came to the scene after the explosion, visited the injured and expressed their condolences to the families of the workers who lost their lives, Öcal said that the reason they remained silent until now was their respect for the pain of the families. Öcal concluded his words as follows:
"In the first hours of this workplace murder, our Chairman, Mr. Uysal Altundağ, came to the scene with Türk-İş Chairman, Mr. Ergün Atalay. They visited our injured people in the hospital. They attended the funerals and offered their condolences. If we have been silent since November 9, it is not because we accepted this matter. If we have stopped until today, it is because of our respect for our funerals. It is because of our respect for the pain of their families. But we will not be silent anymore. Here we are today. We are here. But we are not alone here. Hundreds of thousands of metal workers here, all over our country, are praying for our brothers and sisters. No matter what we do, this pain will not go away easily, but we will do whatever is necessary to not forget this pain.
