After more than 40 of its workers tested positive for coronavirus, Dardanel, a canned fish company has decided to carry on with a “closed-circuit production system”, forcing all its workers to work in the factory during the 14-day quarantine period.
After more than 40 of its workers tested positive for coronavirus, Dardanel, a canned fish company has decided to carry on with a “closed-circuit production system”, forcing all its workers to work in the factory during the 14-day quarantine period.
The factory in Çanakkale, northwestern Turkey, has around 1000 workers who are transported into student dormitories after their shifts since 27 July.
Initially the workers who tested positive for coronavirus were quarantined at home but because of the disruptions and slowing down in production, the employer went to the Çanakkale Provincial Public Health Committee and asked for permission for an extended production for reasons such as export commitments, economic and commercial damage.
The Committee granted the permission for a “closed-circuit production system” and the company recalled workers who were on annual leave or who had medical reports, including those who tested positive
With this particular production system, the company says, workers will continue to work in shifts and will be kept in dormitories after work for isolation purposes.
The company statement said "The measures taken to protect the health of our employees against the Covid-19 outbreak are strictly followed at our factory in Çanakkale. Thus, there has been no disruption in our production activities. Effective from today, the closed-circuit working system, in which our employees will be under our supervision, will be applied as a precaution for 14 days in order to prevent disruptions in our production activities."
Following a strong public outcry, Irfan Mutluay, the vice-president of Çanakkale Municipality said that they “had to take a decision in a hurry without much thought” and that they can “revise the decision after considering the objections”.
Seyit Aslan, the General Secretary of the Food & Allied Workers Union of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK Gıda-İş) visited the Dardanel workers and wrote to Evrensel about their situation.
Here is a summary of that article.
Dardanel’s 1000 strong workers, the majority of which are women, say that their previous efforts to unionise have been suppressed with a hostile response from the employer and that they were forced to choose between “the job or the union”.
Legal annual overtime limit is 270 hours and it must be voluntary. However, the workers say that they do compulsory overtime around 90-100 hours a month, do not get the legal payment for it, and if they refuse, they are threatened with losing their jobs.
A worker in the factory for 15 years say that they receive the minimum wage and nothing else. There is no other job in the area and the workers are not organised.
Woman workers explain how they work in the factory and carry on their domestic chores at home, and that there is no time to sleep. They get used to occupational accidents and give the example of a worker who had to undertake the responsibility of the accident at the hospital with fear of losing their job. “We have no right to object to anything. If we do object, they show us the door. Where do we go, what will we do, what job will we find?” they ask.
They consider the government’s call “to stay at home” during the lockdown as a “joke”. They are angry that despite those calls they were forced to work. “Do we have no value, not even as much as canned fish?” they ask.
The workers are also angry about the threatening messages of the employer: “We feel suffocated on the production line, even going to the toilet becomes as problem. We are under constant watch of the foremen. It is like our lives are taken hostage. The latest decision (to work during the quarantine) is a concrete example. They are throwing all of us into fire just to avoid disruption to the boss’ work.”
They do not say how many workers tested positive for Covid-19 or how many are in hospital. We hear that there are over 100 cases and that they continue to work with the others under this so-called “closed circuit production system” without the other workers being tested. No one knows who has got the virus. They also say that there are workers in hospital with more serious symptoms.
For disrupted production the company called all workers back to work, even those who were on leave, facilitated by the decision of the Provincial Public Health Committee. No one is asking the workers if they want to work.
On the 8th of March International Working Women’s Day, Dardanel’s top line for its advertisements was “It is the labour of our 1000 woman workers who made us what we are”. However, it is a lie that they value their workers; the truth is that the workers are taken hostage under the yoke of unemployment and poverty.
Our union will stand by the Dardanel workers all the way, and the way forward to free from this oppression and exploitation depends on Dardanel workers getting organised. (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Bülent Falakaoğlu
Hakkı Özdal
