The Statement of Sympathy by Vahed Workers Syndicate to the Labor Victims of the Disaster in Turkey

Iran Labor Report

The mining disaster in Soma, Turkey, which resulted in death of 301 miners created massive outbreak of anguish and anger throughout the world. Many in the labor community in Iran declared their sympathy with the lost miners families and decried the conditions leading to the tragedy. The following is the statement by Vahed Workers Syndicate in this regard:

We Condemn the Massacre of the Workers by the Employers

The horrific and heartrendering calamity of death and injury of innocent mine workers in Turkey generated huge stream of pain and sorrow across the world including in our country Iran especially amongst those in the labor community.

Vahed Workers Syndicate extending its solidarity and sympathy with the mourning families, declares its sympathy with the families, the labor community and the people of Turkey. The Syndicate, furthermore, acknowledges the anger and wide spread popular and militant workers organizations’ protests against those responsible and the officials in the government. The Syndicate declares its solidarity with these protests and condemns the suppression of the protest actions.

The horrific massacre of the workers on the job site in countries such as Bangaladesh, Turkey and other places in the world shows that the multinational corporations are concerned solely on their profits and investments and the lives of the workers is not of least of concerns to them. This condition is the result of systematic suppression and weakening of the workers organizations in different countries of the world and negligence and laxity on the part of International Labour Organization and other human rights bodies in the last few decades.

Unfortunately, in our conuntry the same dire situation exists as well and the high number of fatalities and injuries at the work places and on the job show this vividly. As securing life and prevention of injuries is among the primary and fundamental responsibilities of the governments, calling for dismissal and punishment of those responsible for the job accidents and giving this as a warning, we ask the government officials to pay due deligence on their responsibilities to prevent disasters similar to the one in Turkey. Negligence, oversight and laxity in this regard are not at all acceptable by the workers, will not be forgotten and tolerated and are condemned in advance.

Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Workers Syndicate
May 2014