Melisa Ay
The inspection mechanism, one of the most critical steps in preventing industrial homicides, has been virtually disabled under the AKP government. Striking data regarding inspections and labour inspectors within the Ministry of Labour and Social Security were featured in the Emek-Ar Labour Inspection Report.
The data revealed that workers have virtually been abandoned to the mercy of bosses at workplaces, and no public mechanism required for decent work and working conditions worthy of human dignity has been deployed.
The Labour Inspections report, signed by Labour Economics Expert Dr Fatih Güngör, one of the founders of the Labour Studies Association (Emek-Ar), revealed that the inspection regime in the country has transformed into a regime of both industrial homicides and the despotism of bosses.
The number of labour inspectors included in the report decreased by 10 per cent in 2024 compared to 2017. While the number of inspectors declined, the number of employees increased by more than 4.5 million between the same years. In Turkey, there are 2.8 inspectors per 100,000 employees. Turkey ranks among the lowest positions in this field according to ILO data. The report also highlighted that between the same years, the number of public personnel affiliated with the Directorate of Religious Affairs increased by 30 per cent, the number of police officers by 17.5 per cent, and the number of night watchmen by 540 per cent. As of 2024, the total number of police officers and night watchmen in the country has reached exactly 367 times the number of labour inspectors.
Drawing attention to the fact that the profession of labour inspection is one of those with the most tightly restricted staff numbers within the capitalist world order, the report included information that the number of inspectors per 100,000 people remained at 4.6 even in Japan, where deaths due to overwork are most common, and noted: "When Türkiye is the subject of discussion, the capitalism of neither Japan nor Togo or Malaysia can even be compared."
0.2 PER CENT OF WORKPLACES INSPECTED
While the workplaces where only 3.6 per cent of the 23 million workers in registered employment in the country work were inspected, occupational health and safety inspections were carried out in only 319 out of every 100,000 workplaces in 2024. Moreover, the strategy of "programmed/proactive inspection", which began to be implemented from 2011 onwards at the request of bosses, stripped monitoring of its deterrent effect. With the new system, unannounced inspections were replaced by monitoring conducted by giving advance notice to employers, whilst statistics show that the inspection system has practically ground to a halt. In 2024, occupational health and safety inspections were not carried out in 99.7 per cent of workplaces in Türkiye. The proportion of workplaces not inspected on matters regarding "the execution of work", such as working hours and wages, reached 99.8 per cent. The report emphasized that the proportional weight of inspected workplaces is close to zero and that inspections are now "null and void".
The report emphasized that, as in the industrial homicides where 301 workers died in Soma and 7 workers died in Hendek, the concealment of criminal elements thanks to pre-announced inspections leads to mass industrial homicides. The report also reminded that the death of 10 workers at the Torunlar Real Estate Investment Trustconstruction site occurred during the period when the company was "granted time to rectify its deficiencies".
THE AKP'S INSPECTION REGIME FEEDS THE DESPOTISM OF BOSSES
Fatih Güngör - Labour Economics Expert:
In the report, I took care to present evidence on how the inspection regime has been paralysed by utilizing the official publications of the Ministry of Labour and reports penned by labour inspectors themselves. It is already written in their own reports that inspectors face difficulties in fulfilling their duties under these conditions, and that inspections carried out by giving advance notice and granting period after period to the employer are contrary to the nature of the work.
As the lack of monitoring becomes widespread, numerous grievances arise in workplaces, ranging from workers' right to life to occupational diseases, and from wages to working hours. Unlawfulness produces consequences that paralyse workers' lives. Labour inspection must not be viewed solely as a technical, bureaucratic application. It affects all economic and social indicators in the country. For instance, as the lack of monitoring becomes widespread, illegal overtime forced upon workers also becomes widespread, bringing mass and chronic unemployment in its wake. Rising unemployment not only leads to the settlement of despotic labour control regimes in workplaces, but is also used as a stick forcing the acceptance of suppressed wages. These are all processes that trigger one another. While all of these create results that we can call a spectrum of losses on the working-class front, opportunities for illegal profit and multiplied earnings become widespread on the capital front. Instead of intervening in this, the AKP government prepares the ground for the expansion of rights violations through the inspection regime it implements.
It is already evident from the data that 99 per cent of workplaces in the country are not inspected. Looking at it mathematically, inspecting all workplaces with the current inspection strategy takes an infinite number of years, not 40-50 years. For the average lifespan of workplaces in Turkey does not even reach 10 years. The proportion of workplaces inspected each year is not even 1 per cent. This being the case, not even 10 per cent of workplaces can be inspected within 10 years, and in the meantime, a large portion of workplaces will have been renewed. Workplaces are either not inspected or are inspected within boundaries with which bosses are exceedingly satisfied. It is observed that the Ministry of Labour does not even have the heart to enforce administrative fines, which have lost their deterrence and fallen to ridiculous levels. Because the mandatory provisions of the law regarding administrative fines are not complied with, a colossal public loss arises.
EMEK-AR WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE STRUGGLE
The report is the product of a year's labour. The Labour Studies Association was established in 2025 with the participation of a large number of researchers, academics, and experts from cities such as Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and Muğla. Emek-Ar's objective is to produce knowledge that will contribute to the class struggle. While doing this, we aim to carry out research that will contribute to the class struggle, rather than beating the air or remaining stuck in abstract and conceptual debates. Next up is our wage theft report, which affects 60 per cent of the working class, 75 per cent of women workers, and more than 90 per cent of child workers in Turkey. Our association aims to carry out studies of a quality that will contribute to the struggles for rights on issues such as unemployment, poverty, income distribution inequality, and the exploitation of female, child, and migrant labour.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Başıboş patronlara denetim uğramıyor, published in BirGün newspaper on June 2, 2026.
