February 23, 2006

A research conducted on 2,000 TEKEL public sector workers in Eastern and South Eastern Turkey revealed that due to privatization 48% of the workers suffered psychological problems.

The research titled “The Rehabilitation and Motivation of TEKEL Employees Under the Scope of Privatization” was designed by Tek-Gıda-İş, the Food Workers Union.

The research was conducted by two universities in the cities of Diyarbakır, Malatya, Muş, Bitlis and Batman covering 2,000 TEKEL workers. The results showed that the uncertainty of the privatization process affects the workers negatively.

WORKERS IN DEPRESSION

Professor Remzi Oto, a participant in the research from Dicle University said the uncertainty during the privatization period was affecting the workers health negatively.

Dr. Oto said 52% of the workers showed symptoms of depression and added, “There was no precise knowledge of when the privatization would take place. When asked what their expectations were of the results of privatization, 70% of the workers believe they will be laid off. 54% say they have no idea what awaits them about finding new employment after the privatization.”

Oto also said, “Once the privatization procedure starts. The complaints from individuals increase. Physical complaints such as headaches, back and stomachaches constitute around 55% of all symptoms. Anxiety, worries without an obvious cause, and restlessness take up the other 45%. What was revealed is an important result. People are getting stuck with worries of something bad happening. For example, many workers express that they avoid talking about the subject matter at home, yet they lose sleep over it and experience social anomalies. Being overly sensitive, rage, picking fights, ruining relationships add up to more than 50%. We determined 52% as having symptoms of depression. More than 50% have suspicions or doubts. 45% experience rage. Eating and sleep disorders add up to more than 63%. On the average, 48% experience some kind of abnormalities.

WARNING ON ALCOHOL, GAMBLING AND DIVORCE

Professor Oto emphasized that after privatization if no help is offered to the workers there would be an increase in alcohol and gambling abuse and divorces could also increase. He added, “Alcoholism will be on the rise. My personal view is that many problems linked to depression could appear. For this reason, alcohol or gambling may substitute for the anxiety being felt in these situations. There could be many divorces.”

TEK-GIDA-İŞ: WE HAVE BEEN VINDICATED

The Union officials of Tek-Gıda-İş, which had the research done, are saying the predictions they had been doing for years have now been vindicated. Seryat Akbudak, the representative of the Food Workers Union, Tek-Gıda-İş, for the Eastern and South Eastern regions of Turkey said, “We now can see under the scientific light that privatization is not an answer.”

“PRIVATIZATION IS NOT AN ANSWER”

Union representative Seryat Akbudak also said, “We were saying that the political power conducting the privatization was explaining privatization only from its economical dimension. We were seeing that they were not interested directly in the social dimension of privatization. The results confirm what we have been living day-to-day. However, we did not have the possibility of demonstrating the facts under in a scientific framework.

We are now seeing that those insisting on privatization do not have the necessary arguments to back it up. During their privatization, they used to defend it as a source of revenue to close the public deficit, to better the production and to create employment. When we look at these claims, we see that none of these materialized, but privatization brought about the most negative results. Under a scientific light, we are now seeing that privatization is not an answer.”

Source: Mahmut Bozarslan
NTV-MSNBC

M.B.