JINHA

ÊLIH – As workers in Northern Kurdistan prepare to celebrate International Workers’ Day tomorrow in the city of Batman, Deniz Aydemir of the oil industry workers’ union Petrol-İş says that women will be out in the streets against the double exploitation of their labor.

The rally tomorrow in the city of Batman, center of Turkey’s oil industry and workers’ rights struggles, will draw workers from across Northern Kurdistan. The slogan for the rally is “we are building a new life with the spirit of Kobanê’s victory.”

Deniz, who is on the supervisory board of the Batman branch of Petrol-İş, noted that the AKP has attempted to break workers’ struggle by founding state-allied unions to divide unionized labor; instituting the exploitative subcontracting system under which it is almost impossible for workers to organize; and promoting workplace deaths through lax safety regulations. At the same time, the AKP attempts to confine women to the home through sexist policies.

“What women do inside the home isn’t just their responsibility. Society, men and the state need to know that the struggles of women in the home are labor,” said Deniz. “So to make visible all the exploited, robbed, invisibilized labor of women, we are going to be taking our place in the square on May 1.”

(za/be/fk/cm)