Peregraf- Ghamgin Mohammed
Yasin Karim was unable to work after he fell and broke his pelvis while working at a construction site three years ago.
His story is far too common. Few months pass without a worker being killed or seriously injured on the job. In March, two workers died and two others were injured after falling at the same residential property under construction in Sulaimaniyah.
Karim, 50, refused to accept reconciliation with his employer and went to court to get them to pay him a monthly salary.
“I finally won the case in court. The employer was forced to pay me a monthly amount. Although it is small, I can support my family,” he told Peregraf.
Osman Zindani, president of the construction workers' union in Sulaimaniyah, told Peregraf that “the situation for workers in the Kurdistan Region is worrying.”
“The workplace has become an environment that threatens the lives of workers, especially those working on construction projects,” he added.
Despite numerous statements by officials marking International Workers' Day, many workers are still employed in dangerous environments with few protections.
So far this year, 19 workers have died on the job in the Kurdistan Region, according to the May Day Committee for Workers. Nine of those were in Erbil governorate, eight in Sulaimaniyah governorate, and two in Duhok governorate.
After his accident, Karim’s employer tried to convince him to take a lump-sum payout in a process similar to tribal reconciliation.
“I have worked since I was young, I have spent hundreds of days working hard. During my years of work, there was only one project that provided us with safety equipment. When there was nothing, we didn't say anything. We just wanted to do the job and get paid for our efforts,” Karim said.
In the Kurdistan Region, workers' rights are protected by two laws: the Pension and Social Security Law No. 39 of 1971 and the Labor Law No. 71 of 1987. The latter prohibits employers from using any workers until they are fully trained. Moreover, itmandates that employers provide safety instruction and equipment.
Any employer who fails to provide safety and health protectionsfor their workers or violates their workers’ rights is punishable under the law. They can be given warnings, fines, put on a blacklist, or their work permits can be revoked.
Hangaw Abdullah, president of the Kurdistan Regional Workers Union, told Peregraf that “the law is not enforced…and employers are not obliged.”
“Workers want to work without risk, but because they want to get a job and provide for their families, when they get one — even if it does not meet the safety requirements — they areforced to do it and put their lives in danger,” Abdullah said.
Arian Ahmad, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs told Peregraf that officials are constantly monitoring worksites and the provision of safety equipment.
“But we also have some cases where the employer has provided the equipment and the worker does not comply,” Ahmad said.
The ministry said it conducted more than 2,000 visits to projects and submitted more than 1,600 recommendations last year.
According to the KRG, 52 workers died on the job last year and 25 others were seriously injured. This was greater than the 2022 level, when 41 workers were killed.
The May Day Workers' Committee said that the most common causes of worker deaths in the last year were electric shocks, collapses, falls, accidents involving equipment, and serious wounds.
Sania Abdullah, a mother of three whose husband died while working at a factory, went to court to seek compensation, but ended up settling with the company.
“I filed a complaint against my husband's employer, but he sent people to our house several times. Because I was a tenant, I agreed and forgave him after I was given a house,” she said.
“If it wasn't for providing a house for my children, I would never have forgiven the factory owner because he was very bad with my husband while at work,” she added.
Workers who are injured at work, those whose rights are violated, or the relatives of people killed on the job have standing to file complaints under the labor law. They will be supported by the local workers union, who provide them with lawyers.
Leila Karim, head of the finance and statistics department of the union, said that there are dozens of cases and complaints of workers or workers' relatives in the courts have ended favorably to the plaintiffs and where employers have been punished.
“But tribal reconciliation is the biggest problem facing the unresolved problems of workers. Most families engage tribal reconciliation and forgive the employer for a certain amount of money,” she said.
The union official argued that the reconciliation process enables employers to neglect the lives and safety of their workers.
“When workers are injured, employers and workers agree on money and even in the medical report the hospital does not mention that they were injured at work,” she said.
Workers and union officials say that monitoring of safety is not as strict as claimed by the KRG.
Zindani cited cases where there were multiple fatalities at the same job site. The union tried to obtain a work pause in order to address safety problems, but that its calls went unheeded.
“The government fails to hold the owners accountable,” he said.
Under the Labor Law, if a factory or any workplace employs between 50 to 100 workers, it must have a safety committee that includes a doctor, a safety engineer, a workers' representative from the site, a union representative, and the employer. They are required to meet and inspect the site on a monthly basis.
Zindani said that only one to two percent of workplaces in the Kurdistan Region have safety committees and employers do not provide sufficient protection and training to their workers.
Sardar Rashid, head of the Executive Bureau of the Kurdistan Trade Union, believes that fatal accidents are mainly due to two reasons. First, the KRG does not enforce the labor law properly and does not punish violators. Second, employers are driven by profit considerations and do not implement safety requirements for workers.
“Penalties should be heavier on employers who commit violations and [the KRG] should force them to implement the law,” Sardar told Peregraf.
The lack of universal social security in the Kurdistan Region is also a driver of workplace accidents. Workers take on heavy and dangerous work and overtime to make ends meet. They have few protections and little recourse if they are fired or their employer withholds their wages.
"In the event of any violation, the ministry can only defend workers who are socially secured," Ahmad said. There are about 165,000 such workers, according to the union.
According to the KRG, there are 145,000 workers who are eligible for pensions from private employers after completing 20 years of service, as long as they are 60-years old for men or 55-years-old for women. The payments should not be less than 350,000 Iraqi dinars.
Abdullah said that the biggest problem for workers is that the committees charged health and safety inspections for workers in the Kurdistan Region do not include experts in the field, nor are they sufficiently staffed. As a result, they cannot achieve accountability for employees.
However, there is the 5500 hotline for workers to report violations, which is available 24 hours a day.