In the mining region of Kınık, İzmir, while bosses leave miners to starve, the women of the households are pushed into agricultural labour under heavy conditions.

Seasonal women workers collecting maize silk are exploited with low daily wages, a lack of security, and long working hours. Working from 08:00 in the morning until 17:00 in the evening with a 1-hour break, the workers are granted neither food nor the right to extra breaks. The workers bring their food from home, and the water provided by the employer boils in the sun, becoming undrinkable.

WORKERS CONSTANTLY FAINT FROM THE HEAT

65-year-old Sultan Çimen, who has been doing maize silk work for 8 years, said that during the harvest of the maize silk they collect in July and August, workers frequently faint from the heat and suffer from sunstroke. Noting that despite the arduous working conditions, the daily wage, which was 800 liras last year, was only increased by 200 TL this year, Çimen stated that neither she nor her husband has a pension. “My husband is retired, my son is a miner. Almost everyone living in Kınık is a miner. But people cannot look after their households by working in the mine. Besides, the operating mines are either closing down or the workers are not being paid their wages. For this reason, we leave our children behind and go to work in the fields. Even if our husbands work, we have to go to the fields, because it is not enough. And as a result of working non-stop under the sun for 9 hours, the money we get is 1000 liras," she said.

UNEMPLOYMENT HAS FORCED THEM INTO THESE CONDITIONS

Stating that things worsened in the mines following the disaster where 301 miners lost their lives, and that other mines like Polyak were also closed one by one, Çimen said, Labour exploitation below and above the ground While men in households in Kınık are victimised in the mines, women have been pushed into cheap labour. Stating that they are made to work for a thousand liras a day, without food, harvesting maize silk under heavy conditions, Çimen: We faint from the heat in the field said that her son, who has been mining since 2011, was left unemployed following the closure of the Işıklar Mine. “We have been forced to work in the fields as cheap labour. The living conditions of miners are already difficult. Neither our husbands nor we can get the reward for our labour,” she said.

EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK IS NOT PROVIDED

Conveying that day labourers working in the fields do not receive equal wages, Çimen said, “We do not know the reason for this either. In fact, a few of our daily wages were left inside [unpaid]; they were not paid, with [the employer] saying ‘I will give it today, I will give it tomorrow’.

Çimen summarised the conditions under which they work in the field as follows: “The maize work is very heavy. The weather is very hot, the maize is tall and dense. We work from 8 in the morning until 5 in the evening, there is only a one-hour lunch break. You work constantly on your feet and with your arms up. There are those who faint inside. There is water, but it boils in the heat. I am 65 years old. For years I have been doing tomatoes, peppers, maize, whatever work there is, but you cannot get the reward for your labour. The hardest work is maize. I have become unable to even turn my neck anymore. None of the women who come to the field are in a good situation. Anyone with the means would not leave their children and come to the plain. I, too, am obliged to work.”

AGRICULTURE IS UNDER THE CONTROL OF COMPANIES

Another seasonal worker, Ercan Çetinyılmaz, who said that agriculture in Turkey has been left to the control of a few large companies under the guise of “modern agriculture”, stated, “In the past, sugar, tobacco, and cotton brought in money. However, as foreign dependency increased, the farmer was left with no value.” Conveying that the harvested maize silks are exported abroad, Çetinyılmaz said, “A portion of the produced maize is used for seeds, and a portion for feed. It is planted and harvested in Turkey, and sent abroad after the harvest. While the large companies that send it make a profit, neither the one who produces nor the one who collects can obtain an earning.” Recounting that a friend of his fainted from the heat in the field last week, Çetinyılmaz said, “No one took care of it. We have neither occupational safety nor insurance.” Noting that 80 per cent of the workers collecting maize silk are women, Çetinyılmaz recorded that maize silk is almost the most difficult crop in the agricultural sector in İzmir. Stating that daily wages have risen to 600-800-1000, he said this remains very low compared to the labour performed.

WE MUST UNITE AROUND THE PROBLEMS

Emphasising that the problem in the country is not solely the problem of agricultural workers, Çetinyılmaz finally said the following: “Everyone who works with their honour and the sweat of their brow has a common problem. People have economic, employment, and livelihood struggles, but these are not spoken about. Yet, the injustice that touches someone else today, touches everyone tomorrow. Agriculture is increasingly being left to the control of a certain capital group. We all have common problems. As long as we cannot unite around these problems, we will continue to talk about them, but we cannot change them.”

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Toprağın altı, üstü emek sömürüsü, published in BirGün newspaper on July 20, 2026.