Opening Speech for the Launch Event of KOOP-İŞ Project

28 April – World Day for Safety and Health at Work

Dear President Eyüp Bey,

Distinguished guests,

Dear colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to join you today at the launch event of the KOOP-İŞ Union’s important new project, supported through ILO Türkiye's grant programme. On behalf of the ILO, I would like to extend my warm congratulations to KOOP-İŞ for their leadership and initiative in addressing critical challenges faced by a large, yet often overlooked, group of workers in Türkiye — shopping mall employees.

Today is a particularly meaningful day to hold this event, as 28 April is recognized globally as the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. It is a day to reflect on the fundamental right of every worker to a safe and healthy working environment, and a day to reaffirm our shared commitment to promoting safe, healthy, and decent work for all. In this context, the project being launched today could not be more timely or more relevant.

Approximately half a million people work in shopping malls across Türkiye, often under extremely difficult conditions. Despite the vibrancy and modernity of these commercial spaces, many workers are exposed to unsafe workplaces, irregular working hours, excessive workloads, and precarious employment conditions. It is particularly concerning that AVM workers — shopping mall employees — are sometimes compared to underground miners due to the harshness of their working environments.

These conditions have profound consequences, including work-related accidents, occupational diseases, lack of access to social protection, and weak or absent union representation. In many cases, workers are deprived of their fundamental rights — including the right to safe work and the right to organize.

The KOOP-İŞ project, which we celebrate today, is designed precisely to tackle these issues. By strengthening the union's capacity in occupational safety and health and in organizing workers, the project will empower AVM employees to claim their rights, improve their working conditions, and protect their health and dignity at work.

Through training seminars, the establishment of an Occupational Safety and Health Office, the formation of national and local action committees, awareness-raising campaigns, and research activities, KOOP-İŞ is undertaking a comprehensive effort that embodies the spirit of decent work.

This initiative is fully aligned with the ILO’s Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which now recognize safe and healthy working environments as a fundamental right, alongside freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.

The ILO is proud to support KOOP-İŞ and other social partners who are leading the way in promoting safer, healthier, and fairer workplaces. This project represents an important step towards reducing occupational risks, preventing work-related injuries and illnesses, strengthening unionization, and ultimately creating a culture of prevention and protection across the shopping mall sector.

I would like to congratulate KOOP-İŞ once again for their vision, commitment, and leadership. I also want to thank all the partners, trainers, researchers, and participants who will contribute to the success of this project.

Thank you very much, and I wish you a productive and inspiring launch event.