Last year in May, the Soma coal mine hit the world’s headlines when 301 workers were massacred in an explosion due to the company’s drive to maximise profits and minimise health and safety costs. Later that year in December, the same company, the Soma Holding Company, announced the laying-off of almost 3,000 workers from its mines. This will have a devastating effect on workers’ families and communities with mining the major activity in the area. In the latest blow to workers, the company has announced that it is unable to provide any severance pay to these workers. The events of the last year offer a stark example of the brutality of the profit system where workers are treated as disposable costs.
Last year in May, the Soma coal mine hit the world’s headlines when 301 workers were massacred in an explosion due to the company’s drive to maximise profits and minimise health and safety costs. Later that year in December, the same company, the Soma Holding Company, announced the laying-off of almost 3,000 workers from its mines. This will have a devastating effect on workers’ families and communities with mining the major activity in the area. In the latest blow to workers, the company has announced that it is unable to provide any severance pay to these workers. The events of the last year offer a stark example of the brutality of the profit system where workers are treated as disposable costs.
