"Hunger Above is Certain, Death Below Maybe!" Is Underground Work a Choice?

Abstract

With its inhabitants, aboveground and subsurface forests, the Zonguldak coal basin has been a resource supplier throughout its existence. Today, the Basin, which supplies subsurface forests (hard coal) for our country’s energy generation, has taken on the responsibility of transporting lumber from aboveground forests to Istanbul’s Golden Horn Shipyard. Beginning in the 1840s, the coal-bearing period altered and reshaped the Basin’s production and labour relations, and the meaning ascribed to the phenomena of work. Nonetheless, despite the inherent dangers, working as an underground mining worker has never been forgotten and has always been in great demand. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the dynamics that influence the Basin’s residents’ desire to work underground. To accomplish this goal, the context’s qualities, the relationships between the context and the working phenomena are explored, and the question of whether working as an underground miner reflects the Basin people’s will is discussed. Studies within the scope of The European Union-funded Psychosocial Security at Work Project were effective in confronting this issue that should occupy our minds. Among these studies, focus group discussions with occupational physicians and occupational safety experts were carried out as part of the Project. The statements made during these discussions were included to support this discussion, as well.