Sociology of precarity: A research on employees Tuzla Shipyards Zone

This study deals with the multi-dimensional effects (social, cultural, psychological, political, etc.) of precarity on employees resulting from the context of labor relations in the shipbuilding industry in the Tuzla Shipyard Zone. The factors that play a role in the formation and development of precarity caused by working conditions experienced by the workers in the shipyard business and the semantic worlds of the sectors working under precarious conditions are examined with a holistic view. Furthermore, it is intended to identify own perspectives and expectations of lumpers on strategies to cope with indefinite and risky situations caused and imposed by insecurity. This doctoral thesis which is based on field research has been done by applying a questionnaire consisting of 70 questions to 301 lumpers who are employed as time- and pieceworkers in shipping jobs in the Tuzla/Istanbul Shipyards. The data obtained have been supported by the observations and informal interviews. Following findings have been achieved within the context of research findings: workers in the shipbuilding sector are experiencing precarity with its all dimensions and results such as poor working conditions, low wages, and weakening of social rights etc. deeply. The perception of job insecurity increases among shipyard workers who live impermanence and uncertainty intensively through subcontracting applications. The precarious working environment and conditions are major factors for the occurrence of labor accidents in the shipbuilding industry. Experienced insecurity has a negative impact on physical and psychological health of employees and undermining the bonds of solidarity by breaking their social lives. Low wages and uncertainty in the payments impose a perpetual living in debt on shipyard workers. Widespread precarity among employees backspaces their attitudes for union activities and prevents them from getting organized. In this context, precarity imposes a mode of living in which a fragile and vulnerable existence against the employer /the capital, poor conditions, low wages, a constant perception of job insecurity, widespread instability at work, etc. are dominant. Precarity, which is the generalized form of being crumpled created by a sociological trauma, constitutes a new social dimension of poverty, being isolated, excluded, otherised and exploited. Key Words: Precarity, Flexibility, Sector of Shipbuilding, Shipyard, Neo-liberal Politics, Tuzla Shipyard Zone, Precariat.