Turkish Labor in the Global Era

Abstract

Effects of privatizations on Turkish labor unions and workers have been manifold. Each one of the three major labor confederations has taken a separate and distinct approach toward privatizations, thereby differentiating and redefining their respective identities and roles in the Turkish political system. Privatizations have also generated an increase in stateness, defined as the “capacity of the state to specify the terms of economic interaction, to extract resources, and to centralize administrative procedures and coercive means” (Schamis 2002, 192). While labor unions were relatively strong in the period of state-led economy in the pre-1980 period, their political power has dwindled along with and as result of the privatization of SOEs where union leaders exercised influence in decision making.