Oligarchy as a Trade Union Default Setting: A Structural Re-examination of Union Democracy in Turkey

Year 2016, Issue: 71, 99 - 126, 28.12.2017

İmre Sipahi

Abstract

From the earliest days of the labor movement, rank-and-file
members’ supposed democratic control over their trade unions has been a
constant problem due to certain sociological factors that reinforce oligarchy
in organizations, and the five-decade Turkish experience of free unionism has
proven to be no exception to this general tendency. This article first of all
discusses the basics of union democracy as a concept and clarifies the
fundamental difficulties for its consolidation. Secondly, it examines the
post-1982 Turkish context of unionism structurally and procedurally on the
issues of centralism, union organs, delegation and workplace representation,
and asserts that the union organizational structure in Turkey further
reinforces oligarchical rule, preventing the emergence of opposition and
leadership contention within large unions. It also discusses the current
structural provisions that support or hinder union democracy in a direct manner
under the Trade Unions and Collective Labor Agreements Act No. 6356 regime in
comparison to the former union laws. 

Keywords

Union Democracy, Iron Law of Oligarchy, Turkish Trade Unionism, Union Law

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