TRADE UNIONS and THEIR SEARCH FOR ALTERNATIVE FUTURE

Year 2018, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 367 - 371, 03.01.2019

Mehmet Saim Aşçı

Abstract

In a time when change is accelerating and an awareness that dictates that values and organisations to

be reconsidered, and the concepts of the industrial society such as workmanship and employership are being restudied

as phenomena that change with new transitions, union managers too clearly state the need for restructuring.

Due to technological development, the rate of white-collar workers in the workforce has risen against the

blue-collar workers. An important change that has been a factor and a result of the change in economic prosperity

and transition to high technology has been the rise of average levels of education and learning. The workforce,

comprised mostly of highly-skilled white-collar workers who are better educated than previous generations and

possess a higher income level, has seen a change in attitude and behavior in the matters of unionization and labor

struggle. In addition to this, business managements also develop management techniques such as human resources

management that enable employees to participate, and develops conflict free relationships by establishing a direct

dialogue with employees with applications such as quality circles, team work and satisfaction surveys. Trade

unions are required to create new organizational structures to satisfy the needs of rapid change in technology and

the new position of the workforce with knowledge.

On the other hand, developments in the aftermath of the 1980s led to neo-liberal policies taking over

the whole world. Dismissals under the name of flexible labour market, subcontracting, precarious work and

unregistered employment are becoming more and more common. The working class has lost the benefits it gained

through organized struggle. In the face of the fact that traditional trade union organization is constantly weakening,

it is a necessity to discuss alternative searches.

If the workers’ unions will exist in the future, it will be extremely difficult for them to achieve this with

their current traditional identities. In this respect, the time for the workers’ unions to create a new vision is long

overdue. In this study, a conceptual study on alternatives for the future vision search of unions will be presented.

Keywords

Trade unions, Unionism, Workforce, Neo-Liberalism, Flexible Labor Market

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