Labor movements in Turkey during 1989-1995

The period between 1960 and 1980, in which the workers acquired significant gains by putting up a good union fight, resulted with economic crisis, political instability and social polarization. The environment of political stability and social consensus, which was offered as a solution for the economic crisis 1980 and necessary for the application of the neoliberal economy program called the January 24 Decisions, was achieved by a military coup. The authoritarian regime established by the September 12 Military Coup created the necessary environment for the implementation of the neoliberal program by violently suppressing the actors and institutions of the working class and the socialist politics. The neoliberal economic model was put into practice alongside legal restrictions and authoritarian institutional arrangements on working life. This despotic factory regime created by the military rule was maintained throughout the Motherland Party government. Therefore, between 1980 and 1988, a significant decline occurred in the real wages of workers who could not exercise their rights to strike and to collective bargaining. In these years when the class struggle was stagnating, the capitalist class achieved a significant growth by reducing labor costs. The transformation which was against the workers in the distribution of income increased after 1980 due to intensification of neoliberalization. After 1986, there were some developments in the labor movements at the local level. However, these developments did not result with workers' gains. The labor movements, which started in March 1989 due to the conflict in the collective agreement negotiation involving public employees and were called the Spring Actions, had a significant impact that would transform the character of the factory regime. The labor movements, which also affected the local election process, led the ruling Motherland Party to turn to populist economic choices after the loss of votes. As a result, after the Spring Actions, both workers' wages increased significantly and these actions gave the workers the experience of struggle, paving the way for the labor movements that were going to follow in the upcoming years. In this study, the labor movements that happened in the period of 1989-1995 and their effects on the despotic factory regime created after 1980 will be examined.