Working relationships in metropolitan municipalities: The case of Ordu Metropolitan Municipality

From the mid-1970s onwards, the understanding of the state of social welfare has been begun to question, the state-led Keynesian economy policies left their place to the liberal politics. In this process, the Fordist mode of production was shifted to the Post Fordist mode of production, and these new economic and production policies caused radical changes in consumption, in social life, in state-citizen relations, and in working relationships. In the Fordist mode of production, syndicates, who play a leading role in protecting and supervising the rights of employees and improving working conditions, have been weakened and diminished by atypical, flexible working styles and individual, temporary work contracts brought about by the Post Fordist Production style. In this process, the public sector policies have become closer to the private sector and radical changes have taken place in every field from the organization of public organizations to the provision of services. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the transformations in the work relations of the metropolitan municipalities, which are public institutions, in parallel with the changes in economic life. At the same time, to draw attention to the syndicates position that increasingly trivial in working life, and the meaning of job security for employees. In the research, content analysis and survey method were used together. By means of content analysis, changes in the working relations have been put forward in parallel with the change of the production type. With the survey method, the current situation of the working relations of the metropolitan municipalities, which is a public institution, was tried to be realized by taking into account the employees of Ordu Metropolitan Municipality. Quantitative data is used to provide objectivity. It has become evident that collective bargaining agreements have gradually left their place to individual and temporary work contracts, thereby the number of members of syndicates reduced and syndicates diminished. It is observed that there are a large number of educated and qualified employees, but a considerable part of employees are concerned about job security. In the research, the answers given by the employees of the Ordu Metropolitan Municipality, to the survey questions are evaluated as a reflection of the local administrations' economic changes created by globalization.