In the neoliberal era labour union crisis in Turkey: In the 2000s union comparative analysis of perception of crisis

The aim of this research is to find answers to the following questions; How do trade unions evaluate the post-1980 process? How did neoliberal policies affect trade unions? How do the transformations in working life give unions experience? What do they encounter in the organization process? How is the union crisis perceived by the trade unions? What do trade unions think about how to overcome the union crisis? What are the attitudes of trade unions in politics and relations with political parties? In this work, how the managers and employees of 17 labour unions, affiliated to the three labour unions confederations which is included Türk-İş, Hak-İş and DİSK, perceive the labour unions' crisis has been tried to understand by using semi-structured interview tecnıque. In the first part of the study, the Fordist and Post-Fordist periods of capitalism were discussed and how these periods shaped the labor processes. Then, the reflections of the neoliberal process, which can be called today as a type of capitalism, on the labor market are examined. In the second part, it was examined the effects of transformations in working life to organizational phases of labour unions and focused on how this process come true in Turkey. In the three sections of the study, the data obtained from the semi-structured interview with the managers and employees of the labour unions within the selected sectors were evaluated and the perceptions of the labour unions crisis were analyzed. As a result of this research, the labour unions are in an organizational crisis, but the level of this crisis increases from the public to the private sector; In the private sector, it is understood that there is an increase from the production sector towards the service sector and that the factor determining the power of the labour unions is the relationship with the political power.