Turkey’s emerging social welfare model is not falling apart, and the striking Tekel workers from the former alcohol and tobacco monopoly did not ask for the abolishment of law and order. Industrial action should be seen as a last resort though and not as a substitute for regular negotiations and exchanges of viewpoints between employers and employees, including the government, which is the actual employer in the case of a state monopoly.While most of us would not object to working in an environment were staff meals are complimentary and visits to the on-site gym are encouraged -- employers such as Yahoo and Google spring to mind -- the reality in most industry and service sectors is radically different. The concept of having a job for life is no longer the rule but has become a luxury. I am not necessarily talking about competition in the workplace as such but competition between same sector companies, mergers and acquisitions as well as other external factors. States must compete, too, and mentioning the necessity to attract foreign direct investment as well as facilitating cross-border business deals are only two items on any pro-active, market-oriented government’s agenda. A dynamic nation such as Turkey could turn all of this into an advantage, but in order to do so the government needs allies: the business community both at home and abroad, and most importantly, the men and women who ultimately do the job -- Turkey’s workforce.
The fact that today’s Turkey is fully integrated into the worldwide marketplace has become an asset. There are periods when adjusting to it is more complicated than perhaps expected, but ultimately Turkish businesses and employees will benefit greatly. More trade means more production, similar to more tourists meaning more regional employment. Foreign brands have become household names in Turkey, while Turkish goods are increasingly popular abroad. Think air-conditioners, white goods and blue jeans; the Turkish manufacturing sector has gradually but decisively moved away and moved on from an image of low quality at cheap prices to that of high quality at reasonable prices. Brands work only as long as the country in which they are manufactured is a brand in itself, and Turkey has achieved a sensational transformation from an inward looking, internationally rather isolated state to a hallmark of internationalization.
In the case of the privatization of a former state monopoly, a trade union has limited influence, and clinging to structures that are rather out of tune with modern market economies is the wrong strategy. Both government and trade unions must act honestly and in the interest of the wider picture. Looking across the border, privatizing British Rail in the United Kingdom more than 20 years ago is a good case for comparison: Things had gotten so much out of hand that shortly before privatization trade unions demanded that those men who were needed to staff the old-style locomotives still be employed without any logical job description on board of the new high speed trains, which could basically be run by one man except for dining car staff and the on-board ticket controller(s). What I want to say is that change is a difficult thing to swallow everywhere, but trade unions must accept that our world and the workplace are changing indeed.
Taking modern day trade unions as key stakeholders in society, any government is well advised to closely cooperate with them, ideally well before crucial policy decisions are to be made, including an envisaged privatization. While this will neither eliminate the risk of industrial action nor make trade union representatives automatically complicit in tolerating a tough stance with regards to certain cases, it demonstrates to Turkey’s workforce that it is taken at face value; that is, without it Turkey’s train towards full modernization would long have come to a standstill as people run factories and machines, not the other way around.
If conservatism is interpreted as a gradual modernization process, Turkey’s trade unions might as well become one of the current government’s best allies in particular as there is no credible socialist or social democratic alternative in sight. After all, trade union members are proactive citizens and key voters, too.
