ABSTRACT

The resistance that metal workers initiated in Bursa on May 2015 spread other cities such as Ankara, Kocaeli, Eskişehir in a very short time where there are abundance of metal workers. Not only the employers, but also the Turkish Metal Union which was organized in those workplaces was on the firing line of this resistance. This resistance which workers initiated simultaneously against both the employer and the union that they thought they were in cooperation emerged one of the most effective and broad-based worker unrests since the military coup of 12 September 1980 in Turkey. Mass worker resistances after 1980 were experienced in public workplaces. The first worker unrest in private sector workplaces covering more than one city is the metal worker resistance of May 2015. In this paper, the metal resistance will be evaluated in the scope of the industrial relations system which was formed after 12 September 1980 military coup