ABSTRACT

The involvement and influence of the US administration and the US unionism towards to Turkish unionism are controversial but less known topics in the labour studies. Particularly the US unionism’s influence during Türk-İş Turkey’s first and leading labour confederation, 1952 founding process and intensive participation of Turkish trade unionists into the training programmes in the US sponsored by the US administration through 1960’s have been argued frequently. However, many evaluation in this field based on secondary sources. In this essay it will be examined the US diplomatic correspondences during 1973-1976, between the US diplomatic missions Ankara Embassy, İstanbul, İzmir and Adana Consulates in Turkey and the US Secretary of State, regarding Turkish unionism. These diplomatic correspondences based on documents revealed by The National Archives and Records Administration-NARA. Diplomatic correspondences examined in this study vary wide range from labour disputes and strikes to unions’ various activities to the developments in the main labour confederations Türk-İş and DİSK , from labour involvement in politics to individual assessments. The correspondences may generate some new traces in terms of the US administration’s point of view towards to Turkish unionism