Summary
This article examines the employee buyout process and industrial relations under employee ownership from a Turkish perspective based on the case study of the Karabuk steel mill. It suggests that external factors, namely government support and strong community links, together with internal improvements in management and union initiative have contributed to the viability of the employee buyout. Workers’ attempts to take over ailing public enterprises are a pragmatic response to industrial closure in order to save their jobs. Neither the government nor the union and workers have paid attention to the issue of employee participation in decison-making. Union involvement in management through the board seems not to have been well received by some union members because they identify union with management.
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