Strike Action in a Self‐managed Enterprise: The Ravne Iron Works – A Case Study

Abstract

A detailed account is given of a strike during December 1987 in a number of production and support units of the Ravne Iron Works, located in Slovenia, and run under workers′ self‐management, according to the laws in force at that time. The phenomenon of the strike is initially examined in the context of the official political and legal refusal to recognize its existence. A discussion then follows on how, within the then national model of workers′ self‐management, strikers were acting against their own agents (management) and against their own economic and political interests. A scrutiny of management′s role shows how its response frequently was to concede strikers′ demands, for reasons of avoiding official attention and opprobrium. The strike thus acquired a reputation for being antisocial, unacknowledged, yet effective. Finally, the strike events are analysed in respect of the economic, sociological, political and epidemiological models of strikes: elements of all four models are identified.