Whither Partnership?

Abstract

We have suggested in this book that partnership is rooted in government and employer strategies to redefine industrial relations. This is as a precursor to closing the UK productivity gap and ‘modernising’ public services. Partnership is the chosen vehicle for a renewed capital accumulation strategy predicated on ‘progressive workplace consensus’ as an alternative to the traditional adversarial industrial relations regime. The TUC, by offering a productivity coalition to employers in the interest of organisational and national competitiveness, promotes partnership as a route back to union renewal and societal legitimacy. Such strategic reorientation implies a shift in belief systems about the employment relationship and the world of work. This third way or ‘new pluralist’ ideology deregisters class conflict and is justified by an appeal to risk minimisation in a globalising economy. For unions the negation of separate interests in favour of mutual interests is a risky proposition but is confronted by the TUC in an acknowledgement of difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ partnership, whereby only the six principles of ‘good’ partnership (itself predicated on ‘strong’ unions) are supported. Our case studies were designed to test the reality of partnership in both unionised and non-unionised environments and to assess the sustainability of the partnership model in practice.