The case for workplace partnership

The decline of trade unions in recent years has raised important questions about the future of employee voice. In Britain, many commentaries have been pessimistic, especially regarding the prospects for a revival of unions in the private sector. The most appropriate strategies for union revitalization have divided opinion, and have often been presented as a choice between ‘organizing’ and ‘partnership’. This chapter argues that partnership is a strategy which can be successful at the workplace level in a liberal market economy like the UK. Partnership is also consistent with what many employers and workers prefer, and the only model of unionism the state is likely to support. While partnership is no panacea, the central argument is that partnership merits serious consideration and potentially has a much wider reach than critical commentators believe