ABSTRACT

This review of the experience of partnership agreements between employers and workplace unions in the UK life and pensions sector reveals several characteristics. First, its contribution has been based on research undertaken at the level of the firm that combines two pairs of partnership and non-partnership case studies. Second, it has provided a multifaceted account of partnership agreements, analysing their structural origins and motives for adoption, their form and practice and their effects on employers, workplace unions and the workers they represent. Third, it has drawn upon and sought to balance the views of partnership agreements of different stakeholders in partnership and non-partnership firms. Fourth, it has employed a mix of research instruments and modes of analysis to reflect the multifaceted nature of the investigation. Finally, it has related the findings, throughout, to the partnership debate.