ABSTRACT
There has been much talk of partnership in practitioner, policy and academic circles in recent years. Workplace partnership has been encouraged by both Government funding and ACAS guidance (ACAS 2001). Analysis of this development has tended to concentrate on whether partnership agreements offer a means for trade union renewal, or whether they threaten to undermine trade union independence in the workplace. In this chapter we eschew this polarised debate by analysing a variety of partnership relationships developing between employers and trade unions and the implications for each of the actors party to them.
