ABSTRACT
Supporters and critics of partnership agreements offer competing assessments of their effects upon enterprise trade unionism and outcomes for workers (see Oxenbridge and Brown, 2002; Kelly, 1999). The preceding chapter analysed the benefits flowing to employers and identified a positive association between management gains and the degree of union co-option. However, the degree of mutuality of such arrangements (see Guest and Peccei, 2001; Stuart and Martínez Lucio, 2002) is widely contested. This final empirical chapter is concerned with comparing the benefits accruing to unions and workers in the two partnership cases with developments at the two non-partnership cases. The aim is to assess whether and how partnership agreements influence the nature and effectiveness of workplace union representation and its ability to achieve gains for workers.
