Welcome to Francis Academic Press

Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 2021, 4(10); doi: 10.25236/AJHSS.2021.041013.

Have labour-management partnership agreements been successful?

Author(s)

Xin Lu

Corresponding Author:
Xin Lu
Affiliation(s)

Army Medical Center of PLA, Chongqing, China, 400020

Abstract

The aim of the labour-management partnership prevailing in some European countries, such as the United Kingdom, is to enhance cooperation between employers and trade unions to get a win-win outcome, sifting away from adversarialism to relations imbedded with reciprocity, trust, cooperation and mutuality. Although labour-management cooperation has been promoted, a wide range of disputes have been generated because some people believe that partnership agreements undermine the unionism more deeply and these agreements prioritize employer benefits without equal gains for employees. This article explains the reasons behind the negative evaluations of partnership. It starts with the unachieved outcomes of partnership, pointing out the unfulfilled promises and unbalanced adoption and survival rates. The second part puts emphasis on the unsuccessful reasons from both ends of the parties. The final section proposes some critics about how to measure the ‘success’ in partnership agreements and sums up the main conclusions.

Keywords

Partnership agreements, Labour-management partnership, Trade union

Cite This Paper

Xin Lu. Have labour-management partnership agreements been successful? . Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2021) Vol. 4, Issue 10: 61-66. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2021.041013.

References

[1] Ackers, P. and Payne, J. (1998).‘ British trade unions and social partnership: rhetoric, reality and strategy’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol.9 No.3, pp.529-50

[2] Bacon, N. and Samuel, P. (2009). ‘Partnership agreement adoption and survival in the British private and public sectors’, Work, employment and society, Vol.23 No.2, pp.231-48.

[3] Claydon, T. (1998). ‘Problematising Partnership: the prospects for a cooperative bargaining agenda’

[4] Dietz, G. (2004). ‘Partnership and the development of trust in British workplaces’, Human Resource Management Journal, Vol.14 No.1, pp.5-24.

[5] Guest, D. and Peccei, R. (2001). ‘Partnership at work: mutuality and the balance of advantage’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol.39 No.2, pp.207-36.

[6] Hyman, R. (1997).‘The future of employee representation’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol.35 No.3, pp.309-31.

[7] Heery, E. (2002). ‘Partnership versus organizing: alternative futures for British trade unionism’, Industrial Relations, Vol.23 No.2, pp.164-87.

[8] Kelly,  J. (1996).‘Union militancy and social partnership’, in P. Ackers, C. Smith and P. Smith (eds), The new workplace and trade unionism, London: Routledge.

[9] Kelly, J. (1999).‘Rethinking Industrial Relations: Mobilization, Collectivism and Long waves. London: Routledge.

[10] Kelly, J. (2000).‘The limits and contradictions of social partnership’, Communist Review, 33(Autumn): 3-7.

[11] Kelly, J. (2004). ‘Social partnership agreements in Britain: Labour Co-operation and compliance’, Industrial Relations, Vol.43 No.1.

[12] Kelly, J. (2011). ‘The United Kingdom’, in Frege, C and Kelly, J (eds) ‘Comparative Employment Relations In the Global Economy’.

[13] Kochan, T and Osterman, P. (1994). ‘The mutual gains enterprise: forging a winning participation among labour, management and government, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

[14] Marchington, M (1998). ‘Partnership in context: towards a European model’, in P. Sparrow and M. Marchington (eds), Human Resource Management: the new agenda, London: FT Pitman.

[15] Oxenbridge, S. and Williams, B. (2002). ‘ The two faces of partnership? An assessment of partnership and co-operative employer/trade union relationships’ Employee Relations, Vol.24 Vol.3, pp.262-276.

[16] Oxenbridge, S. and Williams, B. (2004). ‘Achieving a new equilibrium? The stability of cooperative employer-union relationships’, Industrial Relations Journal, Vol.35 No.5, pp.388-402.

[17] Samuel, P. (2005). ‘Partnership working and the cultivated activist. Industrial Relations Journal, Vol.36 No.1, pp.59-76.

[18] Samuel, P. (2007). ‘Partnership consultation and employer domination in two British life and pension firms’, Work, Employment and Society, Vol.21 No.3, 459.

[19] Samuel, P. and Bacon, N (2010).‘The contents of partnership agreements in Britain, 1990-2007: modest aims of limited ambition?’ Work, Employment and Society, Vol.24 No.3, pp.1-19.

[20] Stuart, M. and Martinez Lucio, M. (2005), ‘Partnership and modernization in Employment relations, London: Routledge.

[21] Terry, M. (2003). ‘Can partnership reverse the decline of British trade unions?’, Work, Employment and Society 17(3): 459-72.

[22] Thompson, P. (2003). ‘Disconnected Capitalism: Or why employers can’t keep their side of the bargain’, Work, employment and society, Vol.17 No.2, pp.359-78.

[23] TUC (2002). Partnership Works, Trade Unions Congress, London.

[24] Walton, R. E. and McKersie, R. B. (1965). ‘A behavioral theory of labour negotiations, London: McGraw-Hill.