Strategic Unionism and Partnership Boxing or Dancing [Hardcover]

How can trade unions make sense of social partnership? What are the implications of partnership for union renewal? This book takes an international perspective to explore these issues based on an ongoing dialogue between researchers and union practitioners in eight countries. The book develops the metaphors 'boxing' and 'dancing' to denote contrasting strategic choices to the employment relationship, yet argues that neither approach alone can offer an exclusive trajectory for union development. The authors conclude by identifying lessons for union renewal.Seconds Away: Naming and Framing the Project; D.Gregory & T.Nilsson Boxing and Dancing: Trade Union Strategic Choices; T.Huzzard The Limits of the European Dance Floor: Hard Times for Strategic Choice, Partnership and Union Innovation; R.Scott Dancing in the Dark: UK Unions and Strategic Choice; D.Gregory Dancing Queen?: Partnership, Co-determination and Strategic Unionism in Sweden; T.Huzzard & T.Nilsson Tiptoe through the Tulips: The Uneasy Development of Strategic Unionism in Polder Country; M.Van Klaveren & W.Sprenger Where Now for the German Tango Partners?; M.Kuhlmann The Last Waltz: Are Italian Trade Unions Leaving the Dance Floor?; M.Baglioni & A.Marchetti Ireland: Shall we Dance?; K.O'Kelly Romania: Learning to Dance; A.Trif & K.Koch Private Dancer: Boxing and Dancing in the United States; S.Deutsch Dance, Dance, Wherever You May Be?: Partnership in Comparative Perspective; T.Huzzard Lessons and Futures; D.Gregory, T.Huzzard & R.Scott

'As all trade union activists will know - sometimes you have to dance and sometimes you have to box. In this new book about employment based partnerships, the authors have provided us with a valuable and revealing insight into the motivations and practices that lie behind some of the most interesting employment based partnerships that have been developed in recent years.' - Dave Prentis, General Secretary, UNISON

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