Getting learning into the bargain - trade union strategies for bargaining over learning in the workplace

This thesis presents a detailed study of bargaining over learning at the workplace. The thesis contends that by understanding the nature of actor exchange and the bargaining resources at play in workplace bargaining that the inherent tensions around workplace partnership can be better understood. Specifically, the research examines negotiations around workplace learning agreements developed by UK trade unions in four workplaces. It presents longitudinal evidence about bargaining processes and the bargaining resources that trade unions bring to influence workplace outcomes. Key findings are that unions are able to make strategic choices about the bargaining behaviours that they adopt. Bargaining strategies are in part mediated by workplace, union and external contexts, yet these do not pre-determine bargaining outcomes. The study identifies how unions take advantage of opportunities and the key barriers and constraints faced in advancing bargaining objectives. The central thesis of this study is that unions can secure sustainable learning outcomes through a mix of integrative and distributive bargaining, underpinned by strategies to challenge relationship patterns with employers. The power to extract gains for labour is derived from union capacity to articulate learning with wider union and employer strategies. Successful bargaining over learning focuses not only on extracting employer resources and in codifying ‘rights and obligations’, but also in challenging relationship patterns to counter-act employer ambivalence. The core contribution to knowledge is in understanding the nature of the social processes underpinning negotiations around the learning theme. The implications for union renewal and the role of union learning representatives (ULRs) are considered.