While the social philosophy of Tony Blair and British "New Labour" in the 1990s had many roots, its economic policies came from the heart of trade unionism. They evolved from the paradigm of "new realism," a defensive pragmatism following the lost miners' strike 1984. This "realism" instead of boycott was pioneered by the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) and the Electrical and Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU). Both unions formed a block within the British Trade Union Congress (TUC) and began working within the narrowed framework of conservative trade union legislation. Both later developed a strategy of "social partnership," inspired by German corporatist industrial relations. AEU and EETPU merged into one organization in 1991-the Amalgamated Electrical & Engineering Union (AEEU), increasing their influence within TUC and Labour Party. Based on a case study of the AEU/AEEU, this article will discuss the rise and fall of the "partnership" model, a failed attempt to reorganize British industrial relations from traditional voluntarism into a workplace-oriented corporatism.
