‘Walking a fine line’: Union perspectives on partnership in nursing and midwifery workplaces

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative research in the main UK unions for nurses/midwives, this article explores union reps’ views of the functioning of workplace partnership in two feminized professions working in the English National Health Service (NHS). Through the investigation of two professional unions, which despite their vitality remain under-researched, the study offers an investigation of the interactions between formal and informal partnership arrangements at the workplace level, the ways in which they intersect with the professional nature of the union context, and the deterioration of working conditions. In doing so, this article contributes to reflections on the prospects of workplace partnership for professional trade unions.