The establishment of a role in workplace learning has been perceived as one of the achievements of trade unions under New Labour. This article analyses the part the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has played in public policy since 1997. It examines its attempts to influence government and develop social partnership and statutory backing for vocational training. It assesses its degree of success and considers whether the TUC's role is best characterized in terms of social partnership or as a rediscovery of the unions' public administration function. It reviews the literature which suggests that involvement in learning stimulates union revitalization. The article concludes that the TUC has failed to attain significant influence over public policy. Rather it has delivered policy determined by government with priority accorded to employer predilections. A public administration role focused on the Union Learning Fund has provided the TUC with a new, secondary function, which provides some compensation for the failure of its primary agenda. Nonetheless, on the evidence, involvement in workplace learning appears an implausible path to union revitalization. Copyright (c) Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2008.

This article develops several frameworks for the analysis of supply strategies employed for public sector contracts on the basis of a review of the literature on public procurement and supply management. Three approaches to public procurement are identified. Current UK government policy and European Union Directives emphasise the commercial and regulatory strands. However, there is a need to recognise the importance of the socio-economic strand of public procurement. A range of supply management strategies are then explored, which are distinguished by four criteria: map of the actors; information sharing; features of the relationship; and sharing of risks and rewards. The final section of the paper analyses a sample of contracts from Government Purchasing Agency (Northern Ireland) (GPA) and the then Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). Whilst the more commercially or regulatory oriented contracts are found to employ relatively simple, dyadic strategies involving open competitive tendering, more complex supply chain management or network strategies are found in relation to contracts where socio-economic goals are of primary importance.

The period of Tony Blair's leadership preceding the 1997 general election saw a transformation of the Labour Party. This was of immense importance to the political role of trade unions. The emergence of New Labour can only be understood through analysis of developments in both party and unions.

The TUC's political role has been in the forefront of its function for most of its history and has revived with the election of new Labour. This article argues that the TUC's current political approach is unlikely to contribute towards significant union resurgence in the workplace or politically.This article has twin starting points. First, commentators have noted the dearth of research on the work of the TUC over the last two decades. This has taken on specific significance in the light of the TUC's relaunch in 1994 (Heery 1998: a, b). Second, this absence took on particular importance with the election of a Labour government and the potential this holds for trade union resurgence and development of the unions' political role. Much of the work on union renewal has insisted that it must develop autonomously within the workplace (Fosh 1993, Fairbrother 1996. Yet all we know about union decline and resurgence suggests that the possibility of significant renewal, whatever form it may take, is intimately related to the role of the state, to political and economic factors and to the organisation of capital and labour beyond the workplace, as well as the agency of activists within it (for reviews see Towers 1997, Gall 1998). These factors constrain and facilitate what happens in the workplace. A new political and legal framework is insufficient in itself for union revival and will require vigorous exploitation. It remains necessary, and the TUC's role in establishing it is central (Towers 1997: 229).Our purpose is to develop recent investigations of the TUC which concentrate on its industrial campaigning (Heery 1998: a, b) by providing detailed exploration of its relations with the state during the first two years of the new Labour administration. A central purpose of reorganisation was to re-launch the TUC's political role as an influential social partner. Reflecting in 1998, TUC general secretary John Monks observed: 'it has been the relationship between the trade union movement and the Government which has dominated my time over the past year' (TUC 1998a:4). Ì John McIlroy is a Reader in the

Copyright and moral rights to this thesis/research project are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Any use of the thesis/research project for private study or research must be properly acknowledged with reference to the work's full bibliographic details.This thesis/research project may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from it, or its content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s).If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address:eprints@mdx.ac.ukThe item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. Richard CroucherMiddlesex University, UK AbstractUnionlearn and union learning representatives were developed by the British TUC to match workers with education and training opportunities, strengthen the economy, foster market inclusion and facilitate social mobility. Their contribution to union revitalisation was emphasised. This article questions whether, with unions confronting global crisis, this is a necessary initiative. It stemmed from TUC failure to achieve policy goals, institutional needs, consequent acceptance of a lesser role, and the availability of state finance. Claims it provides influence over state policy and contributes to revitalisation remain inadequately evidenced. Union resurgence is not immanent. The way forward is through adversarial grassroots organising and socialist education, not through retooling capital, improving members' marketability and partnership with a hostile state.