"The social partnership process has kept unions near the seat of power," Mr. O'Brien said.
The social partnership process dates to the economically stagnant Ireland of 1987, when the aptly named Program for National Recovery guaranteed gradual and controlled wage increases.
The committee that oversees the partnership process tries to keep the percentage of partners to employees at 1.8 percent, according to people with knowledge of the process.
Whatever one thinks about "free trade," the secrecy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership process represents a huge assault on the principles and practice of democratic governance.
The Leesburg talks will be the 14th round in a Trans-Pacific Partnership process that was initiated by APEC leaders at a summit meeting two years ago.
Why? A. When you're in a partnership, you have to go through that partnership process, and writing the size of checks that we're writing, there's a reason for the process.
While gaining the coveted status of partner, and then losing it, is certainly not unheard-of at private financial and law firms on Wall Street, Goldman's partnership process stands out for its size and intricacy.
The Citizens Trade Campaign, a U.S. umbrella group, has criticized the Trans-Pacific Partnership process as overly secretive and has called demonstrations against the Leesburg talks, fearing that a free trade deal could result in the loss of American jobs.
Take a proactive approach to the partnership process.
SAP uses its existing partnership process to vet potential investments, "unlike a VC fund that sees a lot of business plans and tries to hit home runs," says Zia Yusuf, executive vice president for platform ecosystem at SAP. Yusuf co-manages the fund with Jim Mackey, SAP's head of corporate finance.
