The article analyses a range of union-weakening practices developed in three Chilean workplaces. The findings suggest the existence of an ambivalent employment relationship between employers and trade unions where an ongoing informal labour–management partnership simultaneously coexisted with de-collectivising strategies. The article argues that the Chilean state has aided employers in the implementation of such union-weakening practices through the labour legislation. Sixty-nine semi-structured interviews with trade union leaders, human resource managers and field experts inform this research. The legacy of previous forms of state intervention that countered the processes of democratisation is found to be essential in the use of de-collectivisation.