The first question any aspiring business journalist should ask of themselves as they go about their daily job is ‘what is the agenda here?’

From rigorously dissecting the latest gushing company results announcement – beware the perils of creative accountancy – to the unstoppable rise of the press release industry, the job is frequently a minefield of agenda-driven issues thinly masquerading as ‘news.’

Every politician, from David Cameron down to the local parish councillor, has a personal agenda, largely party-based and often self-serving. Every press release has an agenda, largely commercial.

No company actively seeks bad publicity, even when it is richly deserved.

It is rare in this job to come across any individual whose only agenda is to help the people he represents. Rarer still when the man in question is as happy to discuss the wonders of football and cricket as he is the art of strike ballots and pay negotiations.

John Partridge retired recently after 35 years as a regional official with the Transport and General Workers Union, later to be swallowed up under the Unite banner, now Britain’s biggest union.

John rarely sought publicity, and always gave the impression that he was just as happy solving his members’ problems without the intruding glare of publicity as he was attacking the bosses in print.

But he was an articulate master of his wide-ranging brief, and was happy to chew the fat when time and duty allowed.

Trade unionists often fight their own power battles unseen from the media, and the brothers – and sisters – are not always as chummy as you would think.

Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley were not exactly blood brothers when they shared the general secretary’s job at Unite, so I am told.

Going further back still, Arthur Scargill led the once most powerful union in the country into a battle they could never hope to win against a political foe determined to crush his ambitions. He confused fiery left-wing oratory with true leadership, and paid a heavy price.

There’s a slight touch of the Scargill approach these days with the likes of current Unite general secretary Len McCluskey and RMT motormouth Bob Crow, but the age of the union firebrand is largely consigned to history, as much a part of the past as flared trousers and 70s-style mullets.

John Partridge lived through those extraordinary years as a union negotiator right here in the West Midlands, forsaking early political ambitions after standing unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate at Sutton Coldfield against Norman Fowler in 1979, when Mrs Thatcher swept to power.

His heart lay with the union movement, although he has been a member of the Labour Party ever since, and once served for four years on Solihull Council in the late 70s.

So, 35 years at the coalface of union negotiations affords a rare perspective on life in the workplace over half a lifetime of unprecedented change, from the dying embers of Jim Callaghan’s government to the Cameron-Clegg axis, from Jack Jones and Hugh Scanlon through to Frances O’Grady and Len McCluskey.

John’s conclusions are striking: pressures at work are as bad as they have ever been, bullying is sadly rife although victims more often turn to the unions for help, nobody slides off in the afternoon to the pub any more, the days of Red Robbo-style militancy are over, most people are unwilling to walk out on strike at a time when the economy is still fragile.

But he stresses that he is a ‘glass half full person’ and talks with common sense over timeless principles as relevant today as they were back in the days of British Leyland, wildcat strikes and Scargill’s combover.

“Treated fairly in the workplace, most workers will do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay,” he says.

“There is never an excuse to bully people – you do not get the best out of people if you treat them like s....t.

‘I still believe that talking to employers and trying to resolve differences is the best way. There are times when you have to be firm and authoritative with a company but being over-aggressive can be counter-productive.

“I think that people for the most part have got a more sensible approach in trying to resolve issues rather than bashing the company into your way of thinking.

“If you are asking people to stop work and go on strike, it is a big ask, and most people are unwilling to do that.”

This is not the hyperbolic rhetoric of the NUM of the mid-70s, nor the fire and brimstone fervour of Derek Robinson standing in his duffle coat in Cofton Park back in the days of flying pickets and beer and sandwiches at Number 10.

It’s words of wisdom from a union man who has been there and done it for 35 years, and understands human nature as well as the reality and demands of life in the workplace for many of us in the digital age.

Union matters aside, it helps that John has a hinterland. He’s a football fan supreme with 3,300 grounds under his belt – he believes he is in the top 20 of fans in the UK for grounds visited – and is currently out in Romania and Bulgaria taking in some exotic Eastern European fixtures.

But ask him about his future ambitions and the West Brom season ticket holder replies with a grin: “I want to get into the top 20 of pubs in the UK visited. But there’s a lot more competition there.”

It was always worth having a pint with John Partridge, whether you got a news story or not. And if the agenda now is about visiting a few more pubs, I’ll drink to that.

A very happy retirement, Mr Partridge.