COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

 Collective bargaining usually denotes the negotiation, administration and interpretation of an official document between two parties that covers a specific period of time.This agreement or contract lay out in specific terms the conditions of employment, puts some limits on employees and sets limits on management’s authority.
ILO defined collective bargaining as negotiations about working conditions and term of employment between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employees’ organizations and one or more representative workers’ organizations on the other, with a view to reaching agreement wherein the terms of an agreement serve as a code defining the rights and obligations of each party in their employment relations with one another; it fixes a large number of detailed conditions of employment, and during the period of its validity matters it deals with can not in normal circumstances give grounds for dispute concerning an individual workers.

The Encyclopedia of Social Sciences defines collective bargaining as a bi-partite process of debate and negotiation, one or each of whom is a group of persons acting united.  The ensuing bargain is an understanding as to the terms or conditions under which a continuing service is to be performed. Specifically, collective bargaining is the procedure by which an employer or employers and a group of employees agree upon the conditions of work”

Professor Allan Flanders argues that collective bargaining is primarily a political rather than an economic process. It is power relationship between a trade union organization and the management organization. The agreement reached is a compromise settlement of power conflicts.
Collective Bargaining is also a process of accommodation between two institutions which have both common and contrasting interests.

The process is ‘collective’ because representatives of employees and employers in groups rather than as individuals solve issues relating to terms and conditions of employment. The term ’bargaining’ refers to evolving an agreement using methods like negotiations, debate, exchange of facts and ideas, rather than confrontation. The process of collective bargaining is bipartite in nature. The negotiations take place between the employers and the employees, without a third party’s intervention.  Divergent viewpoints are put forth by the concerned parties, and undergoing negotiations, a settlement is arrived. The objective is to arrive at an agreement.

Collective bargaining serves a number of functions of importance to both the parties. It is a rule framing or legislative process in the sense that it formulates terms and conditions under which labor and management may cooperate and work together over a specified period.  It is also a judicial process because in every collective agreement there is a provision or clause regarding the interpretation of the agreement and how any difference of opinion about the intention or scope of a particular clause is to be resolved. It is also an executive process for both management and union undertake to implement the agreement signed.

Features of collective bargaining include:  

• It is a ‘group’ process wherein one group representing the employers and the other representing employees sit together to negotiate terms of employment. 
• The collective bargaining process follows different steps beginning with the putting forward the charter of demands and the reaching to an agreement. 
•  Negotiations constitute a major aspect of the process of collective bargaining with considerable scope for discussion, compromise or mutual give and take in the collective bargaining deliberations rather than confrontation.
•  It is a bipartite process involving the employers and employees. 

The major objective of collective bargaining are: 

• To agree upon a contract acceptable to union representatives, union members and the management. 
• The bargaining agreement reflects the problems of the particular workplace and industry in which the agreement is negotiated. 
• The agreement may be very vague or highly specific. The contents of one agreement may have no bearing on another.

This is widely reflected in the demands unions place on management and in the subject and terms of the agreement finally negotiated. Leaving aside the specific issues contained in various contracts, four issues that commonly appear in all labor contracts include wages, hours of work, terms and conditions of employment and the grievance procedure. 

• We cannot say that collective bargaining is a panacea for all the ills of labor-management relation. Effective collective bargaining contributes to solve strategic problems of labor-management relations at the enterprise and industry levels. 
• It enables the parties to arrive at a joint compromise on common problems.
• Management may lose their unilateral discretion on essential issues that affect the workers, on the one hand, while they can take the workers into their confidence regarding the problems that affect both of them, on the other. 
• This would help avoid and avert undesirable situations and direct actions, while it stimulates productivity. 
• A peaceful working environment is essential for establishing cordial mutual relations, since both the employers and the employees arrive at a mutual agreement can create progress.  They come closer that help them to maintain more cordial relations. 
• Collective agreements provide the climate for smooth progress. 
• The agreements spell out the working relationship between employers and workers’ organization in which a synthesis between the demand for one side and concessions for the other can be given practical shape.  
• The trade unions and the workers are better off since their views and interests are taken into account, while employers are not worse off since they are able to take the workers into their confidence, which would lead to good employer, employee relations, industrial peace and prosperity. 
• Collective bargaining ensures a ‘give a take’ policy leading to better industrial democracy and trade union-management co-operation.

The ILO Convention No. 98 (1949) relating to the Right to organize and to Bargain Collectively describes collective bargaining as:"Voluntary negotiation between employers or their organizations and workers' organizations for the purpose of the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by collective agreements."

Importance of Collective Bargaining

     The collective bargaining offers a number of advantages to an organization. The important advantages include:

1.     Promotes industrial democracy as both the employer and the employees participate in the negotiation process breeding the democratic process in the organization 
   2.   Develops better understanding between the employer and the employees  
   3.    Facilitates the fast negotiation arrived at is acceptable to both the employer and the employees. The collective bargaining is adjustable to the changing conditions. 
   4.  Facilitates the fast implementation of decisions arrived at collective negotiation implementation of decisions arrived at collective negotiation