What is Collective Bargaining?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 592.

Collective Bargaining Process

Think ahead

Collective bargaining is a complicated process. In your opinion, what steps does it comprise?

Text 7.2Read the text and describe each step of the collective bargaining process.

Collective bargaining is the process by which employees, through the union or association representing them, negotiate a labour agreement with their employer. The three main steps in the collective bargaining process are preparation, bargaining and tentative agreement.

In the step of preparation both union and management negotiators formulate their demands and concessions. The union attempts to pinpoint what it would like to have from management in such areas as wages and job seniority. Management attempts to define limits in giving concessions to the union; limits which will enable the organization to maintain a reasonable level of profit. Each side prepares independently of the other.

The second step of the collective bargaining process is bargaining. Once management and labour have prepared their demands and concessions, they begin the actual bargaining. At this stage the two sides come together in a face-to-face meeting, usually around a large table. (You will often hear newscasters report that both sides are ‘at table' or that all the issues have been ‘put on table'.) In this second step of the collective bargaining process, both management and unions attempt to follow the bargaining plans they outlined during the preparation phase. Essentially, management and labour, in a spirit of compromise, try to achieve their individual objectives.

Tentative agreement is the final step of the process. If both sides bargain satisfactorily during the bargaining phase, they draft a preliminary agreement or statement which describes their settlement. This means that management can meet enough of the union's demands to satisfy the union negotiators while still maintaining a reasonable level of profit. This agreement must then be presented to the union membership for a vote. If the union membership votes to accept or ratify this settlement, the settlement becomes the collective bargaining agreement or contract under which both management and the union must operate. If, however, the union membership votes to reject the settlement, both management and the union representatives must return to the bargaining table to draft another tentative agreement, which again must be presented for union membership approval. This basic process continues until the membership ratifies an agreement which then becomes the contract.