Collective bargaining

Topics Covered:

• Meaning of Collective Bargaining
• Definitions
• Objectives
• Nature
• Features
• Importance
• Functions
• Principles
• Types
• Process
• Collective Bargaining in India
• Recent Trends and Emerging Issues
• Pre-requisites of Successful Collective Bargaining

 

Meaning of Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining relates to group bargaining as opposed to individual bargaining about wages and salaries and conditions of work in the broad sense. The groups include trade unions and federations of them on the one side and an employer or his representatives or on employer’s association or federation on the other side. The term ‘collective bargaining’ denotes a procedure under which two parties, namely workers and management, read an agreement about wage rates and basic conditions of employment.

Definitions

According to Dale Yoder
Collective bargaining is the term used to describe a situation in which the essential conditions of employment are determined by a bargaining process undertaken by representatives of a group of workers on the one hand and of one or more employers on the other.

According to Jucious
Collective bargaining refers to a process by which employers on the one hand and representatives of employees on the other, attempt to arrive at agreements covering the conditions under which employees will contribute and be compensated for their services.

According to Beach
Collective bargaining is concerned with the relations between unions representing employees and employers (or their representatives). It involves the process of union organization of employees; negotiation, administration and interpretation of collective agreements covering wages, hours of work, and other conditions of employment; engaging in concerted economic action and dispute settlement procedure.

According to Ludwing Teller
Collective bargaining is an agreement between a single employer or an associations of employers on the one hand and Labour Union on the other hand which regulates the terms and conditions of employment.

According to Flippo
Collective bargaining is a process in which the representatives of a labour organization and the representatives of business organization meet and attempt to negotiate a contract or agreement, which specifies the nature of employee-employer-union relationship.

According to a manual issued by the International Labour Office in 1960
Collective bargaining is negotiations about working conditions and terms of employment between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations, on the one hand, and one or more representative workers’ organisations, on the other, with a view to reaching an agreement.

According to Slitcher
Collective bargaining is the beginning of industrial jurisprudence. It is a method of enforcing citizenship right in industry, i.e., management should abide by certain rules rather than taking arbitrary decision.

According to John T. Dunlop
Collective bargaining is (i) a system which establishes, revises and administers many of the rules which govern the workers’ place of work; (ii) a procedure which determines the quantum of compensation which employees should receive and which influences the distribution of economic benefits; (iii) a method of settling disputes during the pendency of agreement and of determining, after its expiry, whether a dispute should be reopened or whether a strike or a lock-out should be resorted to or not.

According to the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Collective bargaining is a process of discussion and negotiation between two parties, one or both of whom is a group of persons acting in concert. The resulting bargain is an understanding as to the terms and conditions under which a continuing service is to be performed …. More specifically, collective bargaining is a procedure by which employers and a group of employees agree upon the conditions of work.

According to R. F. Hoxie
Collective bargaining is a mode of fixing the terms of employment by means of bargaining between an organised body of employees and an employer or an association of employers usually acting through organised agents. The essence of collective bargaining is a bargain between interested parties and not a decree from outside parties.

According to Richardson
Collective bargaining takes place when a number of work people enter into a negotiation as a bargaining unit with an employer of group of employers with the object of reaching an agreement on the conditions of the employment of the work people.

According to Cox
Collective bargaining is the resolution of industrial problems between the representatives of employers and the freely designated representatives of employees acting collectively with a minimum of government dictation.

According to Selig Perlman
Collective bargaining is not just a means of raising wages and improving conditions of employment. Nor is it merely democratic government in industry. It is, above all, a technique whereby an inferior social class or group exerts a never-slackening pressure for a bigger share in social sovereignty as well as for more welfare and greater security and liberty for its members. It manifests itself actually in politics, legislation, court litigation, government administration, religion, education and propaganda.