Collective bargaining- Meaning, Definitions, Collective Bargaining in India

Objectives of Collective Bargaining

The main objectives of collective bargaining are as follows:
1. To maintain cordial relations between the employer and the employee.
2. To protect the Interests of workers through collective action find by preventing unilateral action on the part of the employer. All employees are treated on equal lootings.
3. To ensure that participation of trade unions In Industry.
4. To avoid the need for Government intervention as collective bargaining is a voluntary process.
5. To promote industrial democracy.

Nature of C.B.

♦ It is carried out on a collective as distinct from an individual basis. That is, collective bargaining is bargaining by groups of people.
♦ In the bargaining process, the main actors are employees, employers and their associations.
♦ The object of collective bargaining is rule-making, i.e., reaching an agreement by specifying the rules pertaining to employment relationship.
♦ The main focus of these rules, is on the terms and conditions of employment.
♦ Collective bargaining is a “civilised bipartite confrontation” between the workers and management with a view to arriving at an agreement, for the object is not ‘warfare’ but ‘compromise’.
♦ It is both a device and a procedure used by wage-earners to safeguard their interests; it is an institution or instrument of an industrial organisation for discussion and negotiations between the two parties.
♦ It is, moreover, a technique by which an attempt is made to reconcile the needs and objectives of workers and employers and is, therefore, an integral part of an industrial society.
♦ The essence of collective bargaining lies in the readiness of the two parties to a dispute to reach an agreement or mutually satisfying settlement. It is concerned about the emotions of the people involved in it as well as with the logic of their interests.

Features of Collective Bargaining

♦ It is a collective process. it is collective in two ways. One is that all the workers collectively bargain for their common interests and benefits. The other is that workers and management jointly arrive at an amicable solution through negotiations.
♦ It is a continuous process. It establishes regular and stable relationship between the parties involved. It involves not only the negotiation of the contract, but also the administration or application of the contract also. It means that bargaining is a day-to-day process. In this context, Summer Stitcher has rightly observed, “It would be a mistake to assume that collective bargaining begins and ends with the writing of the contract. Actually that is only the beginning of collective bargaining.
♦ It is a flexible and dynamic process. The parties have to adopt a flexible attitude throughout the process of
bargaining.
♦ It is a method of partnership of workers in management. It is in fact a way to establish industrial democracy.
♦ It is based on give and take approach and not in take or leave approach.
♦ It is an attempt in achieving and maintaining discipline in industry.
♦ It is an effective step in promoting industrial jurisprudence.
♦ Bargaining strength is equal. Across the table, both the parties bargain from a position of equal strength. In collective bargaining, the bargaining strength of both the parties is equal. It is industrial democracy at work.
♦ Voluntary process. both the workers and management come to the negotiating table voluntarily in order to have a meaningful dialogue on various troubling issues. They try to probe each other’s views thoroughly before arriving at an organization at an acceptable solution. The implementation of the agreement reached is also a voluntary process.
♦ Their exist a power relationship
Workers want to gain the maximum from the management and management wants to extract the maximum from workers by offering as little as possible.
♦ It is a bipartite process i.e. the employers and the employees negotiate the issues directly, face to face across the table. There is no third party intervention.

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