Collective bargaining denoted a procedure under which two parties,namely,workers and management,read an agreement about wage rates and basic conditions of employment.
Collective bargaining is a mode of fixing the term of employment by means of bargaining between organised body of employees or association of employers acting usually through authorized agents. The essence of collecting bargaining is bargaining between interested and not a decree from outside parties.
Meaning and Definition of Collective Bargaining
According to Dale Yoder__“Collective bargaining is essentially a process in which employees act as a group in seeking to shape conditions and relationships in their employment”.
According to Beach__“Collective bargaining is concerned with the relations between union representing employees and employers. It involves the process of union organization of employees,negotiation,administration and interpretation of collective agreement covering wages,hours of work and other conditions of employment,engaging in concerted economic action and dispute settlement procedures”.
According to Stevens___” Collective Bargaining as a ‘social control technique for reflecting and transmitting the basic power relationships which underlie the conflict of interest in an industrial relations system”.
The ILO has defined collective bargaining as ” negotiations about working conditions and terms of employment between an employer and a group of employees or one or more employees’ organizations with a view to reaching an agreement wherein the terms serve as a code of defining the rights and obligations of each party in their employment relations with one another; fix a large number of detailed conditions of employment, and derivatives validity, none of the matters it deals which can in normal circumstances be given as a ground for a dispute concerning an industrial worker”.
Characteristics of Collective Bargaining
- It is a group as well as individual effort.
- It is flexible but not static.
- Two-party process.
- It is a continuous process.
- It is a dynamic process and not static.
- It is a industrial democracy at work.
- Not a competitive process.
Objectives of Collective Bargaining
The industry need collective bargaining as a tool the following reasons:
- To increase: To increase the economic growth unions and management.
- To establish: To establish uniform conditions of employment.
- To avoid: To avoid industrial disputes.
- To maintain: To maintain the stable peace in the industry.
- To secure: To secure the prompt and fair redressal of grievances.
Advantages/Importance of Collective Bargaining
- It helps prevent industrial disputes.
- It helps solve industrial disputes.
- it helps avoid strikes,lock outs and go slow tactics at the workplace.
- It helps employees to get their voice heard.
- It helps achieve industrial harmony,democratically.
- It helps redress worker grievances promptly and fairly.
Disadvantages/ Problems of Collective Bargaining
- The trade unions are having political affiliations,they continue to be dominated by politicians agent on behalf of the workers.
- There have been very close association between the trade unions and political parties. As a result,trade union movement has learned towards political orientations rather than collective bargaining.
- There is a lack of definite procedure to determine which is to be recognized to serve as bargaining agent on behalf of the workers.
- The government has not been making any strong effect for the development of collective bargaining. The government has imposed many restrictions regarding strikes,lockouts,which is an obstacle for the development of collective bargaining process.