What Is Collective Bargaining

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Collective bargaining is "a process of negotiation between management and union representatives for the purpose of arriving at mutually acceptable wages and working conditions for employees". Various methods may be used in the bargaining process, but the desired outcome is always mutual acceptance by labor and management of a collective bargaining agreement or contract. The heart of collective bargaining is good faith bargaining, which means both parties involved must make reasonable effort to arrive at agreement and proposal are matched with counterproposals. Both negotiating teams will work hard to understand their clients need and wants (demand). In the actual bargaining sessions, there are mandatory bargaining items such as pay, illegal bargaining items and voluntary bargaining items such as benefits for retirees. If things don’t go smoothly during collective bargaining, the parties may utilize third-party intermediaries including mediators, fact finders, and arbitrators. Strikes represent a withdrawal of labor. These economic strikes resulting from a failure to agree on the terms of the contract, as well as unfair labor practice strikes, wildcat strikes, and sympathy strikes. During strikes, picketing may occur. Other tactics include a corporate campaign by the union, boycotting, inside games or lockouts. The objectives of collective bargaining consists of workers participants, to resolve industrial disputes and to improve management-worker relation. Worker’s participation is the basic objective of collective bargaining is to provide an opportunity to the workers to participate in the organizational decision-making. As workers know the ground realties of the enterprise, they may provide easy and useful suggestions to enhance quality of employment conditions. This also helps in boosting the employee morale and enhancing their commitment to the
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