COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Content of Seminar

 Definition
 Collective Bargaining
 Objectives of Collective Bargaining
 Characteristics of Collective Bargaining
 Principles of collective bargaining
 Types of Bargaining
 Collective Bargaining Members
 Essential pre-requisites for collective bargaining
 Collective Bargaining Process
 Advantages And Disadvantages
 Why Negotiations Fail
 The Nurse Managers Role in CB:
 Recent Impact of Collective Bargaining
 Benefits of CB
 Conclusion

INTRODUCTION :

Collective bargaining “extends to all negotiations which take place between an employer, a
group of employers or one or more employers’ organization , on the one hand, and one or more
workers’ organization , on the other, for:

a) Determining working conditions and terms of employment; and/or

b) Regulating relations between employers and workers; and/or
c) Regulating relations between employers or their organization and a workers’ organization
or workers’ organization”.

The term "collective bargaining" was first used in 1891 by Beatrice Webb, a founder of the field
of industrial relations in Britain. It refers to the sort of collective negotiations and agreements
that had existed since the rise of trade unions during the 18th century. In the United States, the
National Labor Relations Act of 1935 implemented. It was introduced in India in 1952 and is
gradually gaining importance in following years.

DEFINITION:-

Collective bargaining is a process between employers and employees to reach an agreement

regarding the rights and duties of people at work. Collective bargaining is an agreement between
a single employer or an association of employers on the one hand and a labour union on the
other, which regulates the terms and conditions of employment.

In the words of Flippo, “Collective bargaining is a process in which the representatives of a

labour organisation 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 Beach, “Collective Bargaining is concerned with the relations between unions
reporting employees and employers (or their representatives)”.

Collective Bargaining Is A Process of Discussion And Negotiation Between Two Parties.

Collective bargaining issues such as

 Employees pay
 Working hours
 Training
 Health and safety
 rights to participate in workplace or affairs

Collective Bargaining Involves:

 Negotiations
 Drafting
 Administration
 Interpretation of documents written by employers, employees and the union
representatives
 Organizational Trade Unions with open mind.

OBJECTIVES OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

1. To provide an opportunity to the workers, to voice their problems on issues related to

employment.
2. To facilitate reaching a solution that is acceptable to all the parties involves.
3. To resolve all conflicts and disputes in a mutually agreeable manner.
4. To prevent any conflict/disputes in the future through mutually signed contracts.
5. To develop a conductive atmosphere to foster good organizations relations.
6. To provide stable and peaceful organization (hospital) relations.
7. To enhance the productivity of the organization by preventing strikes lock – out.
8. To arrive at an agreement on wages & other conditions of employment.
9. To protect the interests of nurse employees through collective action.
10. To negotiate voluntarily, yielding some concessions & sacrifices by both parties.
11. To bargain from a position of strength without exploiting the weakness.
12. To resolve the differences between nurse employees & management through
negotiation.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING MEMBERS
 Registered nurses
 Physicians
 Other professionals
 Technical employees
 Non –professionals

ESSENTIAL PRE-REQUISITES FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING:

Effective collective bargaining requires the following prerequisites:

a) Existence of a strong representative trade union in the industry that believes in
constitutional means for settling the disputes.
b) Existence of a fact-finding approach and willingness to use new methods and tools for the
solution of industrial problems. The negotiation should be based on facts and figures and
both the parties should adopt constructive approach.
c) Existence of strong and enlightened management which can integrate the different
parties, i.e., employees, owners, consumers and society or Government.
d) Agreement on basic objectives of the organisation between the employer and the
employees and on mutual rights and liabilities should be there.
e) In order that collective bargaining functions properly, unfair labour practices must be
avoided by both the parties.
f) Proper records for the problem should be maintained.
g) Collective bargaining should be best conducted at plant level. It means if there are more
than one plant of the firm, the local management should be delegated proper authority to
negotiate with the local trade union.
h) There must be change in the attitude of employers and employees. They should realise
that differences can be resolved peacefully on negotiating table without the assistance of
third party.
i) No party should take rigid attitude. They should enter into negotiation with a view to
reaching an agreement.
j) When agreement is reached after negotiations, it must be in writing incorporating all term
of the contract

CHARACTERSTICS OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

 Collective: Collective bargaining is a two way group process where the employers
representative and employees representatives sit together to negotiate terms of
employment.
 Strength: Both the parties in collective bargaining are strong and equal.
 Voluntary: Both parties come to the negotiation table voluntarily in order to go in
particular negotiation. It is based on discussion, mutual trust and understanding.
 Formal: It is a formal process in which certain employment related issues are to be
regulated at National, organization and workplace levels.
 Flexible: It is a flexible and continuous process and not fixed or static.
 Improvement: It is a method to improve the employer-employees relation in
organization and resolve management and employees conflicts.
  Representation: Collective bargaining is between the representatives of employees
and management. The management does not directly deal with employees. It carries
negotiations with the representatives/executives of unions and association.
 Dynamic: Collective bargaining is dynamic, that go on changing over a period and
grows and expand the way of agreement, the way of implementation and way of
discussion
 Continuous: Collective bargaining is continuous and begins with agreement, the
implementation of agreement and further negotiations.
 Bipartite Process: Because the employee and employers representatives negotiate
directly face to face across the table.

PRINCIPLES OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

For union and management:
 CB should be an education as well as a bargaining processes.
 There must be mutual confidence and good faith and a desire to make collective
bargaining effective in practices.
 There should be an honest and responsible leadership for only this kind of leadership will
make collective bargaining effective and meaningful
For the management
 Management must develop and consistently follow a realistic labour policy which
should be accepted and carried out by its representatives.
 Management must grant recognition to the trade union without any reservations and
accept it as a constructive force in the organization
 Management should not wait for the trade union to bring employee grievance to its
notice but should rather create the condition employee can approach
 Management should deal only with one trade union in the organization
For trade union :
 Trade union leaders should be appreciate the economic implication of collective
bargaining for their demands are generally met from the income and resources of the
organisation
 Trade union should resort to strikes only when all the other methods of the settlement
of a dispute have failed -trade union leaders should not imagine that their only
function is to secure higher wages ,shorter hours of work and better working
conditions for their members

TYPES OF BARGAINING

CONJUNCTIVE OR DISTRIBUTIVE BARGAINING:

Conjunctive bargaining is the most common type of bargaining & involves zero-sum
negotiations, in other words, one side wins and the other loses. Both parties try to maximize their
respective gains. They try to settle economic issues such aswages, benefits, bonus, etc. For
Example, Unions negotiate for maximum wages &the management wants to yield as little as
possible –while getting things done through workers.
In distributive bargaining, unions and management have initial offers or demands, target points
(e.g.: desired wage level), resistance points (e.g.: unacceptable wage levels) & settlement ranges
(e.g.: acceptable wage level). Another name for this type of bargaining is conjunctive bargaining

COOPERATIVE /INTEGRATIVE BARGAINING:

Integrative bargaining is similar to problem solving sessions in which both sides are trying to
reach a mutually beneficial alternative, i.e. a win-win situation.  Both the employer & the union
try to resolve the conflict to the benefit of both parties. Both sides share information about their
interests and concerns and they create a list of possible solutions to best meet everyone’s needs.
For Example, when companies are hit by recession, they cannot offer the kind of wages and
benefits demanded by workers. At the same time they cannot survive without the latter’s support.
Both parties realize the importance of surviving in such difficult times and are willing to
negotiate the terms of employment in a flexible way.

PRODUCTIVITY BARGAINING:
A form of collective bargaining leading to a productivity agreement in which management offers
a pay raise in exchange for alterations to employee working practices designed to increase
productivity. The concept of productivity bargain involves a good understanding of the following
concepts. Based on these concepts both the parties must develop a productivity linked scheme.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROCESS

 Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation. Negotiation involves any form of
discussion, formal or informal, with a view to reaching an agreement.
 For collective bargaining to be effective, it is important that these negotiations be
conducted in good faith.
 Collective bargaining involves a process of joint decision making that helps to build trust
and mutual respect between the parties and enhance the quality of labour relations.

COMPOSITE BARGAINING:

Workers believed that productivity bargaining agreements increased their workloads.

Rationalization, introduction of new technology, tight productivity norms have added to this
burden and made the life of a worker some what uneasy. As an answer to such problems,
labor has come in favor of composite bargaining.
In this method, labor bargains for wages as usual, but goes a step further demanding equity in
matters relating to work norms, employment levels, manning standards, environnemental
hagards , sub-contracting clauses etc. This works in the favor of the workers, for e.g., when
unions negotiate standards they ensure the workload of workers don’t exceed .

CONCESSIONARY BARGAINING

Quite opposite to the other forms of bargaining, where the unions demanded from the
employers, in concessionary bargaining, the objective is to giving back to management some
of what it has gained in previous bargaining.
 Why should labor be willing to give back what it has worked so hard to obtain?
In concession bargaining unions give back to the management something it has gained
from the management previously like pay rises, work practices, good working conditions
and similar other things in return for job security. This kind of bargaining takes place mainly
when there is a recession condition in the market
There are three types of concession bargaining-integrative, distributive and ultra concession
bargaining.
In integrative concession when unions give back some kind of concession to the employer,
the employer along with job security also engages in other forms of reciprocating exchange
like allowing the unions to participate in decision making, sharing information, engaging
employees, profit sharing etc.
In distributive concession bargaining employers make use of hard times in business to
allow trade unions to make concessions in their working conditions and pay in return for job
security. No concession is granted in participation in decision making or recognition of
trade unions.
In ultra concession unions have no power at all. In this form of concession bargaining
employers gain a lot of concession from unions and in return they give very few or no
benefits to the unions. Also employers turn hostile to unions and try to suppress the unions

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROCESS

It is comprises of five core steps:
 Prepare: This phase involves composition of a negotiation team. The negotiation team
should consist of representatives of both the parties with adequate knowledge and skills
for negotiation.
 Discuss: the parties decide the ground rules that will guide the negotiations.
 Propose:, this phase could be described as brainstorming‘. The exchange of messages
takes place and opinion of both the parties is sought.
 Bargain: This stage comprises the time when what ifs and supposals‘ are set forth and
the drafting of agreements take place.
 Settlement: This stage is described as consisting of effective joint implementation of the
agreement through shared visions, strategic planning and negotiated change

ADVANTAGES

 Contract to guide standards.

 Participation in decision making process.
 All union members and management must confirm to terms of contract without exception
 Process exists to question manager’s authority if member feels something was done
unjustly
 Nurses gain control of practice.
 Improve professional relationships.
  Protect patients from inadequate and unsafe care.
 Ensure that nurses have fair pay, good benefits and safe working conditions.
 Provide power.

DISADVANTAGES
 Reduced individuality
 Other union members may outvote one’s decisions.
 Disputes are not handled with individual and management only ;less room for
professional judgment. Must pay union dues even if one does not support unionization
Why negotiations fail

 Unwillingness
 Changing position
 Delaying tactics
 Withdrawal of concessions
 Unilateral actions
 Refusal

The Nurse Managers Role in CB:

 Know the law, and make sure rights of the nurses as well as management are clearly
understood. Find out the reasons the nurses want collective action.
 Discuss and deal with the nurses and the problems directly and effectively.
 Act clearly within the law at all times.
 If a manager acts unlawfully, report the employer’s actions to the national labor relations
board.
 Keep all nurses informed through regular meetings held close to the hospital or
institution. Resolving grievances.
 A collective bargaining agent cannot make the decision to strike.
 The decision to strike can be made only by a majority of union members.

Recent Impact of Collective Bargaining

 Beyond their impact on wages and staffing, however, unions also play a critical role in
providing nurses a meaningful voice on the job.
 Play important role in solving the nursing shortage.
 Positive influence on the work environment and on the patient outcomes.
 Increasing numbers of nurses win the right to represent themselves through collective
bargaining.

IMPORTANCE OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Importance to employees
  Collective bargaining develops a sense of self respect and responsibility among the
employees.
 It increases the strength of the workforce, thereby, increasing their bargaining capacity as
a group.
 Collective bargaining increases the morale and productivity of employees.
 It restricts management’s freedom for arbitrary action against the employees. Moreover,
unilateral actions by the employer are also discouraged.
 Effective collective bargaining machinery strengthens the trade unions movement.

Importance to employers

 It becomes easier for the management to resolve issues at the bargaining level rather than
taking up complaints of individual workers.
 Collective bargaining tends to promote a sense of job security among employees and
thereby tends to reduce the cost of labor turnover to management.
 Collective bargaining opens up the channel of communication between the workers and
the management and increases worker participation in decision making.
 Collective bargaining plays a vital role in settling and preventing industrial disputes.

Importance to society

 Collective bargaining leads to industrial peace in the country

 It results in establishment of a harmonious industrial climate which supports which helps
the pace of a nation’s efforts towards economic and social development since the
obstacles to such a development can be reduced considerably.
 The discrimination and exploitation of workers is constantly being checked.
 It provides a method or the regulation of the conditions of employment of those who are
directly concerned about them.

Distinguishing collective bargaining from other forms of social dialogue

Social dialogue can take many forms. The ILO defines social dialogue as all types of negotiation,
consultation or simply exchange of information between, or among, International labour
standards: Collective Agreements Recommendation, 1951 (No. 91) 4

Collective Bargaining: A policy guide representatives of governments, employers and workers,

on issues of common interest. It encompasses bipartite or tripartite consultations and negotiations
taking place at all levels.

Collective bargaining is at the heart of social dialogue. It is a substantive process involving

negotiations between one or more employers or employers’ organizations and one or more trade
unions, with a view to reaching a collective agreement that regulates the terms and conditions of
employment and relations between the parties. While it may be related to other processes, such
as consultation and tripartite social dialogue, it remains a unique and distinct form of social
dialogue.

Consultation involves the sharing of information and listening to the views of those concerned
on matters of common interest, before taking a decision. It can enrich communication at the
enterprise level, build a common understanding of problems or issues, and add value to decisions
normally considered the prerogative of management. Consultation may be carried out on a
bipartite or tripartite basis, and at the enterprise, industry and/or national level. The scope of
issues for consultation is normally wider than that for collective bargaining. By contrast,
collective bargaining involves a bipartite process of joint decision making on terms and
conditions of employment and relations between the parties. While consultation can complement
the process of collective bargaining, it is not a replacement for collective bargaining.

Tripartite social dialogue involves three groups: employers’ organizations, trade unions and
governments. It includes negotiations, consultations or exchanges of information and views
between representatives of these three groups. By contrast, collective bargaining is bipartite; it
involves one or more employer or employers’ organizations, and one or more trade unions. The
government is a party to collective bargaining only in its capacity as an employer in the public
sector. Tripartite social dialogue can complement collective bargaining. For example, tripartite
consultations can be particularly useful when public authorities decide to design or adjust
policies, laws and institutions related to collective bargaining. Such consultations also help frame
the economic and social context within which collective bargaining takes place.

The benefits of collective bargaining

 Collective bargaining is a fundamental principle and right at work.

 Collective bargaining is also considered an enabling right.
 A number of benefits may arise from the effective recognition of the right to collective
bargaining. Studies show that collective bargaining can contribute to improvements in
wages and working conditions, as well as equality.
 It has also been instrumental in facilitating the adaptability of enterprises and economies
during an economic crisis. When effective, collective bargaining can help build trust and
mutual respect between employers, workers and their organizations, and contribute to
stable and productive labour relations.
 At same time, weak and ineffective collective bargaining institutions may lead to a rise in
labour disputes, with economic and social costs.
 The effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining enables the development of
a form of regulation that complements statutory regulation.
 Collective agreements can reinforce compliance with statutory provisions, enable parties
to improve on them, and provide a mechanism for addressing issues specific to certain
enterprises or economic sectors.
  This can benefit both parties, ensuring that workers get a fair share of productivity gains
while not impairing the capacity of employers to operate profitably.
 Where parties are well organized, collective agreements can also be used to establish
minimum wages and working conditions in an industry or branch of industry

S.N THEMES BENEFITS

o
1. Job quality  Improves wages
 Can be a tool for aligning wages and productivity
 Enables negotiation of working time arrangements that
balance workers’ interests in a work/life equilibrium, with
employers’ interests in flexible working time
 Can enhance access to social insurance
 Can facilitate job security and employment protection
 Creates opportunities for workplace participation (voice)
2. Equity  Compresses wage structures ü
 Enhances gender equality
 Can promote parity between workers in regular and non-
standard forms of employment working in the same enterprise
3. Training  Can enhance access to continuing vocational training
 Tailors training to worker, enterprise and industry needs
4. Labour relations  Enables the acquisition of other rights
 The process itself involves the exercise of rights and
democratic principles
 Provides a channel through which to “voice” and resolve
grievances, which in turn enhances worker well-being
 Institutionalizes the resolution of disputes and contributes to
stability in labour relations.
 Allows for tailoring joint regulation to an industry or
workplace Legitimizes rules and increases compliance (with
statutory or collective agreement provisions)
5. Enterprise  Can facilitate the adaptability of enterprises to a temporary fall
performance or rise in demand
 Increases worker commitment and enhances the sharing of
information (e.g. on work processes)
 Is associated with a reduction in labour turnover, which
increases the incentive to provide enterprise-specific training.
This in turn contributes to improvements in productivity and
product quality
 Enhances the positive effects of workplace and technological
change on enterprise performance
 Enables the negotiation of productivity incentives or profit
sharing schemes
6. Macroeconomic  Reduces inequality and allows for a fairer distribution of
 national income
 Facilitates adjustment to economic shocks
 Coordinated bargaining can have a positive effect on
economic performance (inflation, employment, etc.)
 Higher coverage by collective agreements is associated with
an increase in public expenditure on active labour market
policies

The role of the ILO (International Labor Office)

The ILO supports governments to fulfil their international obligation to respect, to promote, and
to realize the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, and to take measures to
encourage the full development of machinery for voluntary negotiations. This includes a
supervisory system that helps to ensure the application of Conventions that countries have
ratified, and technical assistance.

The bargaining level

The level at which negotiations will take place is a crucial consideration. The collective
bargaining framework needs to enable employers, employers’ organizations and trade unions
(and their federations and confederations) to conclude collective agreements at their chosen level
of negotiation. Collective bargaining may take place at:

 The workplace, establishment or plant level;

 The enterprise level;
 the level of industry, sector or branch of activity;
 The municipal or regional level;
 The occupational or inter-professional level;
 the national level; or
 A combination of these levels.

Conclusion: Collective bargaining is a situation in which the essential conditions of employment

are determined by bargaining process undertaken by representatives of a group of workers on the
one hand and of one or more employers on the other. Other than the continuing argument about
the appropriate education for nurses, collective bargaining is the most controversial and divisive
(disagreement) issue in nursing. Some believe that collective bargaining reduces the
professionalism of nursing; others view it as a mechanism to prevent employers from exploiting
nurses. It has been seen as a complex legal issue, but dealt with by attorney (legal
matters/lawyer) and other experts specifically trained to handle the problem it presents.

References:
Basavanthappa, BT. (2009). Nursing Administration (2nd ed.). Daryaganj, New Delhi: Jaypee
Publishers

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/collective-bargaining-labour-relations/lang--en/index.htm

https://aflcio.org/what-unions-do/empower-workers/collective-bargaining

http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/collective-bargaining/collective-bargaining-definition-types-
features-and-importance/31375

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