Collective bargaining is defined as a process where representatives of workers and employers determine essential conditions of employment through negotiation. There are several forms of collective bargaining including distributive, integrative, productivity, composite, and concessionary bargaining. Successful collective bargaining requires strong unions, recognition of bargaining agents, determining the scope of issues to be negotiated, and a suitable framework to govern the process. Some challenges to effective collective bargaining in India include weak unions, lack of union recognition procedures, political interference, and overreliance on adjudication instead of negotiation.

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

3.  Prime objective is to maintain cordial relations
between the management and the workers
 settle disputes relating to wages and working
conditions.
 Safe guard the interest of workers through collective
action
 Prevent unilateral action on part of the employers
 To raise workers standard of living and win a better
share in company's profit
 Democratic participation in decision making on the
working conditions

4.  Preparing for negotiation
 Bargaining issues
 Negotiation
 Negotiation breakdown
 Reaching the agreement
 Ratifying the agreement
 Administration of the agreement

5.  The Borg-Warner Doctrine, derived from the Supreme
Court decision in the case of NLRB v. Wooster Division of
Borg-Warner Corporation (1958), empowered the NLRB
to categorize bargaining issues as:
› Mandatory - wages, hours, etc.
› Permissive – may be discussed, i.e., representation of
the union on the company Board of Directors. Also
referred to as voluntary bargaining
› Prohibited - statutorily outlawed, i.e., closed shop or
proposing work rules that would violate the Civil Rights
Act

6. Document that results from collective bargaining
process is labor agreement or contract
 Recognition
 Management Rights
 Union Security
 Compensation and Benefits
 Grievance Procedure
 Employee Security

7.  Begins with each side presenting initial demands
 Suggests a certain amount of give and take
 Each side does not expect to obtain all demands
presented

8.  Third party intervention
 Union strategies for overcoming breakdowns
 Management strategies for overcoming
breakdowns

9.  Outline a high-level financial plan that defines
your financial model and pricing assumptions.
› This plan should include expected annual sales and
profits for the next three years.
› Use several slides to cover this material appropriately.

10.  Lockout – keep employees out; operate firm by
placing management and nonunion workers in
striking workers‟ jobs
 Hire replacement for strikers

11.  May be more difficult for union
 Until approved by majority of members,
proposed agreement is not final

12.  Larger and perhaps more important part of
collective bargaining
 Seldom viewed by public
 Agreement establishes the union-management
relationship for duration of the contract

13.  Executive Order 10988 (1962) established basic framework
of collective bargaining in federal agencies
 Later transferred to Title VII of the Civil Service Reform
Act of 1978
› Established Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA),
modeled after the NLRB, to manage the process of
negotiation with unions that represent federal Ee‟s
 Title V of the U.S. Code, which dictates personnel rules for
federal employees, narrows the EO somewhat by taking
wages off the table, except for U.S. Postal Service workers

14. Effective negotiations and enforcement requires a systematic
preparation of the base or ground for bargaining which involves
the following three steps:
 RIGHT TO ORGANISE AND RIGH TO COLLECTIVE
BARGAIN:
The extent to which, the workers enjoy the right to organize
and bargain is the key success factors to which collective
bargaining works in any country. There are two prerequisites for
the successful implementation of this condition, first is the
effective enjoyment of the freedom of association in accordance
with the principles set out in the “Freedom of association and
the protection of right to organize convention”, and the second is
the “workers and the employers organization should be free and
sufficiently strong but also relatively equal in strength with the
management.

15.  STRONG AND STABLE TRADE UNIONS:
 The impact of unionization has a strong
influence on the growth and development of
collective bargaining in a country. The rate of
unionization varies from country to country. The
strong and stable trade unions lead to the
success of collective bargaining. Whereas the
fragmentation of the unions, inter union and
intra union rivalries hinders the progress of the
collective bargaining process. This also leads to
the host of other problems both for the
employer as well as the state, in addition to the
above said. Example:
A union in the plant level may have conflict
with the central union, ultimately affecting the
collective bargaining process.

16.  Recognition of the Bargaining Agent. The management should
give recognition to the trade union for participating in the
collective bargaining process. In case there is more than one
union, selection could be done through verification of
membership by a government agency giving representation to all
the major unions through joint consultations. Thus, the
bargaining agent of the workers should be properly identified
before initiating any action.
 Deciding the Level of Bargaining. Whether the dealings are
confined to enterprise level, industry level, regional or national
level should be decided as the contents, scope and enforcement
agencies differ in each case.
 Determining the Scope and Coverage of Bargaining. It would
be better to have a clear understanding of what are the issues to
be covered under bargaining. Many a time, bargaining is
restricted to wage and working conditions related issues but it
would be advantageous for both the management and union to
cover as many issues as possible to prevent further friction and
disputes. Therefore, all the important and interrelated issues are
to be taken for consideration.

17.  ATITUDE OF EMPLOYERS AND TRADE
UNIONS: The attitude of the parties involved is
also a crucial factor in the success of the
bargaining. If the parties are rigid, non-
compromising and close minded it will
beimpossible for collective bargaining to
function. In that case the common consensus is
hard to be reached upon. On the contrary, if, the
parties have a compromising and flexible
attitude, then only the possibilities of an
agreement can take place.

18.  A SUITABLE FRAMEWORK:
 A set of established procedures and a governing body is
required for the smooth and effective functioning of the
collective bargaining procedures. In case of developing
countries the lack of a suitable frame work is so acute
that, the collective bargaining procedure may come to a
standstill.
 These statutory bodies are established in many of the
developing countries where they may vary in regards of
composition, terms of reference and level of operations.
The machineries for the effective work out of the process
of collective bargaining have been laid down either by
the legislation of the country or by mutual agreement.
Therefore setting up of the well organized negotiating
bodies for the purpose of collective bargaining is of
immense importance.

19.  Due to the dominance of outsiders in trade unionism in
the country, there is multiplicity of unions which are
weak and unstable, and do not represent majority of the
employees. Moreover, there are inter-union
rivalries, which further hinder the process of collective
bargaining between the labour and the management.
 Since most of the trade unions are having political
affiliations, they continue to be dominated by
politicians, who use the unions and their members to
meet their political ends.
 There is a lack of definite procedure to determine
which union is to be recognised to serve as a bargaining
agent on behalf of the workers

20.  In India, the law provides an easy access to
adjudication. Under the Industrial Disputes
Act, the parties to the dispute may request the
Government to refer the matter to adjudication
and the Government will constitute the
adjudication machinery, i.e., labour court or
industrial tribunal. Thus, the faith in the
collective bargaining process is discouraged.
 There has been very close association between
the trade unions and political parties. As a
result, trade union movement has leaned towards
political orientations rather than collective
bargaining.

21.  Based on this, broadly, we can categorize five forms of collective bargaining:
 · Conjunctive / Distributive Bargaining: Distributive 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 as wages, 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. Union workers may try to convince the management that they will go
on strike if they don‟t get the wages or working conditions they desire.
Management, in turn,may be willing to try to ride the strike out; especially if
they have cross trained other workers or have external replacements to fill in
for those on strike. 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.

22.  · 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. Labor may accept a cut in wages in return for
job security and higher wages when things improve. Management, on the
other hand, agrees to modernize and bring in new technology and invest in
marketing efforts in a phased manner. In India, companies like TELCO
resorted to integrative bargaining during the recession in the automobile
sector. Another name for this type of bargaining is „interest-based
bargaining‟and some people term it as „cooperative bargaining‟.
The objective for both parties is to find the common ground
 between them, to build relationship and to eliminate the
 adversarial elements of traditional bargaining.

23.  Productivity Bargaining: The concept of productivity
bargain involves a good understanding of the following
concepts. Based onthese concepts both the parties must
develop a productivity linkedscheme.
 Ø Difference between productivity & work intensity
 Ø How to conduct work study
 Ø ILO guidelines for work study – Personal needs
 allowance, Fatigue allowance, hazardous allowance,
 etc.
 Ø Other Methods like MOST (Maynard Operational
 Sequence Techniques)
 Ø Systems improvement and method improvement
 Ø Required Skills and Knowledge for productivity
 settlement

24.  · 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 somewhat 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,
environmental hazards, sub-contracting clauses etc.
This works in the favor of the workers, for e.g.,
when unions negotiate manning standards they
ensure the workload of workers don‟t exceed.

25.  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? Usually such a
move is prompted by labor leaders who
recognize the need to assist employers in
reducing operating cost in order to prevent
layoffs and plant closings. Thus, it is often
economic adversity that motivates
concessionary bargaining.

26.  Lack of proper appreciation as to the philosophy,objectives and
advantages of collective bargainingamong workers and also on
the part of employersand policy makers.
 Multiplicity of trade unions and rivalry amongunions.
 Organizational and financial weakness of tradeunions
 Lack of definite procedure to determine as torecognition of trade
union
 Frequent political intervention in the process of collective
bargaining which gives political colourand orientation to the
collective bargaining process
 Provision of elaborate adjudication machineries
 Comprehensive coverage of labour laws