Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between representatives of workers and employers to establish conditions of employment. It typically involves negotiations over wages, working hours, and other terms of employment. The key aspects of collective bargaining include representation of workers by a union, negotiation between union representatives and management over terms of employment, and establishing a collective agreement to regulate the relationship between workers and employers.

1. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Introduction:-
An individual is free to bargain for himself & safeguard his own interest.
The term “collective bargaining” was first used in the middle of 1891 by economic theorist
Beatrice Webb. Collective bargaining consists of 2 words “collective” which implies group
action through its representative & “bargaining” which suggests negotiation. The phrase
therefore implies collective negotiations of a contract between management representatives on
one side & those of the workers on other side.
In collective bargaining management meets with employees or a representative of the
employees to discuss issues such as wages, working conditions & benefits.
Definitions:-
By ILO
“Negotiation about working conditions & terms of employment between an employee & a
group of employees or one or more employee organization with a view to reach an agreement
which serves as a code of defining the rights & obligations of each party in their
employment/industrial relation with one another.”
By Tudwig Teller
“Collective bargaining is an agreement between a single employer or an association of
employers on one hand & a labour union on the other which regulates the terms & conditions of
the employment.”
“Collective bargaining is the negotiation between employer & employee to have smooth
functioning of the organization.”
“Collective bargaining is the ongoing process of negotiation between representatives of
workers & employers to establish the condition of employment.”
“Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and a group of
employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions.”
“The process of collective bargaining is a method by which management & labour may
explore each other’s problems & viewpoints & develop a framework of employment relations
with in which both may carry on their daily association in spirit of co-operative good will & for
their natural benefit.”
Reasons for collective bargaining

2.  Absence of procedure for reporting unsafe or poor patient care.
 Short staffing & improper skill mix to complement patient acuity.
 Floating without orientation & training.
 Use of temporary personal & unlicensed assistive personal.
 Resistance of employer to accept joint decision-making.
 Adversarial relationship between nurses and management & exploitation of nurses by
management.
 Lack of respect for employees.
 Lack of autonomy.
 Lack of promotional opportunities.
 Lack of professional practice committees.
 Lack of staff development & continuing education opportunities.
 Lack of child care & elderly care.
 Lack of involvement.
 Poor differential for shift work, education & experience.
 Low wages & limited benefits.
 No pension probability.
 Lack of employee’s assistance program.
 Poor on call arrangement & lacy of flexible schedule.
 Overwork, mandatory overtime & shift rotation.
 Low morale
 Performance of non nursing duties.
 Poor management & poor communication.
 Health insurance
 Lack of system to apply peer review.
 Lack of career ladders.
Prerequisites for collective bargaining
There are 6 essential prerequisites for collective bargaining:-
1) Existence of a truly representative & strong trade union.
2) Existence of a progressive management.
3) Absence of any external pressure either on the employer or the employee to come to the
agreement desired by the authority.
4) Existence of a measure of parties of strength or bargaining power between the trade union
& management.
5) Delegation of authority to an officer involved in negotiation.
6) Acceptance of a fact finding approach by the management & union.

3. The collective bargaining uses all legislative, judicial & executive process in
assessing problem in relation to the employment.
Characteristics of collective bargaining
The main characteristics of collective bargaining are as follows:-
 It is a group action as opposed to individual’s action & is initiated through the
representatives of workers.
 It is flexible & mobile & not fixed or static.
 It has fluidity & ample scope for compromise for a mutual give & take before the
final agreement is reached.
 It is a two party process. Both the parties are involved in it. It is not a take-it or leave-
it policy.
 It is a continuous process which provides a mechanism for continuing an organized
relationship between management & trade unions or associations.
 It is dynamic & not static, because it is a relatively new concept & is growing,
expanding and changing.
 It is scientific, factual & systematic.
 It is an industrial democracy at work.
Levels of collective bargaining
Collective bargaining operates at 3 levels:-
A. National level:
Economy-wide (national) bargaining is a bipartite or tripartite form of negotiation
between union, confederation, central employer associations & government agencies.
B. Sector or Industry level:
Sectoral bargaining, which aims at the standardization of the terms of employment in
one industry includes a range of bargaining pattern.
C. Company or Enterprise level:
This is a supplementary type of bargaining. The third bargaining level involves the
company and or establishment.
Principles of collective bargaining
A. Principles for the management:
 The management must develop and consistently follow a realistic labour policy
which should be accepted & carried out by its representatives.
 The management must grant recognition to the trade union without any
reservations & accept it as a constructive force in the organization.

4.  The management should not assure the employee good will always exist. It should
periodically examine the rules & regulations to determine the attitude & gain their
good will & cooperation.
 The management should extent fair treatment to the trade union in order to make
it a responsible & conservative body.
 The management should not wait for the trade union for the trade union to bring
employee grievances to its notice but should rather create the conditions in which
employees can approach the management themselves, without involving the trade
union.
 The management should deal only with the one trade union or association in the
organizations.
 While weighing economic consequences of collective bargaining, the
management should place great emphasis on social consideration.
B. Principles for the trade union:
 The trade union should eliminate racketeering & other undemocratic practice
within their own organization.
 Trade union leaders should appreciate the economic implications of collective
bargaining, for their demands and generally meet from the income & resources of
the organizations in which their members are employed.
 Trade union leaders should not imagine that their only function is to secure
higher wages, shorter hours of work & better working conditions for their
members.
 Trade union leaders should assist in the removal of such restrictive rules &
regulations that are likely to increase costs & prices & reduce the amount that can
be paid out as wages.
 Trade union leaders should resort to the strike only when all other methods of the
settlement of the dispute have failed.
C. Principle for both union and trade union:
 Collective bargaining should be made as an education as well as bargaining
process.
 Collective bargaining should offer to trade union leaders an opportunity to
present to the management the wants, desires, grievances & the attitudes of its
employees.
 The management and trade union must look upon collective bargaining as a
means of finding the best possible solutions.
 Both parties to a dispute should command to the respects of each other & should
have enough bargaining power to enforce the terms of agreement that they may
arrive at.
 There may be mutual confidence and good faith and desire to make collective
bargaining effective in practice.

5.  There should be an honest, able & responsible leadership, for this kind of
leadership only will make collective bargaining effective and meaningful.
 The two parties should meticulously observe and abide by the entire national &
state laws which are appreciable to collective bargaining.
Guide to collective bargaining
1) Electing the agent
Nurses in the private sector are guaranteed legal protection if they seek a collective
bargaining agent. If 30% of the employed nurses have signed cards signaling their
interest in representation, the employer is prohibited from engaging in anti labour action.
After the campaign a vote is taken; 50% of these voting plus one more person selects the
agent.
Nurses represented by a bargaining agent have the right to drop or change the agent by
similar campaign of signatures (30%) of the affected members, followed by a vote again
requiring 50% plus one person in a unit-wide election.
2) The elements of a contract
a) Wages: The foundation of the contract.
Nurse’s wages experienced a dramatic increase during the 1980’s as a result of
shortage of nurses. So a contract was set up in which steps were taken to the
salary on the basis of the practice
b) Seniority rights :
Nursing employment contracts contain provisions that give more preference to
the senior nurses. These rights arise from the idea of rewarding permanent
employees for their service & viewing them as assets.
In the event of the staff layoff, the last hired becomes the first fired protects the
senior nurses.
c) Resolving grievances :
Methods to resolve grievances are an important element of any agreement. A
grievance can arise when provisions in a contract are interpreted differently by
management and an employee. Fact finding, meditations & arbitration have all
been used to resolve conflicts in union contracts.
d) Membership :
The inclusion of union security provisions is essential to a sound contract &
one of the defined goals of collective bargaining. Security provisions include such
measures as enforcement of membership requirements, which means collection of
dues and access by the union staff to the members.
i. Open membership –
There is no negotiation for a member of nursing staff to belong an
invitation, to free riders, to get benefits without contribution.
ii. Closed shops –

6. This requires protective employees to join before they may be hired, are
legal.
iii. Agency shops –
A modification of the closed shop in which new employees are required
to join the union within a given period of time.
e) Work assignment :
The right and means for a nurse register objection to a work assignment is
considered essential to a union contract professional duty. It implies an obligation
to complete an assignment despite the nurse’s disagreement with it.
f) Staffing :
Staffing requirement is mandated by various agencies. Various health care
agencies have published staffing standards.
g) Retirement :
Most pension or retirement programs for nurses have either been the social
security system or a hospital pension plan. The ANA has considered crating a
national pension plan to which a nurse contributes through her life time of
employment irrespective of geographic location or place of employment.
h) Health hazards :
Nurses are using collective action to protect themselves against health hazards
& unsafe working conditions & to advocate for positive health & safety programs.
Nationally the ANA is urging the occupational safety & health administration
(OSHA) to provide hazardous substance information to health workers.
i) Nurse’s control of practice :
The essence of the professional nurse contract is control of practice. Nurse
councils & professional performance committees provide the opportunities for the
nurse within the institution to meet regularly. These meetings must be sanctioned
by the contract. The elected staff nurse representatives may have specialized
objectives:-
 To improve the practice of professional nurses & nursing assistants.
 To recommends ways and means of improving patient care.
 To make recommendations to the hospital management.
 To identify & recommend elimination of hazards in the work place.
j) Shared governance :
It is an arrangement of nurses that attempts to emphasize principles of
participatory management in areas related to the governance of & practice of
nursing.
k) Clinical ladder :
The clinical or career ladder has been designed to provide recognition of
long term career nurses who remain clinically oriented. “Ladder” is the result of

7. the contributions of a nurse researcher. The descriptions of the changes in the
growth and development of the nursing knowledge & practice have led to the
development of ladder that can identify & reward the nurse along the steps from
“novice” to “experts”.
Process of collective bargaining
The collective bargaining process comprises of 5 steps:
1. Prepare – This phase involves composition of a negotiation team. The negotiation team
should consist of representatives of both the parties.
2. Discuss – The both parties decide the rules that will guide the negotiations. An
environment of mutual trust & understanding is created.
3. Propose – This phase involves the initial opening statement & the possible options that
exist to resolve them.
4. Bargain – Negotiations are easy if a problem solving attitude is adopted. This stage
comprises the time & support & ifs are set forth & the drafting of agreement takes place.
5. Settlement – This stage consisting of effective joint implementation of the agreement
through shares visions, strategic planning & negotiated change.
Advantages of collective bargaining
 It is flexible & mobile & not fixed or static.
 It has fluidity or ample scope for compromise.
 It is a complementary process and not competitive.
 It helps in achieving better planning.
 It allows smooth functioning of organization.
 It retends the employee in organization.
 It encourages less strike.
 It helps in managing conflicts.
 Redresses the imbalance of power by airing grievances in an orderly negotiating factor.
 Ensures that nurses have fair pay, good benefits & safe/satisfactory working condition.
Disadvantages of collective bargaining
 Reduce individuality
 Other union leaders may oppose one’s decision
 Must pay union dues
 Strikes may not be prevented
Nurses participation in collective bargaining

8. Collective bargaining for nurses usually occurs in states where there is significant trade
union activity. At present there are few nurses involved in collective bargaining. All nurses need
to involve & understand the benefits of unions.
Union stimulates better hospital management by fostering formal, central and consistent
personal policies with better lines of communication.
Union leads to improvement in the work place so that recruitment & retention becomes easier.
Challenges and problems
Bargaining deadlocks can occur when there is no movement in negotiations between
employers & workers because of compromise by either party. Collective bargaining should have
a negotiation willing to give and take & ultimately reach an agreement.
Summary
So far we have discussed collective bargaining in terms of definitions, reasons, prerequisites,
characteristics, levels, principles, process, and advantages, disadvantages, challenges, problems
and nurses participation. Highlights have also been placed on the guide to collective bargaining
which includes the election of the agent & elements of contract.
Conclusion
Thus I conclude by saying that collective bargaining is a process of decision making in joint
& represents a democratic way of life. In collective bargaining, management & employees come
together willing to negotiate & give up some part of their requests in an effort to compromise.
Management usually has the authority to hire, fire discipline employees.
Bibliography
 Soni Samta, “Text book of Advance nursing practice”, Ist Edition, Jaypee Brothers
Medical publishers (P) LTD, New Delhi, 2013, Pp 23-26
 Basheer P. Shebeer & Khan Yaseen S., “Text book of Advance nursing practice”, Ist
Edition, EMMESS publishers, 2013, Pp 65=69
 www.google.com.in