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What are the advantages and disadvantages for management and employees from recognizing a union for the purposes of collective bargaining?
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Definition of collective bargaining: Employees do not negotiate individually and on their own behalf, but do so collectively though representative. ( The Donovan Commission, 1968). Collective bargaining can be defined as an arrangement for settling wages and conditions of employment by an agreement between an employer, and an association of employees. It has been regarded traditionally e.g. by Webbs (1902), as the collective alternative to individual bargaining. It is not an act of exchange itself but, rather a rule making process designed to control the terms of employment contracts. ( Flanders, 1968) Chamberlain (1951) consider that collective bargaining fulfills three functions a means of contracting for the sale of labour a form of industrial government a method of management The collective bargaining process can be viewed by three different perspectives which are not necessarily conflicting its other and each of these perspectives represents a different stage in bargaining process. The first one is that collective bargaining regulates the sale of labour. This is the marketing concept of collective bargaining and is concerned with the labour with is bought and sold in the market place. In other words it takes into account the terms and condition under which is labour bought e.g. working hours and working conditions. It is more a economic approach to the nature of collective bargaining and shows the exchange relationships between employers and employees. By the second perspective collective bargaining is viewed as a form of industrial government. This is the governmental concept of collective bargaining. In this case is seen as a political power relationship. It determines the relations between management and trade union representatives and finds solutions by modifying the terms of collective agreements when necessary. As a governmental concept collective bargaining is focused on the continuity of management union relationship and the continuous process of rule making which takes place between the two groups. The third and the last perspective is the industrial relation or managerial relations concept of collective bargaining. Here it is just a simple system of industrial relations where management and unions have equal than competing interests. As collective bargaining between employees and trade unions matures we have a progress from the first perspective to the second one and finally to the last one. The nature and depth of collective bargaining differs not only between different negotiating parties but also within the same negotiating groups in different time. The essence of the collective bargaining process is its representative nature, its power basis, its adaptability, and its flexibility to particular circumstances. (1) The objective of collective bargaining is a collective agreement between the union and the employer. This agreement governs wages and benefits for the employees it cover for a fixed period of time. This fixed term collective agreement provides a period of labour peace. Strikes and lock-outs are allowed only when a collective agreement has expired, and then only after the collective agreement process has taken place. Such an agreement requires that workers are involved in the settlement of wages and conditions as a group and implies, therefore, that they are organized and represented by a trade union which has obtained the right to negotiate on behalf of its members.
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