A bargaining unit, in
labor relations
Labour relations in practice is a subarea within human resource management, and the main components of it include collective bargaining, application and oversight of collective agreement obligations, and dispute resolution. Academically, employe ...
, is a group of employees with a clear and identifiable community of interests who is (under US law) represented by a single
labor union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
in
collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...
and other dealings with management. Examples are non-management professors, law enforcement professionals, blue-collar workers, and clerical and administrative employees. Geographic location and the number of facilities included in bargaining units may be issues during representation cases.
The size of a company does not relate to the size of a bargaining unit. Bargaining units must consist of at least three employees, and must have the support of a majority of employees in the bargaining unit. However, the bargaining unit can be a small portion of a large company if no other employees are members of a union.
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Labor relations
Trade unions
Industrial agreements