Collective Bargaining
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Collective bargaining is a process of
negotiation Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement c ...
between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
to which the employees belong. The
collective agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...
s reached by these negotiations usually set out wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety,
overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
,
grievance A grievance () is a wrong or hardship suffered, real or supposed, which forms legitimate grounds of complaint In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of actio ...
mechanisms, and rights to participate in workplace or company affairs. The union may negotiate with a single employer (who is typically representing a company's shareholders) or may negotiate with a group of businesses, depending on the country, to reach an industry-wide agreement. A collective agreement functions as a labour contract between an employer and one or more unions. Collective bargaining consists of the process of negotiation between representatives of a union and employers (generally represented by management, or, in some countries such as Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands, by an
employers' organization An employers' organization or employers' association is a collective organization of manufacturers, retailers, or other employers of wage labor. Employers' organizations seek to coordinate the behavior of their member companies in matters of mutual ...
) in respect of the terms and conditions of employment of employees, such as wages, hours of work, working conditions, grievance procedures, and about the rights and responsibilities of trade unions. The parties often refer to the result of the negotiation as a ''collective bargaining agreement'' (CBA) or as a ''collective employment agreement'' (CEA).


History

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.


United States

In the United States, the
National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...
of 1935 made it illegal for any employer to deny union rights to an employee. The issue of unionizing government employees in a
public-sector trade union A public-sector trade union (or public-sector labor union) is a trade union which primarily represents the interests of employees within public sector or governmental organizations. History and recent developments Costa Rica In the late 1800s, ...
was much more controversial until the 1950s. In 1962, President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
issued an executive order granting federal employees the right to unionize. An issue of jurisdiction surfaced in ''National Labor Relations Board v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago ''(1979) when the Supreme Court held that the
National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Na ...
(NLRB) could not assert jurisdiction over a church-operated school because such jurisdiction would violate the
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
establishment of freedom of religion and the separation of church of state.


International protection

The right to collectively bargain is recognized through international human rights conventions. Article 23 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...
identifies the ability to organize trade unions as a fundamental human right. Item 2(a) of the International Labour Organization's ''
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work The Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work was adopted in 1998, at the 86th International Labour Conference. It is a statement made by the International Labour Organization "that all Members, even if they have not ratified the C ...
'' defines the "
freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline mem ...
and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining" as an essential right of workers. The
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention (1948No 87is an International Labour Organization Convention, and one of eight conventions that form the core of international labour law, as interpreted by the Decl ...
, 1948 (C087) and several other conventions specifically protect collective bargaining through the creation of
international labour standards International labour law is the body of rules spanning public and private international law which concern the rights and duties of employees, employers, trade unions and governments in regulating Work (human activity) and the workplace. The Interna ...
that discourage countries from violating workers' rights to associate and collectively bargain. In June 2007 the Supreme Court of Canada extensively reviewed the rationale for regarding collective bargaining as a human right. In the case of ''Facilities Subsector Bargaining Association v. British Columbia'', the Court made the following observations:


Empirical findings

* Union members and other workers covered by
collective agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...
s get, on average, a wage markup over their nonunionized (or uncovered) counterparts. Such a markup is typically 5 to 10 percent in industrial countries. * Unions tend to equalize the
income distribution In economics, income distribution covers how a country's total GDP is distributed amongst its population. Economic theory and economic policy have long seen income and its distribution as a central concern. Unequal distribution of income causes ec ...
, especially between skilled and unskilled workers. * The
deadweight loss In economics, deadweight loss is the difference in production and consumption of any given product or service including government tax. The presence of deadweight loss is most commonly identified when the quantity produced ''relative'' to the amoun ...
associated with unions is 0.2 to 0.5 percent of
GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
, which is similar to
monopolies A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...
in product markets. * An empirical model for empirical analysis and computer-assisted collective bargaining is developed at the
Hans Böckler Foundation Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...
.


Sweden

In Sweden the coverage of collective agreements is very high despite the absence of legal mechanisms to extend agreements to whole industries. In 2018, 83% of all private sector employees were covered by collective agreements, 100% of public sector employees and in all 90% (referring to the whole labor market). This reflects the dominance of self-regulation (regulation by the labour market parties themselves) over state regulation in Swedish industrial relations.


United States

In the United States, the
National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...
(1935) covers most collective agreements in the private sector. This act makes it illegal for employers to discriminate, spy on, harass, or terminate the employment of workers because of their union membership or to retaliate against them for engaging in organizing campaigns or other "concerted activities", to form company unions, or to refuse to engage in collective bargaining with the union that represents their employees. It is also illegal to require any employee to join a union as a condition of employment. Unions are also able to secure safe work conditions and equitable pay for their labor. At a workplace where a majority of workers have voted for union representation, a committee of employees and union representatives negotiate a contract with the management regarding wages, hours, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment, such as protection from termination of employment without just cause. Individual negotiation is prohibited. Once the workers' committee and management have agreed on a contract, it is then put to a vote of all workers at the workplace. If approved, the contract is usually in force for a fixed term of years, and when that term is up, it is then renegotiated between employees and management. Sometimes there are disputes over the union contract; this particularly occurs in cases of workers fired without just cause in a union workplace. These then go to arbitration, which is similar to an informal court hearing; a neutral arbitrator then rules whether the termination or other contract breach is extant, and if it is, orders that it be corrected. In 24 U.S. states, employees who are working in a unionized shop may be required to contribute towards the cost of representation (such as at disciplinary hearings) if their fellow employees have negotiated a union security clause in their contract with management. Dues are generally 1–2% of pay. However, union members and other workers covered by collective agreements get, on average, a 5–10% wage markup over their nonunionized (or uncovered) counterparts. Some states, especially in the south-central and south-eastern regions of the U.S., have outlawed union security clauses; this can cause controversy, as it allows some net beneficiaries of the union contract to avoid paying their portion of the costs of contract negotiation. Regardless of state, the Supreme Court has held that the Act prevents a person's union dues from being used without consent to fund political causes that may be opposed to the individual's personal politics. Instead, in states where union security clauses are permitted, such dissenters may elect to pay only the proportion of dues which go directly toward representation of workers. The
American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...
was formed in 1886, providing unprecedented bargaining powers for a variety of workers.Illinois Labor History Society.
A Curriculum of United States Labor History for Teachers
''. Online at th
Illinois Labor History Society
. Retrieved on August 29, 2007.
The
Railway Labor Act The Railway Labor Act is a United States federal law on US labor law that governs labor relations in the railroad and airline industries. The Act, enacted in 1926 and amended in 1934 and 1936, seeks to substitute bargaining, arbitration, and media ...
(1926) required employers to bargain collectively with unions. In 1931, the Supreme Court, in the case of ''Texas & N.O.R. Co. v. Brotherhood of Railway Clerks'', upheld the act's prohibition of employer interference in the selection of bargaining representatives. In 1962, President Kennedy signed an executive order giving public-employee unions the right to collectively bargain with federal government agencies. The
Office of Labor-Management Standards The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor that promotes standards for democracy and fiscal responsibility in labor organizations. It was formed in 1959. Activities OLMS administers and enfo ...
, part of the
United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploy ...
, is required to collect all collective bargaining agreements covering 1,000 or more workers, excluding those involving railroads and airlines. They provide public access to these collections throug
their website


OECD

Only one in three
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
employees have wages which were agreed on through collective bargaining. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, with its 36 members, has become an outspoken proponent for collective bargaining as a way to ensure that the falling unemployment also leads to higher wages.


See also

* 11 U.S.C. § 1113 – Rejection of Collective Bargaining Agreements * 2011 United States public employee protests * 2011 Wisconsin protests, related to attempts to reduce or eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employee unions in Wisconsin *
Boulwarism Boulwarism is the tactic of making a "take-it-or-leave-it" offer in a negotiation, with no further concessions or discussion. It was named after General Electric's former vice president Lemuel Boulware, who promoted the strategy. One example of B ...
*
Critique of work Critique of work or critique of labour is the critique of, and wish to abolish, work ''as such'', and to critique what the critics of works deem wage slavery. Critique of work can be existential, and focus on how labour can be and/or feel meaning ...
*
Enterprise bargaining agreement Enterprise bargaining is an Australian term for a form of collective bargaining, in which wages and working conditions are negotiated at the level of the individual organisations, as distinct from sectoral collective bargaining across whole indust ...
*
Freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline mem ...
* Labour economics *
Labour law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...
*
Project Labor Agreement A Project Labor Agreement (PLA), also known as a Community Workforce Agreement, is a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement with one or more labor unions that establishes the terms and conditions of employment for a specific construction project. ...
*
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 The Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention (1949No 98is an International Labour Organization Convention. It is one of eight ILO fundamental conventions. Its counterpart on the general principle of freedom of association is th ...
*
Right-to-work law In the context of labor law in the United States, the term "right-to-work laws" refers to state laws that prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions which require employees who are not union members to contribute to ...
*
Social corporatism Social corporatism, also called social democratic corporatism, is a form of economic tripartite corporatism based upon a social partnership between the interests of capital and labour, involving collective bargaining between representatives of ...
*
Solidarity economy Solidarity economy or Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) refers to a wide range of economic activities that aim to prioritize social profitability instead of purely financial profits. A key feature that distinguishes solidarity economy entities f ...
* Surface bargaining


Citations


General and cited references

* Buidens, Wayne, and others. "Collective Gaining: A Bargaining Alternative". '' Phi Delta Kappan'' 63 (1981): 244–245. * DeGennaro, William, and Kay Michelfeld. "Joint Committees Take the Rancor out of Bargaining with Our Teachers". '' The American School Board Journal'' 173 (1986): 38–39. * Herman, Jerry J. "With Collaborative Bargaining, You Work with the Union—Not Against It". ''The American School Board Journal'' 172 (1985): 41–42, 47. * Huber, Joe; and Jay Hennies. "Fix on These Five Guiding Lights, and Emerge from the Bargaining Fog". ''The American School Board Journal'' 174 (1987): 31. * Kjellberg, Anders (2019
"Sweden: collective bargaining under the industry norm"
in Torsten Müller & Kurt Vandaele & Jeremy Waddington (eds.) ''Collective bargaining in Europe: towards an endgame'', European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) Brussels 2019. Vol. III (pp. 583–604). * Liontos, Demetri. Collaborative Bargaining: Case Studies and Recommendations. Eugene: Oregon School Study Council,
University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
, September 1987. ''OSSC Bulletin Series''. 27 pages. ED number not yet assigned. * McMahon, Dennis O. "Getting to Yes". Paper presented at the annual conference of the
American Association of School Administrators The American Association of School Administrators (AASA), founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 14,000 educational leaders across the United States. AASA's members are chief executive officers and senior-level administrato ...
, New Orleans, LA, February 20–23, 1987. ED 280 188. * Namit, Chuck; and Larry Swift. "Prescription for Labor Pains: Combine Bargaining with Problem Solving". ''The American School Board Journal'' 174 (1987): 24. * Nyland, Larry. "Win/Win Bargaining Takes Perseverance". ''The Executive Educator'' 9 (1987): 24. * * Smith, Patricia; and Russell Baker. "An Alternative Form of Collective Bargaining". ''Phi Delta Kappan'' 67 (1986): 605–607. * Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25 * Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms * Donnelly, Jack. "Cultural and Universal Human Right". ''Human Right Quarterly'' 6(1984): 400-419 * ''Dunmore v. Ontario (Attorney General)'', 0013 S.C.R. 1016, 2001 SCC 94 * ''Health Services and Support—Facilities Subcontractor Bargaining Assn. v. British Columbia'', 007SCC 27, 0072 S.C.R. 391 * Mathiesen, Kay. "labor laws on unionization and collective bargaining — comparative study". ''Journal of information Ethics''. 3(2009):245-567. Print. * Sitati, Ezekiel. "Examining the development sin the labor laws". ''Melbourne Journal of Politics'' 3(2009):56-74. Print * ''Ontario (Attorney General) v. Fraser'', 2011 SCC 20 * Reference Re Public Service Employee Relations Act (Alberta), 9871 S.C.R. 313


External links


Labor & Worklife Program at Harvard Law school

Collective Bargaining, Labor Law, and Labor History at DigitalCommons@ILR

Collective Bargaining Agreements at DigitalCommons@ILR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collective Bargaining Austerity Bargaining theory Collective agreements Industrial agreements Labor relations Labor rights