COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Collective Bargaining

Collective Bargaining

Introduction

With the formation of capitalist society, there are new major socio-economic classes of entrepreneurs (capitalists) and employees. Relations between workers and employers initially gave rise to conflicts. In the era of early capitalism, one of the main methods of increasing the income of entrepreneurs was the tightening of employees: lengthening of the working day, the reduction rules of payment, penalties, saving on labor protection, termination of employment. The aggravation of relations between employees and employers often resulted in spontaneous workers turn out. Most workers would refuse to work again to start the work until their demands were not met at least partially (Blackett & Sheppard 2003, p.419). This tactic can be successful only if they protested in large groups, or unions. This paper extensively explores the collective bargaining and union issues. In doing so, the paper traces the role of unions, the challenges they face in negotiating collective bargaining, and the ramifications of the management's contracting out of unions in order to break the collective power.

Unions' Roles in Optimizing Employee Relations with the Organizations

Over time, employees have come to use the collective power of unions in three different ways. First, they engage in collective bargaining with employers in an effort to establish a legally binding contract that details the compensation, benefits, and working conditions in their workplaces. The goal of such a process is to negotiate terms that are better than those set by the labour market. Unions use the threat of a strike (a work stoppage that puts economic pressure on an employer by halting the production of a product or the provision of a service) to push employers to make improvements in these areas.

Second, unions establish processes and mechanisms through which employees can have a greater say in decisions that affect them. These processes can take many forms, including the establishment of grievance procedures that give employees due process when disciplined and employee involvement programs, such as labour-management committees and quality-improvement plans (Sharp 2003, p. 24-31). All of these processes are establish through negotiations between the employer and the union and ultimately give employees an opportunity to voice concerns and participate in decisions about how work will be organized.

Third, the collective power of unions can be use to shape the legal and political environment in which they operate. Unions have long understood that forces beyond the employer and union relationship affect the union's ability to represent its members' interests (Boeri & Burda 2009, p.1440). To varying degrees, unions have actively worked within the legal and political realms to mould this environment, as well as workplace improvements through the political and legislative processes. The local, statewide, and national membership of a union represents a significant voting bloc. Unions are able to provide campaign support for local, state, and federal politicians.

Economists generally assert that when employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, the only rational option available to them is to exit or quit their job and re-enter the labour market to seek a better ...