the process by which union and company representatives meet to negotiate and form a new labor contract. a settlement technique in which a third party review the case and imposes a legally binding decision. an organization of workers that tries to improve working conditions, wages, and benefits for its members.

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 rights for workers.

Collective bargaining is the process in which working people, through their unions, negotiate contracts with their employers to determine their terms of employment, including pay, benefits, hours, leave, job health and safety policies, ways to balance work and family, and more.

When the labor union and the employer reach a tentative agreement, they draft what’s called a memorandum of understanding, or MOU. The union’s bargaining committee presents the agreement to the union members, who vote to accept or reject the agreement.

A memorandum of understanding is a document that describes the broad outlines of an agreement that two or more parties have reached. MOUs communicate the mutually accepted expectations of all of the parties involved in a negotiation. While not legally binding, the MOU signals that a binding contract is imminent.

Generally a bargaining power of the employees is very poor as compared to employers. Trade unions do the bargaining with the employers on behalf of the worker. Trade unions perform the duty of an agent in the matters of collective bargaining for the workers.

Thus, in a collective bargaining process, various steps involved are as follows:

1. Preparation for negotiation.
2. Issues for bargaining.
3. Negotiation.
4. Negotiated agreement.
5. Ratification of agreement.
6. Implementation of agreement.

What are the types of collective bargaining?

• Distributive Bargaining.
• Integrative Bargaining.
• Productivity Bargaining.
• Composite Bargaining.
• Concessionary Bargaining.

Generally, there are four important methods of collective bargaining, namely, negotiation, mediation, conciliation and arbitration for the settlement of trade disputes.

There are three main classification of bargaining topics: mandatory, permissive, and illegal.

There are three categories of subjects that are established under the National Labor Relations Act. They are: mandatory; permissive or voluntary; and, illegal subjects. Mandatory subjects are those that directly impact – wages, hours or working conditions (or terms and conditions of employment).

How are wages for a particular job determined? By the equilibrium between the supply and demand for workers for that job. Your wages would probably be higher because demand for baggers would be higher.

A multiemployer plan is an employee benefit plan maintained under one or more collective bargaining agreements to which more than one employer contributes. (Note: Some industries, such as the sports industry, have multiemployer plans that are not Taft-Hartley plans.

Bargaining Mid-Contract Changes

1. The Local should immediately give the employer a written REQUEST TO BARGAIN.
2. File a grievance if possible.
3. The Local should give the employer a written request for any information that will be helpful to the Union during the negotiations.

Collective bargaining has both advantages and disadvantages which can work for or against the parties involved. So long as the benefits outweigh the setbacks and employees get what they deserve without negative effects on the company’s resources and growth, collective bargaining can be a good thing.