Collective
Bargainin
g
Introduction
ILO (1980) defines collective bargaining as an institutional procedure of joint
determination o f the rules to govern the terms and conditions of employment of
the workers concerned and the labour management relations itself.
Collective bargaining is a technique adopted by the organisations of workers and
employers collectively to resolve their differences without the assistance of a third
party or the intervention of third party.
The phrase collective bargaining is made up of two words collective which means
united or a group action and bargaining implies negotiating. So put together it
means collective negotiation or group negotiation. The people involved in the
negotiation are on one side the representatives of management and on the other
the representatives of employees or unions.
ILO
ILO Convention No. 154 defines collective bargaining
as referring to:
“All negotiations which take place between an
employer, a group of employers or one or more
employers’ organisations, on the one hand, and one
or more workers’ organisations, on the other, for:
(a) determining working conditions and terms of
employment; and/or
(b) regulating relations between employers and
workers; and/or
(c) regulating relations between employers or their
organisations and a workers’ organisation or workers’
organisations.”
History of Collective
Bargaining in India
Sydney and Beatrice are known for inventing the term "collective bargaining.“ The
process of Collective Bargaining in India formally saw the light of the day during post
Independence era. During the early 1920s, Mahatma Gandhi launched a similar
programme for Ahmedabad's textile mill workers.
The importance of collective bargaining came into existence when the unions realized
that settlement of disputes through industrial courts was wasteful in terms of time,
energy, and money and also a hindrance to industrial peace and harmony.
The first collective agreement was made by "Dunlop Rubber Company in West Bengal
in 1947, then came the Bata Shoe Company and the Indian Alumunium Company made
its 5-year agreement with the employees union in Belur. The Imperial Tobacco company
joined the concept in 1952. By 1955, many big entities like Tata Iron and Steel
Company, Hindustan Lever, etc." By 1961, a huge number of companies involving more
than 5 lakhs employees had accepted the practice of collective bargaining as a tool for
ensuring security and peace in the industrial setup.
Subject Matter of
Collective Bargaining
• Wages and salaries
• Working conditions
• Job security
• Health and safety measures
• Dispute resolution procedures
Techniques of
Collective Bargaining
1. Distributive Bargaining:
- Focuses on dividing limited resources between the parties. It is a zero-
sum approach, where one party's gain is seen as the other party's loss.
This method is often used when negotiating issues like wages, where a
fixed amount of resources must be distributed.
2. Integrative Bargaining:
- Aimed at finding win-win solutions that benefit both parties. This
method encourages collaboration and problem-solving, focusing on issues
where mutual gain can be achieved, such as improving working conditions
or increasing productivity.
3. Concessionary Bargaining:
- Occurs when workers agree to make concessions, often due to
economic downturns or financial struggles of the employer. Workers may
accept reduced wages or benefits temporarily to help the organization
remain viable.
Essential features of
collective bargaining
• Parties to the negotiation
• Intention to reach an agreement
• Subject matter of collective bargaining
• Collective nature of the negotiation process
• Continuous nature of the negotiation process
• Bipartite nature of the negotiation process
• Discipline
• Flexibility
• Implementation
• Collective bargaining and collective agreements are different
1. Wages and Salaries: Negotiations over base pay,
Subject allowances, bonuses, and other financial benefits.
2. Working Hours: Agreements regarding working
matter of hours, overtime, breaks, and shifts.
3. Job Security: Provisions for employment stability,
collective layoff procedures, retrenchment policies, and contract
renewal.
bargaining: 4. Working Conditions: Negotiation on the physical and
psychological environment at work, including safety
standards and amenities.
5. Leave and Holidays: Terms related to annual leave,
sick leave, maternity leave, and other statutory
holidays.
6. Benefits and Allowances: Negotiations on pensions,
insurance, medical benefits, housing, and transport
allowances.
7. Health and Safety: Measures to ensure worker safety,
Cont. health policies, and workplace hazard management.
8. Promotion and Transfer Policies: Criteria and procedures for
promotions, transfers, and employee progression.
9. Grievance Redressal Mechanism: Procedures for resolving
employee grievances and conflicts.
10. Training and Skill Development: Provisions for employee
training, skill enhancement, and professional development.
11. Dispute Resolution: Mechanisms for resolving conflicts
between employers and employees, such as mediation or
arbitration.
12. Workplace Discipline: Rules and regulations related to
employee discipline, including termination, suspensions, and
warnings. This comprehensive list represents key areas
typically addressed during collective bargaining negotiations.
Levels
• Collective bargaining at National level generally takes place between employer’s
organisation and the national union.The representatives from both sides come
together to bargain on very important and basic issues At National Level
bargaining issues can be wages, D.A., or shift allowances.
• When collective bargaining takes place at the industry level the employers
organisations of one industry jointly bargain with unions in that industry. These
unions are organized as industry federations on industry basis. The negotiations
and bargaining include issues like basic wages, allowances, production capacity,
production norms and working conditions related to that industry.
Cont.
• Collective bargaining at corporate level takes place when the management of a
corporate with multi-plant enterprise negotiates one agreement with various
unions for all its plants. The collective bargaining is usually conducted by
corporate management with its representatives from different plants
• Collective bargaining at plant level is very common with most of the private
sector enterprises in India. Collective bargaining at plant level takes place
between the management o f particular plant or of a factory establishment. The
issues are relevant to that plant or factory only. The basis and foundation o f such
negotiations are performance related or pay productivity linked.
Cont.
Collective bargaining at craft level is possible when an enterprise has many craft
unions. Collective bargaining at craft level takes place between the representatives
o f the management and the representatives of the craft union. Collective
bargaining at this level was very common in the early year of industrialization in
many countries and is still common in U.S.A. In India it is not so common except for
airlines industry like Air India and Indian Airlines where they have pilots association,
engineers association, cabin crew association and ground staff union. They have
different agreements for different category of employees.
