Introduction 

The term Collective Bargaining was first coined by Mr Sydney Webb in 1897. Collective bargaining can also be referred as Bi-partile Settlement as two parties ie employer and employee are involved. The main aim of this method is to reach at some settlement which is acceptable to both the parties involved in dispute. The process of collective bargaining was introduced late in India as trade unions were formed in 20^th century. It means bargaining done by an association or union of workmen to settle their terms and negotiate the terms and demands with employer for the workmen. It is necessary for workmen as they are in weaker position as compared to the employer and have to accept offer of employer.

Collective Bargaining is the most important for determining the terms and conditions of employment. Members live is protected by this method. It provides the opportunity to make rules by mutual consent.

The main goal of collective bargaining is  to come up with an agreement through a written contract. Collective bargaining deals with the issues which include working conditions, salaries and compensation, working hours, and benefits. There are different types of collective bargaining-  composite, concessionary, distributive, integrative, and productivity bargaining.

 Subject Matter of Collective Bargaining 

The subject matter of collective bargaining covers making a contract between workers and employers, execution of the contract.

The other issues covered in the collective bargaining are as follows-

1. Recognition of union or unions, Wages and allowances.
2. Hours of work, leave and festival holidays.
3. Bonus and profit sharing schemes, standard labour force.
4. Seniority, rationalization and the issues relating to the fixation of workloads are also included in subject matter.
5. The programmes of planning and development.
6. Issues relating to retrenchment and lay off.
7. Provident fund, gratuity and other retirement benefit and incentive systems.

The Indian Institute of Personnel Management, gives the following as the subject matter of collective bargaining:

• Trade union rights and duties.
• Grievance redressal procedure.
• Methods and machinery for the settlement of possible future disputes.
• Termination clause.

 Characteristics of Collective Bargaining 

The main characteristics of collective bargaining are:

1. Collective Process: Another feature is it is a collective process. Delegates participate on behalf of the employer and trade union represent the employees Both of the party sit together and reach at an acceptable conclusion.
2. Continuous Process: The collective bargaining process is continuous one, it goes on for 365 days of the year. It does not end with an agreement and does not start with negotiations. The process includes application of contract and administration also. The bargaining goes on day to day under the rules established by labour agreements. It provides machinery for continuing relationship between trade unions and management.
3. Flexible and Mobile: The process is very flexible and there is no specific rule for reaching at the conclusion. There is more scope for compromise. Give and take policy also works before reaching at the conclusion.
4. Bipartite Process: The process involves two parties. There is no intervention of third party. Both the parties employer and employees collectively take some decision. It is a two way process. In most of the countries, the process leads to conflict between the parties because of which the process adopts a principle to gain to the other part. A rigid, hard or inflexible position does not make for a settlement.
5. Dynamic: Collective bargaining is a dynamic process because the way by which conclusion is reached keeps on changing every time. It is scientific and factual process.
6. Industrial Democracy: The collective bargaining is based on principal of industrial democracy. The trade union represents the workers in negotiations with the employer or employers. It is a joint effort of helping the workers in matters which affect labour.

Advantages of Collective Bargaining

The advantages of collective bargaining are –

1. Enhance worker’s quality of life: It helps workers in improving their quality life of life. The main focus is on improving safety and working conditions of employees. Collective bargaining leads to increase in pay level of workers and other types of benefits. Hence the workers enjoy higher quality of life. The collective bargaining agreement will lead the workers to enjoy a higher overall quality of life.
2. Offer security and stability: It provides employees security of work tenure and they need not worry about their wrongful termination. They have a team of representatives and strong support system who represent them and fight for the rights of employees.
3. Creates a binding result: Due to the collective bargaining agreement both the parties are bound together to follow the rules. It provides for extra security for employers and employees for defending their positions. Both the parties need to follow the contract and if either of them don’t follow then may be held liable by the  injured party.
4. Give workers a larger voice: In case of an individual worker, he is unable to negotiate with the employer and fulfil his demands regarding work conditions. Whereas, collective bargaining provides strength to workers by binding them together into a large group. They are able to create a big impact and leads to mutually beneficial outcome. The recognised trade unions are able to create a louder voice. The workers who do not have their unions are faced with lot of problems.
5. Prevent employees strike: Another advantage of Collective bargaining is it helps to resolve the dispute between employer and employees. It avoids the disputes between the employer and employees which often leads to strike. The representatives of the workers help them in solving their problems and work for their benefit and indulge in  mutual settlement during disputes.
6. It is a transparent process:  All the discussions are kept in written form and are open to all for reference. Whatever is decided between the parties can be easily known. Such type of flexibility may not be available at other workplaces.
7. Collective bargaining also promotes welfare of workers. It is a flexible and  quick and efficient process. Speedy decisions are taken by both the parties.

Disadvantages of Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining creates many problems.. Other disadvantages of collective bargaining are-

1. No representation of consumers: There is no representation of consumers in the process of collective bargaining.
2. Prone to inequality: Collective bargaining may lead to inequality among the parties and either of them may suffer and get less of what they deserve. There is no fair representation in collective bargaining process. Both parties suffer. The workers may not get enough employment benefits which they deserve if their representation is weak. On the other hand, if the representation of employers is weak,  then business may get into loss due to over-compensation and excessive benefit.
3. Can be a financial burden: The persons who become the member of the union, are required to pay various dues. So, the paying members have to pay for those dues. Hence, in this process there is lot of financial burden to member as well as union. There is the cost of lost productivity as both parties sit and discuss out a deal. Many collective bargaining agreements are lengthy and require time to read, which further reduces worker availability. All this involves lot of cost. Employer representatives become less productive and they are part of this process.
4.  Influence relationship between members: Collective bargaining may not always result in grouping of workers. There may be conflict among workers due to disagreement of some issue.  The divisions and differences may surface among workers due to grouping or because of union which were not present before making an agreement. It can be biased to employers.

5. Consumer gets affected by this process– Consumer has to bear the burden of settlement, as when wages of workers are raised by employers, they raise the price of goods which affects the consumer.
6. It creates tension in workplace– The union workers complain often that their managers act as boss instead of partner. The representation of unions results in reducing openness and trust found in a workplace.
7. If the transaction of collective bargaining fails, strikes and lockouts may take place.

Conclusion

This project focuses on how employer and employee negotiate with each other in wage or other related issues. Collective bargaining is different from individual bargaining. It considers workers as valuable asset. The subject matter of collective bargaining include wages, bonus, benefits and terms and conditions of service, grievance redressal procedure, etc.

It plays an important role in preventing industrial disputes, settling these disputes and maintaining industrial peace. It can be defined as process of social change. Collective bargaining also plays vital role in conflict resolution. Also, collective bargaining does not contain sufficient protection for the public interest, which might be ignored by collusion between strong unions and employers to fix prices.

The managerial objectives in collective bargaining in recent years owing to heightened competition have been to reduce labour costs, increase production or productivity, flexibility in work organization. The situation of collective bargaining in India in recent years is limited to its scope by a well defined legal structure. The recent trends in collective bargaining in India are Decentralised and Individualized Bargaining and  Declining Wage Share.

This article has been contributed by Bharati Chitnavis, student at MKES College of Law (Mumbai University).

Bibliography

Books

Labour Law – by Prof. Prakash K Mokal

Website

1. https://www.patnauniversity.ac.in/econtent/social_sciences/pmir/PMIR10.pdf
2. https://commercemates.com/collective-bargaining/
3. https://www.mbaknol.com/human-resource-management/collective-bargaining-definition-features-2/
4. https://www.amrc.org.hk/content/collective-bargaining-india-recent-trends