Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining is the process of negotiation between a group of employees (often represented by a trade union) and their employer. In Collective bargaining goes reaches accords on issues such as wages, hours of work, working conditions and grievance-procedures. The parties often refer to the result of the negotiation as a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) or as a Collective Employment Agreement (CEA).

Most commentators see the process of collective bargaining as necessarily containing an element of negotiation and hence as distinct from processes of consultation, which lack the element of negotiation and where employers determine outcomes unilaterally.

The British academic Beatrice Webb reputedly coined the term "collective bargaining" in the late 19th century: the OED quotes her use of it in 1891 in Cooperative Movement.

Australia

CBAs are known as Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) in Australia. EBAs also consist of an agreement between employers and groups of employees or unions.

Unlike awards, which provide similar standards for all workers in the entire industry covered by a specific award, collective agreements usually apply only to workers for one employer - although on occasion a short-term collaborative agreement (for example, on a building-site) yields a multi-employer/employee agreement.

Political parties endorse proposed enterprise bargaining agreements (in the case of employers the matter goes to a vote). The Australian Industrial Relations Commission then certifies them. (With the introduction of Workchoices, agreements now renamed "collective workplace agreements" are lodged with the Office of the Employment Advocate and are not checked for breaches of the Act.)

Europe

Many contintental European countries, like Austria, Netherlands and Sweden, have a social market economy where collective bargaining over wages is done on the national level between national federations of labour unions and employers' organizations.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom collective bargaining has become, and has received endorsement for many years as, the dominant and most appropriate means of regulating workers' terms and conditions of employment, in line with ILO Convention No. 84. However, the importance of collective bargaining in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the industrialized world has declined considerably since the early 1980s. Its decline in the public sector stems in part from the growth of Review-Body arrangements provided through the Office of Manpower Economics for groups of workers, including for the majority of National Health Service staff.

Despite its significance, in the United Kingdom there remains no statutory basis for collective bargaining in the fields of learning and training, a situation that has attracted the attention of both the Trades Union Congress and members of the Royal College of Nursing. A coalition has formed which actively seeks to remedy this situation by expanding the scope of collective bargaining to encompass learning and training.

United States

In the United States, the National Labor Relations Act covers most collective agreements in the private sector.

Notable collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in the United States include those between owners and players in professional sports leagues. The National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association's CBA, and NHL all have negotiated (CBAs) on issues such as percentage of revenues paid to players, salary caps, pay increases, number of teams in the league, and the ease with which teams can cut players.

Other examples of (CBAs) in the United States include those done by powerful unions like the United Auto Workers and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Jimmy Hoffa's work on the National Master Freight Agreement in 1964 led to similar wage levels and benefits for teamsters across the country, as well as the elimination of discrimination in pay based on race. The United Auto Workers has reached agreements with large American automotive companies such as Ford and General Motors.

CBAs in Society

CBAs have been used as an effective method of conflict resolution in labor disputes around the world. Their use has not come without controversy however. Putting the bargaining power of an entire group of people into the hands of a few limits the democracy of the process as some members may not be pleased with how their fate is determined by someone else. Also, as the power of organized labor has dwindled in many countries, the efficacy of CBAs may become more limited.

References
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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.
Liontos, Demetri. COLLABORATIVE BARGAINING: CASE STUDIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Eugene: Oregon School Study Council, University of Oregon, 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, 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.

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