The Collective Bargaining Process

Abstract

Notwithstanding the long existence of collective bargaining as a process for the negotiation of terms and conditions of employment, collective bargaining remains one of the most critical issues in management—employee relations. The terms and conditions of employment of only about half of the labour force in North America are determined by collective bargaining; in many enterprises (commercial, industrial, institutional) important employment issues are excluded from the bargaining process; and most of management continue to regard the process an infringement on its right to manage, and enter into it under duress. Simply put, most of management have not accepted fully the organisations of employees and the collective bargaining process as necessary and desirable institutions: most of them continue to regard the organisations of employees as interlopers between themselves and the employees, which impede managerial efficiency, and collective bargaining an unnecessary, protracted, costly, and inefficient process for the determination of terms and conditions of employment.¹