The period between the year 1866 and the 1930s saw the introduction of labour unions which came about to necessitate the improvement of employees working conditions, particularly in the private domain. However, as unionization in the private sector decreased over time, a considerable amount of its growth was seen in the public sector. As of today, substantial debates are continuously being introduced in regards to the importance and value of public sector unions in addition to their continued primacy in today's globalized world economy (Chigudi, 2015). Moreover, as a result of the growing financial crises that are being witnessed across the globe, various economies are taking measures aimed at raising profits and cutting costs. These conditions that are being placed forward by the government present an affront for public sector unions and therefore are eliminating the constant attacks on public sector unions. For instance, in the USA while there exist some jurisdictions that allow statutes to permit collective bargaining rights to employees in the public domain, Virginia and North Carolina statutorily disallow the practice.
The main contention behind statutorily prohibiting collective bargaining is that collective bargaining in the public sector is anti-democratic and thus is a hindrance to effective governance. Furthermore, this argument is in some cases being advanced by United States courts when they are unwilling to enforce collective bargaining agreements, and by legislative branches and the executive when they want to lessen the scope of negotiation (Chigudi, 2015). However, some individuals oppose labour unions, while others regard them as crucial especially in the public sector. Moreover, they postulate that collective bargaining can only be conserved if labour laws are particularly tailored to meet the economic conditions in such a way that it is of benefit to all stakeholders in the public sector, that is, workers, taxpayer, the government and public service. Various companies have different types of collective bargaining with the structures, strategies, and skills differing.
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Definitions of Collective Bargaining
There are industrial disputes between employers and employees that are settled through negotiations to arrive at a decision, an act known as collective bargaining (Vaibhav, 2018). The action is termed as collective bargaining because to reach a joint decision that benefits both the parties, a lot of discussion and negotiation are involved. According to Vaibhav (2018), collective bargaining is the process by which union organization of employees negotiates the administration and interpretation of collective agreements in regards to wages, hours of work, or other conditions related to employees arguments that concerns with industrial action dispute settlement procedures.
Moreover, according to an ILO manual that was drafted in the year 1960, collective bargaining is negotiations concerning the work conditions and terms of employment between employee and employer, or a unit of employees or one or more employers in an organization with the goal to reach a collective agreement (Vaibhav, 2018). This definition further asserts this term of agreement operates as a code that defines the obligations and rights of each of the parties in their employment contract. Moreover, it fixes a considerable number of specific provisions of employees, and during its validity, not one of the matters that it deals with (internal circumstances) provides the basis for dispute counselling and individual workers.
Collective bargaining is said to involve
1. Drafting
2. Negotiations
3. Interpretation of documents written by employer, employees and union representatives
4. Administration
5. Organizing Trade Unions with an open mind
Background of Collective Bargaining
During the early years, employers saw unionization as a significant threat to making profits and to their businesses even though for employees it was only concerned with defending their marketable skills and power of earning (Chigudi, 2015). Therefore during these years when workers organized themselves to safeguard their earning power, the various constitutions of states did not make any attempts to mention the existence of labor unions. According to Chigudi (2015), labor unions in the public sector originated from the desire of the framers of the United States constitution wanting to create a perfect union that catered for the interests that they represented although their passion did not extend to skilled trade associations and organization of workers. However, as the American economy grew, merchant capitalists and the factory system developed by a considerable amount. Their primary intent was to safeguard their earning power in addition to their marketable skills through the formation of worker association, fledgling of unions of skilled craft workers and mechanic societies.
As more employees joined the unions and went on industrial actions, management tried to quell the emerging labour unions. In 1886 in the United States, the national labour union was formed, which advocated for the establishment of the eight-hour workday in addition to an increase in workers’ wages (Peitchinis, 1985). Although these unions only existed for a brief period, they led a variety of the forms of compensation that are being relished by today's workers in the public sector. Research by Peitchinis (1985) indicated that during this period, the union density of labor unions in the private sector decreased while those in the private sector increased. The increase in unionization in the public sector was mainly attributed to the previous exploitation on the part of employers and their resistance to freedom of association among employees. In other words, the employment relation system that exists in a nation is mainly determined by that country's history, economic, socio-political and technological forces (Chigudi, 2015). Often, legislative frameworks help to direct employment relation paradigms while employment relation systems help in determining a nation's history thus affecting other subsystems inside and outside a nation.
Structure, Strategies, and Skills of Collective Bargaining
Structure
Collective bargaining structure means the size and scope of the organizations that are involved in collective bargaining. However, the arrangements of the compositions vary from highly decentralized organizations to highly centralized organizations. Highly decentralized organizations are most common in North America while highly centralized organizations are most common in Scandinavian nations (Peitchinis, 1985). For instance, in regards to the United States, the essential characteristic of its collective bargaining order is that it is decentralized. The outcome of a bargaining process is thus dependent on the nature of a bargaining structure. In the United States, there exist close relations between the degree of centralization in the bargaining structure and the incidence of strikes. In short, the more decentralized a structure is, the higher the frequency of employee strikes. On the other hand, in Canada, some of the rates of worker strikes are attributed to the highly decentralized trade union movement existing in the country (Peitchinis, 1985). Moreover, centralization of a bargaining structure may lead to the loss of impact on employees over the terms and conditions of employment that is being negotiated by their organizations, which when permitted to progress into widespread discontent might increase the frequency of strikes.
Furthermore, the Task Force on Labour Relations in the nation of Canada asserted that centralization might result in the absence of decision making, conflict and dissatisfaction by rank and file (Peitchinis, 1985). According to research conducted on the relationship between the structure of collective bargaining and the outcome of the agreement, a correlation was found to exist between the detachment of decision making and labour management conflict. In other words, the researchers postulated that the further away from the workers a decision is taken, the higher the possibility of conflict (Vaibhav, 2018). In public service where employees are organized in one union, the union is the one responsible for bargaining on behalf of all the groups of employees in it. Even in cases where individuals units within it are certified to bargain, the union will be able to negotiate on behalf of each of the groups of employees, and thus will be in a position to disrupt work each time the number of certified groups confers.
On the other hand, in systems where several unions negotiate with a group of employers or individual employers, it does not matter whether the number of bargaining entities within each institution is large or small (Peitchinis, 1985). It is the initial negotiations concerning the terms and conditions of employment that each of the bargaining units wants for its members that takes place within and among the participating groups and not with the employer. It is the package on which all the bargaining units have agreed that it is made to the bargaining table for negotiation purposes with the employer (Peitchinis, 1985). In short, the battles regarding union leadership and privileges are waged by individual units, individuals or a collection of employees within their organizations, and during inter-organizational bargaining’s and not during negotiations with employers.
Strategies
The strategies that are employed in collective bargaining often vary according to the culture of an organization, and the different environmental factors especially the type of union involved. Some of the strategies involved in collective bargaining include;
1. The management has to anticipate the demands and further understands the main directions the requirements are going to be placed (Chigudi, 2015). Negotiations between employees and employers are best done only if both parties involved do their homework well. All representatives must come to the bargaining table fully equipped with all the required information and supportive data of a company’s economic status in addition to prospects, conditions of employment and the prevailing rates of pay. In this case, some of the things to be taken into consideration are past agreements, financial; liability and the impact that present negotiation will have in the future years.
2. The separation of personalities from the problems for arriving at a workplace and desirable agreements, and exploring the possibility for compatibility and harmony.
3. Presentation of counter-proposals. This is because collective bargaining is two-way traffic where both the management and the union must gain (Chigudi, 2015).
4. Employing rational and well-reasoned approaches to achieve better results other than methods that are emotionally charged and loud-mouthed.
5. Not deputing individuals of low rank without authority to commit the management on the negotiating table. This is because doing the opposite of this may give an impression to the union that the administration does not take the bargaining seriously.
6. Classification of various demands raised by labour representatives to distinguish the real from the fake (Peitchinis, 1985). By conducting a thorough analysis and understanding different items in the charter of union demands, negotiators will be able to arrive at a proper judgment.
7. Maintenance of team spirit during the period of negotiation.
8. Not announcing concessions before the conciliation officer as the starting point for further negotiations but instead announcing them at the bargaining table.
9. Being well prepared with facts and figures
10. Employing divide and conquer battle tactics
Skills in Collective Bargaining
Often, the ability to negotiate needs a collection of both interpersonal and communication skills that are placed together to bring out the intended result (Kelchner, 2019). Therefore these are some of the skills that are required for effective collective bargaining;
Problem analysis for Identifying Interests and Goals
Every negotiator must have the capabilities of analysing problems to ascertain the interests of each party involved during negotiations (Kelchner, 2019). By conducting a detailed problem analysis, the concern of the talks will be identified and the outcome goals determined.
Preparation before a meeting
Before entering any bargaining meeting, negotiators should prepare adequately for the conference by determining the goals, alternatives to the stated goals and areas of trade. Moreover, negotiators should study the history of both parties involved in addition to any past negotiations to find common goals and areas of the agreement because previous precedents and results often set the tone for present talks (Kelchner, 2019).
Keeping emotions in check
All negotiators must have the ability to prevent their feelings in check during negotiations because allowing emotions to take charge during meetings can result in unfavorable results.
Active listening skills
Negotiators should possess practical listening skills to be able to listen carefully to other parties during debates (Kelchner, 2019). Listening to other parties during negotiations enables ones to find areas of compromise during meetings.
Clear and effective communication
Negotiators must have clear and valid communication skills, and be able to state their desired outcomes in addition to their reasoning to other parties during meetings to avoid the occurrence of misunderstandings
Problem-solving skills
Negotiators must be able to seek various solutions to problems. In this case, one should not only focus on their ultimate goals but should focus on solving the issue at hand.
Decision-making ability
Negotiators must have the ability to act decisively during meetings
Collaboration and teamwork
For one to be an effective negotiator, he or she must possess skills to work together as a team to foster a collaborative atmosphere during negotiations.
Collective bargaining issues
Mostly, any issue revolving around management and workers are the critical subject of bargaining. In some cases, both unions and management are often reluctant to yield to ground (Chigudi, 2015). As it turns out, management is not always willing to negotiate work with the reason that it is the exclusive work of the administration to determine how work is done. On the other hand, unions do not want negotiations on disciplinary matters and production forms since agreements about this would limit their freedom. Therefore the main issue surrounding collective bargaining are;
1. Issue of right (the participative right of the parties involved).
2. Issue of interest (the participative rights and can only be granted as a sign of goodwill).
Therefore, issues of collective bargaining involve; wage-related problems that include topics on how basic wage rates are determined and wage adjustments, additional economic benefits, institutional issues, and administrative issues.
References
Chigudi, D. (2015). Collective Bargaining: An analysis of hurdles and applicability in the public sector. Journal of Governance and Regulation, 4(1), 168-173.
Kelchner, L. (2019, March 12). Top Ten Effective Negotiation Skills . Retrieved April 2019, from Small Business: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/top-ten-effective-negotiation-skills-31534.html
Peitchinis, S. G. (1985). The Structure of Collective Bargaining. In Issues in Management-Labour Relations in the 1990s (pp. 33-52). Canada: University of Calgary.
Vaibhav, V. (2018). Collective Bargaining: Definition, Types, Features and Importance . Retrieved April 2019, from Economic Discussion: http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/collective-bargaining/collective-bargaining-definition-types-features-and-importance/31375
