Collective bargaining is a process by
which unions and employers determine many of the terms and conditions of
employment governing their workplace and attempt to negotiate resolution of
disputes that may arise.
Collective bargaining is specifically an industrial
relation mechanism or tool and is an aspect of negotiation applicable to the
employment relationship. In collective, the union, always has a collective
interest since the negotiation are for the benefit of several employees where
collective bargaining is not for are employer, but for several collective
interest, it become a feature for both parties to the bargaining process. It
also consists of negotiation between an employer and a group of employees so as
to determine the condition of employment. The result collective bargaining
procedures is a collective agreement.
Employees are often represented in bargaining by a
union or other labour organization. Collective bargaining is govern by federal
and state statutory law, administration agency regulation, the judicial
decisions in the area when federal and state law over lap, state law are preempted. The main body of law governing
the collective bargaining process is national labour relation Act (NLRA). It explicitly
give employers the right to collectively bargain and join trade unions.
However, failure of collective bargaining process
leads to industrial action. Industrial action happens when trade union members
are in a dispute with the employers that cannot be solved through negotiations.
A trade union can only call for industrial action if majority of its member
involved support it in a properly organized postal vote called ballot.
Negotiation consists essentially of advancing
proposals, discussing them, receiving counter proposals and resolving
differences. The bargaining process involves the two sides in making a
concerted effort to resolve their difference by negotiation which is akin to
haggling of price in the marketplace. A bargain is struck when both sides in
industry have negotiated and reached an agreement. That is to say collective
bargaining is equal to negotiation plus agreements. Reaching an agreement is
what makes negotiation equal to bargaining, otherwise, when negotiation gives
on endlessly without concrete agreement, and then no bargain would have been
struck.
Failure of the two parties to reach an agreement in
a collective bargaining process leads to the eruption of an industrial action
called strike. Strike erupts when collective bargaining process failed that the
parties involved are unable to reach an mutual agreement. Most times, the
actors (employers and employees) are unable to reach an agreement through the
negotiation process due to their divergent or different goals or objectives that
they have. The management sees the employees as ‘Oliver twist’ that will never
be satisfied, always asking for more wages/salary bonus, better conduction of
service etc while employees sees the management as ‘exploiters’ making them to
put in more effort without a measurable remuneration, always wanting to make
more profit at the expense of the employees welfare and this lead to industrial
conflict.
Industrial conflict is the total range of behaviour
and attitudes which expresses opposition and divergent orientations between
individual owners and managers on one hand and the working people and other
organization on the other hand. The following are the reason for conflicts in
an organization:-
i.
Unwillingness of
management to recognize a particular trade union.
ii.
Failure of trade union
to protect members interest.
iii.
Management’s style –
autocratic, mechanistic etc.
iv.
Nature of work and physical environment
v.
Effectiveness of
promotion system.
vi.
Employment issues –
disputes over salaries, allowances, bonuses, over time etc.
vii.
Ineffective
communication between employers and employees (rumour & grape vine).
Also,
there can be no doubt that the real cause of most strikes in Nigeria is either
the non-payment of wages or non-enforcement of collective agreements to inter
alia pay wages. Even where an agreement has been duly entered
between the workers and employers after bargaining, the workers may be
constrained to embark on industrial action by the very fact of the failure on
the part of the employer to honour and keep to the terms of the agreement. Thus
the strike to compel an employer or employee to accept or not to accept terms
of employment and physical conditions of work is a strike used as an instrument
of collective bargaining. In apparent recognition of this fact the court in the
recent case of Union Bank of Nigeria Ltd. v. Edet81noted that “whenever
an employer ignores or breaches a term of that agreement resort could only be
had, if at all, to negotiation between the union and the employer and
ultimately to a strike action should the need arise and it be appropriate”
Clearly the failure of the employer to honour agreements has led to industrial
action.
For
example, the Senior Staff Association of Utilities, Statutory Corporations and
Government Companies (SSAUSCGOC) and National Union of Postal and
Telecommunications Employees (NUPTE) embarked on industrial action to demand
the payment of outstanding arrears of four months salaries and allowances owed
to them by their employer. The workers were not happy that even after an
agreement was entered into, the employer to pay their wages following
negotiations the employer has failed to keep to it. The workers were thus
forced to embark on strike action as they had no other alternative by which to
press home their legitimate claims. In their view, the employer had “exhausted
their patience and abused offers of responsible
Others
factors that make parties i.e. employer and trade union sometimes unable to
reach agreement during negotiation and consequently strike erupt are:
Improper
Internal Communication: when the management and union does
not keep their managers and members respectively well informed, it causes improper
communication and information which leads to misunderstandings and even to
strikes. Sometimes managers and supervisors who are ill-informed may
inadvertently mislead workers who work under them about the current state of
negotiations, the management's objectives and so on.
Lack
of good Faith: collective bargaining is workable only
if the parties bargain in good faith. If not, there will be only the
process of bargaining without a result viz. an agreement. Good faith is
more likely where certain attitudes are shared among employers, workers and their
organizations e.g. a belief and faith in the value of compromise through
dialogue, in the process of collective bargaining, and in the productive nature
of the relationship collective bargaining requires and develops. Strong
organizations of workers and employers contribute to bargaining in good faith,
because there would be some parity in the bargaining strength of the two
parties. Lack of good faith lead to disagreement during negotiation and
consequently strike erupt.
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