Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers compensation and rights for workers. It is a way for working people, through their unions, to negotiate contracts with their employers to determine their terms of employment, including pay, benefits, hours, leave, job health and safety policies, ways to balance work and family, and more. The process takes place between company management and a labor union. Collective bargaining aims to address concerns that affect employees and the workplace, such as compensation, working conditions, the work environment, benefits, and company policies and procedures. The right to bargain collectively with an employer enhances the human dignity, liberty, and autonomy of workers by giving them the opportunity to influence the establishment of workplace rules and thereby gain some control over a major aspect of their lives, namely their work.
The collective agreement reached by these negotiations functions as a labor contract between an employer and one or more unions, and typically establishes terms regarding wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms, and rights to participate in workplace or company affairs. Collective bargaining is governed by federal and state statutory laws, administrative agency regulations, and judicial decisions. The main body of law governing collective bargaining is the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which establishes procedures for the selection of a labor organization to represent a unit of employees in collective bargaining. The NLRA requires the employer to bargain with the appointed representative of its employees.
The collective bargaining process commonly unfolds in public education in five stages:
- Preparing for bargaining
- Conducting negotiations
- Reaching an agreement
- Ratifying the agreement
- Implementing the agreement
In the United States, some three-quarters of private-sector workers and two-thirds of public employees have the right to collective bargaining. The National Labor Relations Act gives workers the right to bargain collectively with their employer through a representative that they and their coworkers choose.
