The Collective Bargaining Process

The process of collective bargaining comprises a number of distinct steps and decision points. These steps are usually specified in some detail in government jurisdictions operating under comprehensive bargaining legislation. In such jurisdictions, the law specifies organizational and administrative arrangements for implementing and enforcing the collective bargaining statute. In cases in which there is no statutory authority, many of the same steps are also followed, but they lack the implementation mechanisms found in more far-reaching legislation.
Whatever the steps in the actual bargaining process, it is standard for bargaining to be supervised by an agency with specific oversight responsibility. In state and local governments, a number of different arrangements are possible for supervising the bargaining process. There is considerable incentive for both sides to prepare carefully for bargaining by keeping a complete record of problems encountered in administering the previous agreement.
After the process has become well established, the first two steps are normally omitted unless there arises strong sentiment among employees for a change in the organization representing them. Included among prohibited behaviors are (among other things) dismissing employees for union organizing, physical intimidation, or attempted bribery to influence the outcome of union representation elections. Under terms of most labor-management agreements, any activity that may violate codes of unfair practices can become grounds for initiating grievance proceedings.
Another dimension of bargaining that has emerged only in recent years is so-called productivity bargaining. Productivity bargaining is negotiations that link productivity improvements to employee wage increases as an alternative to reductions- in-force.