Effects Collective Bargaining - Research Paper Example

The latter may not result in an agreement. The study that was conducted over ten years made the finding that union collective bargaining has a substantial influence on fringe benefits.

Brown points out that collective bargaining helps settle through dialogue and common consensus rather than through conflict and confrontation. As Silva points out, unlike other ways of settlement that often result in the success of one party and the dissatisfaction of the other, collective bargaining ensures maximum satisfaction of all the parties involved as there is no win/lose fear involved (645-674).

The second important advantage of collective bargaining as seen from the work of Fiorito and Wallace (569) is that it promotes democracy as there is participation of all. It becomes evident that collective bargaining is the process of rule-making or rule alteration that is done by all who are affected by that rule. Thus, collective bargaining can be termed as the process of sharing rule-making power. Yet another benefit of collective bargaining, according to Andrew is that it ensures the smooth functioning of industries as labor union strikes are only used as a last resort as team member unions are ensured that issues can be solved through collective bargaining; thus, the existence of collective bargaining in the long term leads to the growth of mutual trust in institutions.

The last benefit of collective bargaining in negotiations, according to Gwendolyn, and Craig is that it makes both the employers and the employees aware of the existing realities of the other side (12-13). To illustrate, when there is collective bargaining for a wage hike, the employers will certainly explain their side which ensures that the demands of the employees will be well within the limits that are possible for the company to do. This is because the employees are well-informed about the realities of the industry. Thus, when there is the possibility of collective bargaining, running the institution is no more the need of the employer alone, but of the employees as well.

However, there are problems in collective bargaining when it goes out of track as happened with Teamsters. One issue arises when employees lose their chances of individuality. For example, when there is collective bargaining, individual employees’ needs may not receive any attention at all as simply by keeping the unions satisfied, the management ensures their cooperation. So, a team member who is not supported by the union may get zero representation and attention.

It is pointed out that bargaining agreements often result in decreased employment opportunities for people who are not supported by unions. The same is true about other services like insurance and pension. As far as collective bargaining is not totally ‘collective’ in nature, it is not as beneficial as people are made to believe.

  As Blackett points out, strong team member unions may resort to coercion and job racketeering, resulting in decreased employment opportunities for people who are not supported by unions.

 In total, it becomes evident that collective bargaining can be a useful tool when all the parties function with benevolence. Otherwise, like all other forms of negotiation, collective bargaining too has its demerits.