Collective Bargaining - Essay Example

Today collective bargaining is being increasingly used in industrial relations and it gives an opportunity to the workers to equalize the power between them and the employers. Nowadays it is being chiefly used for financial purposes and social issues. Recently there has been less centralized collective bargaining in the UK. In regard to this Fox states "[Collective bargaining] has often been seen as, though not by all pluralists, not only as leveling up employee power to an acceptable approximation of that of management but also as reinforcing government social welfare and redistribute policies in gradually reducing the class difference." (Fox, 1985:22) In the UK collective bargaining is treated as the most useful and efficient form of bargaining which can help the workers to regulate their terms and conditions of service in consideration with ILO Convention 84.

Nevertheless, the significance of collective bargaining in the United Kingdom and in the other parts of the industrialized world has minimized after the 1980s. Its turn down in the government sector comes from the growth of Review Body arrangements (Jackson, Leopold, Tuck, Katz 1995). A collective bargaining agreement helps the employees to look for progress in wages, hours of work, and work environment. In other words, it is a base through which the employees can voice their demands but these agreements sometimes can lead to difficult consequences such as strikes.

However, after the mid-1990s a considerable increase is seen in the partnership deals between the unions and the employers. These agreements allow the employees to have a greater sense of job security and a strong position in the company. In the UK agreements have been made so that the performance is improved by taking a chance in an organization or improving the relationships with other industries (e.g. Tesco etc). Collective bargaining has made a way for the trade unions to rise and the trade unions in recent years are stressing their functions in improving the business performance.

Workers are joining the trade unions because of the lack of job security in the firms. Trade Unions have accepted the management offers to negotiate partnership agreements. This new way adopted by them is causing more members to join them and is helping the trade unions to get identification in the non-union companies. The Trade Union Congress has formed a Partnership Institute which offers guidance and help to organizations that want to build up good relations between unions, employers and employees.

One such example which involves collective agreements is Barclays Bank and UNIFI. Strikes were caused in the firm due to the belief of upcoming job losses and salary disputes. An agreement was reached between the management and the employees in April 1999. The agreement reached helped the employees to get job security and hence helped them to improve their quality of life. (Industrial Relations Services Employment Trends 715, November 2000). Collective bargaining is a process that provides the employers or the management to deal with the problems of the employees equally.

If the general areas of interest are emphasized in collective bargaining it can help to develop an approval of common interests by the employees (Purcell, 1979). The feeling of equality and general interests being fulfilled will help the workers to be satisfied, would lessen disagreements and create an environment of stability within the company for the employees. It can lead to equal pay for all the workers doing the same work and this would provide a social benefit.