Collective bargaining as the name suggests refers to that bargaining is done collectively and not individually, it is a term used in the context of employees bargaining for the salary or wage hike from their employers as well as better working conditions by making a union of employees so that they can press for their demands collectively and effectively. In order to get a better understanding about this term, one should look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of collective bargaining –
Advantages of Collective Bargaining
Better Bargaining
In our childhood, all of us have read this story that if you are given one piece of wood then you can break the wood easily but if you are given ten pieces of wood tied together then you will not be able to break it, collective bargaining works on this principle. The first and foremost advantage of collective bargaining is that it leads to better bargaining on the part of the employees because when an employee bargains alone from the employer then chances are his or her demand may not be fulfilled but if all the employees together bargain then chances are that their collective demands will be met by the employer.
No Scope of Partiality in Collective Bargaining
Another benefit of collective bargaining is that in this type of bargaining there is no scope of partiality with any employee as all terms and conditions related to the job as well as pay scales of the employee are decided collectively and hence chances of the same categories of employees getting a different salary and working conditions are minimal in case of collective bargaining.
Protection of Employees
In the case of collective bargaining, there is inbuilt protection to all the employees as terms and conditions decided by the employees and company are not decided by the employer alone rather they are decided by mutual understanding between the employer and employees which in turn ensures that employees interests are safeguarded and no employee gets terminated without proper reason and notice.
Disadvantages of Collective Bargaining
Harassment to Company
The first and foremost disadvantage of collective bargaining is that sometimes unions use this bargaining as a harassment tool and can create a lot of problems for the top management as well as the company thus hampering the working of the company leading to a loss for the company. In simple words as long as employees are using collective bargaining for their betterment then it is not a problem but the moment employees start using it for harassing the management regarding their unjustified demands then it is a big problem for the company.
Equal to All
Another drawback of collective bargaining is that since demands are collective it can put employees who are talented and hard-working at a disadvantage because all employees will get the same working conditions and pay scales making no difference whether you are talented and hardworking or lethargic and not talented. In simple words, workers who are talented and hardworking will prefer to do individual bargaining rather than collective bargaining as they will get better working conditions and payscales.
Collective Bargaining is Dependent on Leaders
Collective bargaining is done by leaders who are representatives of workers and hence if the leaders are corrupt and with management then they will agree to those terms which are in favor of management and not the workers making the whole idea of collective bargaining a joke.
As one can see from the above that collective bargaining has pros as well as cons and that is the reason why companies, as well as workers, should be careful because there is a thin line between doing collective bargaining and harassment which should never be crossed as it will lead to unnecessary conflict between workers and management impact the cordial atmosphere of the company.