How Collective Bargaining Works

Collective bargaining is the application of democratic processes to employer-employee relationships.  A union becomes the bargaining agent for a group of workers when the employer agrees that it represents the majority of them.  Most commonly this is determined by a secret vote under exacting conditions of fair play.  If a clear majority of the workers involved indicate a desire to be represented by the union, then that union is certified as the collective bargaining agent for the employees.

Representatives of the union and representatives of management then meet together at the bargaining table and they try to get together on a collective agreement or contract.

When the union representatives and the management representatives have finally agreed on a contract, the union representatives take the contract back to their members.  If it does not satisfy them, they will send their union representatives back to continue the bargaining process or they may decide to reinforce their demands by going on strike.

Once the contract has been ratified by the union and by the management, it becomes the guiding principle of labor-management relations for the duration of the agreement.  No longer are workers subject to the arbitrary whims of the employer or his representative.

The location of the contract and the content of each clause varies from contract to contract and from geographic region to geographic region.  You can use it to help you determine where in your contract each of these clauses are located.  You may want to write the article and section of each of the following clauses in the spaces between the lines.

Recognition clause: main clause that defines the bargaining unit.

Union security clause: defines the requirements of union membership.

Management rights clause: attempts to set limits on our power in the workplace.

Wage schedule and benefit package:  defines our economic rights under the contract.

Hourly wage schedule:  defines how much a worker gets based on his/her job classification and the amount of hours/years with the company.

Paid time off (PTO):  eligibility and what you get for working or not working is defined by these sections

1.    Holidays:  paid holidays, eligibility for holiday pay, who works holidays and the rate of pay for the people who do work

2.    Vacations:  eligibility and how much you get

3.    Sick days:  eligibility, how one accrues it, how one can use it

4.    Funeral leave:  eligibility, for whom you can use it, duration

Health care:  eligibility and employer contribution

Seniority rights:  a check against the bosses ability to play favorites and to discipline unfairly.  Seniority is the basis for our job protection language and scheduling language in the retail grocery / non-foods industry.  A worker with seniority cannot be fired for poor work performance until he/she has been informed as to what improvements he/she has to make, and given the opportunity to make those improvements.

1.    Probationary period:  how long is it?  There shall be a probationary period of sixty days during which a new employee may be discharged without right of protest.  A new employee has to join the union within 30 days or risk losing his/her job.

2.    Affirmative rights:  hours and promotions.  Senior employees shall be given consideration where merit and ability are approximately equal, but no trial period shall be required.

Job protection rights:  lay-off and recall

Discipline and discharge: sets forth the standard the employer needs to prove discipline; progressive discipline; and the basis for summary dismissal.

Grievance procedure: guideline to protecting workers’ contract rights.

Letters of Agreement: may modify existing language to include different ideas or may add agreements to the contract that one side doesn’t want to be part of the body of the contract.