What is collective bargaining?

Once a union becomes the bargaining representative of a unit of employees, the union and employer have a duty to bargain with one another. Collective bargaining is the process of negotiation between an employer and a union for a contract that will cover all of the employees within the bargaining unit.

Both union and management have a mutual obligation to meet and confer-to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with respect to:

• wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment; or

• the negotiation of any agreement, or any question arising under the agreement; and

• the execution of a written contract incorporating any such agreement reached if requested by either party.

How does collective bargaining work? After a union is certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of a group of employees, the union makes a bargaining request of the employer. The union identifies employees to serve on the bargaining committee along with its staff negotiators. The employer's legal staff or outside counsel and human resources officers typically represent the employer in negotiations.

The parties will establish ground rules to be followed during the negotiations period. These rules will designate the structure, location, schedule, and duration of negotiating sessions, and procedures for handling tentative agreements on selected terms, for addressing delays or postponements in negotiating sessions, and for preparing the final contract. Collective bargaining entails several steps:

1. planning for negotiations;

2. establishing ground rules;

3. determining bargaining subjects (and which subjects will not be bargained);

4. preparing proposals and counterproposals;

5. resolving impasses in negotiations; and

6. finalizing the bargaining agreement.

Encouragement of collective bargaining is a major goal of the National Labor Relations Act, which applies, with few exceptions, to most businesses whose activities affect interstate commerce, a phrase that is interpreted broadly by the NLRB and the courts.

Checklist: Federal labor law requirements for bargaining

• Employers must bargain collectively with unions which represent a majority of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit.

• Unions representing a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit have a duty to bargain collectively with the employer.

• Together with the union's duty to bargain collectively goes the exclusive right to represent all employees in the unit (nonunion workers as well as union members).

• Both parties have a duty to bargain in good faith.

• Neither party is required to make concessions.

• The parties are required, if either so requests, to make a written contract if agreement is reached.

• Both parties are obligated to follow certain procedures if they seek to modify or terminate an existing contract.

• Violations of the obligation to bargain could constitute an unfair labor practice.

• A remedy for unlawful refusal to bargain might be a cease and desist order or a bargaining order from the National Labor Relations Board.

• Employers may, but they have no duty to, adjust grievances for employees without the intervention of the bargaining representative in certain instances.