Collective Bargaining

Posted: October 17th, 2013

Collective Bargaining

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Collective Bargaining

It is free and democratic country, hence applying double standards to a group of people would be tantamount to discrimination. Public unions reserve the right to organize and lead strikes because such acts are not selfish. They are meant on putting pressure on the government to alleviate the suffering of the public employees by meeting their demands. Differences between public sector collective bargaining and private sector bargaining are due to the simple aspect of competition (Carrell, & Heavrin, 2001). A private firm exists in a market that is full of identical producers or providers of identical products or services thus a private sector union cannot demand exorbitant rates or unreasonable demands to be met on behalf of the employees. This might force the company to shut down or consider an easier approach of retrenching the employees represented by the government. Whereas for unions in the public sector they do not experience identical challenges as the government is the only sole provider of certain services that are being bargained for by the union group. The government might not feel any effect if it effects the demands of the employees (Carrell, & Heavrin, 2001).

The effect of public strikes by unions has a negative effect on the entire economy of a specific jurisdiction in which there are strikes. Strikes end up forcing the government representatives and union representatives to meet and bargain on the issues at hand. This means that the government has to agree to meet such demands resulting in higher remuneration for the employees of the union. However, such leads to higher taxes levied by the government as it finds new avenues to meet such high costs of employees (United States, 2001). The government or public sector might be forced to drop some of the employees because of the increase in the costs of providing similar services. (300 Words)

References

Carrell, M. R. & Heavrin, C. (2001). Labor relations and collective bargaining: Cases, practice, and law. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.

United States. (2001). Collective bargaining agreements: Expiration, reopening, and wage adjustment provisions of major agreements. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.