The Logic of Collective Bargaining and Arbitration

Abstract

Arbitration is regarded by some as a panacea for all labor controversies.To others arbitration of labor disputes is anathema.That there should be this extreme conflict of reaction is not surprising, for immoderate opinions are most common where there is least understanding, and few have made a searching inquiry into the nature of collective bargaining, without which the role of arbitration cannot be fully understood.The purpose of this article is to explore the thesis that (I) collective bargaining within the realm of labor relations is vital to the perpetuation of the American system of free enterprise, and (2) arbitration is an essential element in the successful functioning of the process which we have come to know as collective bargaining.Three fundamental assumptions underlie this thesis: first, freedom of enterprise-as contrasted with dictation by government or the state-is the basic American procedure for determining the uses to which the labor or the property of an individual are to be subjected; second, the traditional procedure of free enterprise whereby these uses are determined is a process of bargaining between individuals or groups of individuals; third, conditions which threaten the permanence of, or which seriously curtail, this bargaining process are dangerous encroachments upon our system of freedom of enterprise.

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