Collective bargaining

Abstract

This chapter outlines a conceptual framework for understanding the institutions, structures and processes of collective bargaining, and how they affect three key objectives of the employment relationship – efficiency, equity and voice. Collective bargaining processes and outcomes are affected by the rules that govern the relationship between industrial relations actors, which are central to Dunlop’s ( 1958 ) framework, and the strategic choices and activities of industrial relations actors at different levels, which are central to Kochan, Katz and McKersie’s ( 1986 ) framework. The collective bargaining framework elaborated on in this chapter places its primary emphasis on the sources and role of power, how the allocation of power shapes, and is shaped by, collective basrgaining institutions, rules and processes, and how the allocation and exercise of power may change based on related processes and outcomes. The chapter also highlights the importance of cognitive institutions and reviews key developments and recent empirical findings on collective bargaining. The chapter concludes by highlighting issues that have received less attention in the industrial relations literature, limiting our understanding of collective bargaining institutions, processes and outcomes across national and local contexts.

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