COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: CONCEPT, MEANING AND THEORY

Today the world has become so complex that everywhere we find competitions, in which man is used as an instrument to achieve materialistic objects. Exploitation of man by man is the main characteristic of the present competitive materialistic world. In the ordering of industrial relationship, workers have passed through three different stages. First, the era of laissez faire which restricted any sort of interference on the freedom of trade and commerce by the State. It was a blessing to capitalist employers. The rich became richer and poor became poorer. The concept of laissezfaire resulted in the exploitation of laabour and victimisation of labour at the hands of resourceful employers. In fact, laissez faire policy gave birth to two classes of opposite interests - one exploiers and the other exploited. The law of jungle gave way to a second stage when men's differences were settled by reference to some central authority backed by force. The third stage is the advent of Welfare State, industrial democracy emerged which ultimately resulted in collective bargaining.

Concept and maning of collective bargaining: The phrase collective bargaining, though very common in the world of industry and business, its concept is ambiguous. It has different meanings to different persons. Unions, management and public habe divergent attitudes towards collective bargaining because they are differently affected by it. Thus, depending upon one's attitude towards a particular situation, the meaning of the term varies, because collective bargaining is dynamic, not static. Accordingly it is said that how people define collective bargaining - that is, how they regard it. Collective bargaining, at a significant scale, is relatively new. In terms of recognition, interpretation and extension, it is still in the process of growth. What is definitive today falls short of accurate description tomorrow. Prof. Randle aptly remarked that specific meaning cannot be given to this concept because of the combination of psychology, economics, philosophy and human relations. The proportions of each are not known, nor indeed are they fixed. However, an attempt is made to present the meaning of collective bargaining as projected by different authors. 

The term 'Collective bargaining' was coined by Sidney and Beatrice Webb in their famous book 'Industrial democracy' published in 1897. The term, collective bargaining, is a combination of two parts, collective and bargaining.