What an Ideal Collective Bargaining Agreement must Contain

By definition, a collective bargaining agreement is an “explicit employment contract negotiated by a labor union and employers who employ the union members”, which are typically renegotiated periodically.

Generally, the subjects, contents or provisions of a collective bargaining agreement are negotiated by both employers and employees through their union or through representatives from both parties. Its contents may vary depending on employment situations and terms, conditions, and demands of both parties.

However, under the law, a collective bargaining agreement must contain the following mandatory provisions:

• Wages, Hours, and Fringe Benefits - The wages and hours clauses are subject to legal limitations, such as laws concerning minimum wage (state and federal) and consecutive hours (overtime, ICC regulations, and other pertinent laws). This may include provisions for the usual fringes such as vacations, holidays, pensions, and health insurance, including sick pay, severance pay, reporting pay, day-care facilities, financial services, educational loans, and sabbaticals.


• Non-discrimination clauses - This clause can be used as the basis for a grievance about any discrimination issue, including sexual harassment, discriminatory health benefits relating to pregnancy, or lower pay for traditionally "women's jobs."


• Length of Contract - An important item of the agreement which must be  determined by both parties in consideration of the rate of inflation, the financial health of the employer, and other similar factors.


• Management Rights - Management rights usually include decisions such as corporate structure, production levels, and plant size.


• Discipline – This may include a clause reserving the right of the employer to discipline workers by firing, suspension, notation on work records, and other forms of reprimand. Unions may also work for procedural safeguards such as notice, hearings, and review in an attempt to protect the employee. The goal of this clause is to insure that all facts are heard and that the punishment is not arbitrary or unfair.


• Health and Safety – This provision establish the right of a union health and safety committee to make inspections and examine records, or the right of a worker to refuse unsafe work.


• Seniority – This clause gives senior employees protection in work areas involving transfers, promotions, bumping, filling vacancies, and layoffs. Seniority rights can be established on a department or plant-wide basis and may be conditioned on the worker's ability to perform on the job. These clauses are often the most complicated in a contract and may vary with the kind of work.


• Dues Collection - Union and management may negotiate a mutually agreeable means of union dues collection.


• Union Security – This provision protect workers or union members from harassment acts or suppression of union rights


• Grievance Procedure – This provides the establishment of a mutually agreeable procedure to settle differences in contract interpretation.


• Arbitration - An arbitration clause provides both parties an alternative way to resolve conflicts through the mediation of an independent third party.


• No-Strike Clause – This provision must be negotiated extensively by both parties. While most employers insist that the labor organization agree not to strike for the duration of a contract to avoid "wildcat strikes", which are illegal and may even require that the union discipline the strikers. Strikes may still be considered legal however, in response to “abnormally dangerous working conditions”, or when a contract expires.