Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining involves employers and unions reaching on terms and conditions of employment and the ways in which employment issues such as disputes ,grievances, disciplinary matters should be resolves.Barganing arrangements result in collective agreements, which are formal agreements between the management and trade unions. Having minimum two parties , an agreed procedure whereby the parties relate to each other and negotiate of the frame work agreement and conclusion with collective out come are the key features of a collective barganing.
Sri Lankan Tea industry which had evolved for more than 150 years is the best example for single table barganing ( Marginson and Sisson 1990 ) where all the unions in an organization together as a single barganing unit represents the employees. With the recolonization of the plantations in 1990s, two unions have dominated the sector : UNP party union ,the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers union and the CWC - Ceylon workers congress . Together these unions control nearly 70-75% of the unionized workers in the late 1990s (Maliyagoda, 2000 ). These two union with collection of small unions which represented by joint plantations trade union are representing the plantation workers of the Sri Lankan tea industry and reputed plantation companies been represented by the Employers Federation of Sri Lanka. The formal out comes of the collective barganing are substantive agreement ,procedure agreement and employee relationship procedures. The collective agreement which had been enforced four many decades between the said worker representation and Employer Ferderation is a subnative collective agreeement in which woker wages , working hours , holidays , over time regulations been covered but in the same collective agreement procedural elements such as settlement of industrial disputes also included. The uniqueness of this collective agreement is that even elements of the ‘ new style agreement (Farnham 2000 ) also have been intragated as the negotiating and disputes procedures are based on mutullly accepted “rights “ of the parties expressed.
The collective agreement which will be bargained between the unions and the Employers Ferderation is been renewed ever two years and the main objective of same is to enhance the worker wage whist improving the productivity and the collective agreement represents elements of partnership agreement as well and as indicated by Rosow and caster - Lotto (1998) mutual trust and respect , a joint vision for future and the means to achive it , continuous exchange of information , recognition of the central role of collective barganing ,developed decison making are the key characteristics of said collective agreement.
The wage obtained by the plantation workers is the highest paid out of all tea growing countries in the world and despite the fact that Sri Lankan plantation worker productivity is the lowest in the world , said collective bargaining which result in plantation worker collective agreement had made a significant influence for the sustainability of Sri Lankan tea industry.
Collective barganing in Sri Lankan tea industry took a new turn in 2017 as for the first time in the history productivity based wage ( economynext 2017 ) had been introduced which will be a key element for the sustainability of Sri Lankan tea industry. Making every plantation worker a enterpruner also have been agreed upon which result in every plantation worker to own piece of tea land which could be the future plantation management of Sri Lankan ( world social web 2017 ) .
Conclusion
Collective barganing is an important aspect in any organization and for the Benifit of the employer and employee it will make a serious influence. Best out come of the collective barganing is the link which facilitate between the employer and the employee whilst making an environment to discuss matters relevant to both parties. Close rapport , mutual respect will enhance the possibility of sustaining the organization and healthy environment for the employees.collective barganing in Sri Lankan tea industry made its most important sustainable solution as mentioned above and if not for the collective barganing Sri Lankan tea industry would have been in misery.
References
Armstong’s Handbook of human resource management practices , https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=iaffe2007&paper_id=43 , Janaki Biyanwila (2007) Ethnicity and women struggles in Sri Lankan tea plantations. Economynext http://www.economynext.com/Sri_Lanka_plantation_firms_ink_wage_deal_with_unions-3-, 6389.html, world social web 2017
Collective bargaining involves employers and unions reaching on terms and conditions of employment and the ways in which employment issues such as disputes ,grievances, disciplinary matters should be resolves.Barganing arrangements result in collective agreements, which are formal agreements between the management and trade unions. Having minimum two parties , an agreed procedure whereby the parties relate to each other and negotiate of the frame work agreement and conclusion with collective out come are the key features of a collective barganing.
Sri Lankan Tea industry which had evolved for more than 150 years is the best example for single table barganing ( Marginson and Sisson 1990 ) where all the unions in an organization together as a single barganing unit represents the employees. With the recolonization of the plantations in 1990s, two unions have dominated the sector : UNP party union ,the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers union and the CWC - Ceylon workers congress . Together these unions control nearly 70-75% of the unionized workers in the late 1990s (Maliyagoda, 2000 ). These two union with collection of small unions which represented by joint plantations trade union are representing the plantation workers of the Sri Lankan tea industry and reputed plantation companies been represented by the Employers Federation of Sri Lanka. The formal out comes of the collective barganing are substantive agreement ,procedure agreement and employee relationship procedures. The collective agreement which had been enforced four many decades between the said worker representation and Employer Ferderation is a subnative collective agreeement in which woker wages , working hours , holidays , over time regulations been covered but in the same collective agreement procedural elements such as settlement of industrial disputes also included. The uniqueness of this collective agreement is that even elements of the ‘ new style agreement (Farnham 2000 ) also have been intragated as the negotiating and disputes procedures are based on mutullly accepted “rights “ of the parties expressed.
The collective agreement which will be bargained between the unions and the Employers Ferderation is been renewed ever two years and the main objective of same is to enhance the worker wage whist improving the productivity and the collective agreement represents elements of partnership agreement as well and as indicated by Rosow and caster - Lotto (1998) mutual trust and respect , a joint vision for future and the means to achive it , continuous exchange of information , recognition of the central role of collective barganing ,developed decison making are the key characteristics of said collective agreement.
The wage obtained by the plantation workers is the highest paid out of all tea growing countries in the world and despite the fact that Sri Lankan plantation worker productivity is the lowest in the world , said collective bargaining which result in plantation worker collective agreement had made a significant influence for the sustainability of Sri Lankan tea industry.
Collective barganing in Sri Lankan tea industry took a new turn in 2017 as for the first time in the history productivity based wage ( economynext 2017 ) had been introduced which will be a key element for the sustainability of Sri Lankan tea industry. Making every plantation worker a enterpruner also have been agreed upon which result in every plantation worker to own piece of tea land which could be the future plantation management of Sri Lankan ( world social web 2017 ) .
Conclusion
Collective barganing is an important aspect in any organization and for the Benifit of the employer and employee it will make a serious influence. Best out come of the collective barganing is the link which facilitate between the employer and the employee whilst making an environment to discuss matters relevant to both parties. Close rapport , mutual respect will enhance the possibility of sustaining the organization and healthy environment for the employees.collective barganing in Sri Lankan tea industry made its most important sustainable solution as mentioned above and if not for the collective barganing Sri Lankan tea industry would have been in misery.
References
Armstong’s Handbook of human resource management practices , https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=iaffe2007&paper_id=43 , Janaki Biyanwila (2007) Ethnicity and women struggles in Sri Lankan tea plantations. Economynext http://www.economynext.com/Sri_Lanka_plantation_firms_ink_wage_deal_with_unions-3-, 6389.html, world social web 2017
Very good article Tharindu
ReplyDeleteA very common problem in Sri Lanka. Nice explanation with examples. Very useful for someone studding on this topic.
ReplyDeleteGathering of very rare and interesting set of information. Good work
ReplyDelete