Introduction In the United States today many business leaders work to prevent their organization from becoming organized by labor unions. In light of the weakened economy, the effectiveness of labor unions has come into question and is at the forefront of many news stories. Collective bargaining is a responsibility of the labor unions in which the writer of this post is the most familiar. This topic was chosen as a result of academic curiosity and an interest in developing a better understanding of the role of labor unions and collective bargaining in other countries.
Explanation of Collective Bargaining In the United States the idea of collective bargaining has changed as labor relations between employees and employers have evolved and improved. In the past the idea of collective bargaining was not widely understood and there were opposing opinions on how to define collective bargaining. Chamberlain (1944) identifies two of these definitions: 1) “the process of arriving at an agreement as to terms and conditions of employment between a single workman and his employer, where the workman is represented by a labor union of which he is a member.” 2) “the arbitral decisions in which no negotiation may be involved”. In the first definition opponents may argue that the process was not collective. However, if the second definition is applied it could be argued that no bargaining occurs. Today, the definition has evolved to a more widely accepted definition as defined by Ball, Geringer, Mcnett, and Minor (2013) as “the process in which a union represents the interests of workers bargaining in negotiations with management” (p. 430). The remaining sections of this paper will explore if and how collective bargaining exists in India.

Major Article Summary In the late 1990’s India experienced a change in its economic policy referred to as liberalization. This