Why does collective bargaining increase the bargaining power of workers?
1 Answer
It relates to the aggregate importance that a group can acquire.
Explanation:
Professor Mancur Olson, from Harvard, once wrote about the formation of groups and how they can more effectively work. The collective action - name given by him - is something that might sound simple or obvious but has important things lying behind it, as foundations.
The point is that a collective bargain is treated more effectively because (1) it is only one bargain, that has probably averaged the intentions of all workers, so the negotiations will be carried out only once for everybody altogether and (2) by constructing a homogeneous group, workers build power - something they could not and would not own standing alone -, that is, their claims, if not taken into account, might result into a collective strike or dropping out, which would harm production.
