Courts use the premise of equal bargaining power—defying common sense and economic evidence—to justify limits to employee rights and protections, from at-will employment to forced arbitration in workplace disputes to so-called right-to-work laws.
The equal power assumption limits constitutional, statutory, and legislative workplace protections. Without rights and protections, workers are unable to build the foundations of civic engagement at work through unionization and free communication.
Equal power underlies the textbook idea of the perfect market, in which employers must pay competitive rates for employees. But the perfect market is the exception, not the rule. As a result there is a need for specific consideration of gender issues in collective bargaining; certain issues may be of more concern to women because of their reproductive role, due to their ascribed role in regard to family and household care, or to the results of past discrimination.
At the same time these issues are not limited to women in that men also need certain types of protection in regard to their reproductive function, and measures are needed to provide men with opportunities to share more in family responsibilities, such as paternity and parental leave, flexible working hours and greater access to part-time work.
Collective bargaining is proving to be an important means of promoting equality for women in employment, but to be truly effective the concerns of women must be understood and given credence. This guide raises some of the issues that may be appropriate for collective bargaining and provides some examples.
Though the focus is on how these issues primarily affect women, many of these also of course have a positive impact on men's working conditions. The overriding objective of the ILO's work is to encourage the improvement of the employment of all workers. Gender equality bargaining is important because women's issues are union issues. T he list of suggested issues for bargaining is not set out in any particular order. Each union will find its own entry point into equality bargaining.
This will depend on the social and legal context, and most importantly, on what the women themselves choose as priorities. T he guide sets out a series of issues that should at least be considered in the context of collective bargaining. How to approach them and what level of priority they should be given should be determined by the women themselves Taking into account that many of these issues will also affect men, joint strategies and action will often be needed.
Women's committees or equal opportunities committees should play a key role in formulating demands and examining proposed clauses for discrimination. Try to determine the views of women who are absent or silent at meetings - perhaps through questionnaires or women shop stewards or representatives who work side by side with the women workers. Gather any statistics available regarding women in the workplace and the sector for example, how many women are in different job categories, what is the differential in pay between men and women.
Existing rights - determine what your rights are under existing collective agreements, legislation, government policies, work rules. Determine how collective bargaining can be used to extend or secure existing rights - for example, if there is legislative coverage, the collective agreement could repeat the terms of the legislation, but provide for more effective and accessible enforcement.
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