Pattern bargaining is a process in labour relations, where a
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
gains a new and superior entitlement from one employer and then uses that agreement as a precedent to demand the same entitlement or a superior one from other employers.
In the United States, pattern bargaining was pioneered by unions such as the
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American Labor unions in the United States, labor union that represents workers in the Un ...
and the
Teamsters. The first step of the bargaining process is the identification of a target employer that is most likely to agree to a favourable employment contract. For the selected company, this provides an opportunity to influence the contract for the industry, while the downside is the risk of a labour disruption if negotiations stall or fail. Once this contract has been successfully negotiated and ratified by the unionized workers, the union declares it a "pattern agreement" and presents it to the other employers as a take-it-or-leave-it offer.
In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
, pattern bargaining was specifically outlawed under the now-repealed
WorkChoices legislation. The law was repealed by the
Labor Party after their victory in the
2007 election, but Labor's Fair Work Act, which came into force on 1 July 2010, still outlaws pattern bargaining.
References
* Marshall, Robert, and Antonio Merlo. 1996. Pattern bargaining
''Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Research Department Staff Report''''220''.
{{Organized labor, sp=ox
Trade unions
Negotiation
Industrial agreements