To date, between many employers and employees employed at their enterprise, in addition to the standard individual labor contract, the conclusion of which is mandatory in the event of an employment relationship, there is often a so-called collective agreement.
Most often, its drafting is initiated by the employer themselves, but sometimes there are cases when employees or the trade union, which advocates for the protection of their interests, requests a similar document. But, unfortunately, still far from all employees understand why they need this document, and whether it is necessary at all.
So, a collective agreement is an internal legal agreement between employees of a company or enterprise and their employer. It consists in order, firstly, to clearly stipulate certain rules of work, labor protection, additional payments in certain cases, and secondly, in order to somewhat alleviate the tax burden borne by the employer. How does this happen?
A collective agreement is beneficial for employees by the fact that it can stipulate in advance all kinds of conflict situations that may arise during one or another reason during work. So, you can include the following items in it:
- Additional benefits, vacation or compensation payments for employees combining training and work.
- Sizes, forms, specifics of calculating bonuses, additional payments or incentives from the employer.
- Those or other categories of workers for whom, in the event of a situation when it will be necessary to resort to downsizing, a guarantee will remain in place to preserve jobs.
- The regularity of wage indexation and the formula by which it will be carried out.
- Working conditions, as well as their improvement, especially for preferential categories of employees.
For many enterprises, an important issue is the inclusion in the collective agreement of the procedure for improving the health of employees, as well as members of their families.
This is not a complete list of points that may be specified in this document. The specificity of its content is determined by the characteristics of production and the relationship between subordinates and company managers. However, employees should keep in mind that the employer also has the right to include clauses on the prohibition of all kinds of strikes in the collective agreement at the enterprise, which will make any local sabotage unacceptable.
In some cases, employees of enterprises may stipulate in the document such "delicate" moments as the use by the head of profanity, threats or other forms of psychological pressure. The inclusion of such conditions in the text of the contract is quite legal and permissible, therefore, in some cases, its conclusion will help employees to call the negligent boss to order.
Contrary to popular belief that a collective agreement is more appropriate in large corporations and enterprises where the number of employees exceeds several hundred people, recent experience proves that even in small organizations it can significantly improve the microclimate and facilitate negotiations between employees and their management.
In this regard, the preparation of such a document is advisable in any cases where the occurrence of labor disputes and conflict situations is inevitable, because, based on the agreement signed by representatives of both parties, it will be much easier to resolve the dispute. And given the fact that the collective agreement can contribute to the development of a certain corporate ethics, it becomes clear why more and more employers independently initiate its conclusion.