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How to prepare for collective negotiations with a union

This guide explains how employers can prepare for collective bargaining with a union, including understanding NLRA obligations, forming a negotiating team, reviewing past agreements, analysing costs, and developing effective negotiation objectives and proposals.

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by Jed L. Marcus, Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects the rights of employees to organize and select a union in order to address issues regarding wages, hours, and working conditions. Once a union has been certified as the employees’ collective bargaining representative, the employer and union are required to meet and collectively bargain in good faith about various terms and conditions of employment.

In order to bargain effectively, an employer must understand its legal obligations under the NLRA and properly prepare for negotiations so that it can obtain an agreement on a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that satisfies its economic and operational needs. Also, an employer should be aware that it or another entity may qualify as a joint employer under the joint employer test and therefore have bargaining obligations as well.

In this guide, learn about:

  • Step 1: Form and train the negotiating team on its legal obligations
  • Step 2: Review experience during the life of the last CBA
  • Step 3: Review previous negotiations

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About the author

Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C. 

Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C. is a multidisciplinary law firm with attorneys and offices located in Washington, DC, Florida, Alabama, New Jersey and New York. The firm provides services across several industries including Fortune 500 corporations, midsize and small privately held companies, brokerage firms, banks, franchises, insurance companies and nonprofit institutions.

Bressler’s labor and employment attorneys represent clients before state and federal courts and various civil rights agencies across the United States in a number of different employment-related matters including employment and disability discrimination, retaliation and whistleblower claims, harassment, class and collective actions, ERISA, Taft-Hartley, wrongful termination, employment agreements, wage and hour claims and labor injunctions.

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