‘Public Service Argument’- Collective bargaining.

- ‘Public Service Argument’ is an argument against collective bargaining.

- The paramount duty of engineers is to serve the public.

- Unions, by definition, promote the interests of their members and whenever there is a clash of interests, the interest of the general public is ignored by them. Though the argument is a valid one, it looks at the worst possible scenarios with unions and decides that engineering unions act only irresponsibly.

- A body of engineers can promote engineers’ interest within limits set by professional concern for the public good.

Benefits of Collective Bargaining.

a)  Unions have created healthy salaries and high standard of living of employees. b) They give a sense of participation in company decision making.

c)  They are a good balance to the power of employers to fire employees at will.

d) They provide an effective grievance redressal procedure for employee complaints.

Harms Caused by Collective Bargaining.

a)  Unions are devastating the economy of a country, being a main source of inflation

b) With unions, there is no congenial (friendly), cooperative decision making.

c)  Unions does not promote quality performance by making job promotion and retention based on seniority.

d) They encourage unrest and strained relations between employees and employers.