Collective labor disputes

Collective labor disputes are such conflicts that the employer and employees could not resolve among themselves by negotiating. They are more general than those that affect the interests of an individual employee.

Collective labor disputes are classified according to different criteria. On the subject they are divided into:

- those that are not related to the regulation of collective agreements ;

- those that arise about the implementation or conclusion of agreements.

Collective labor disputes are inflaming because of changes or the establishment of work conditions by the employer. And also when he refuses to take into account the opinion of the body representing the interests of subordinates, at the time of the adoption of some normative act. Such disputes can "break out" in any organization. The requirements of subordinates in this case are the main subject of disagreement. The employer and the body representing the workers are parties to this type of dispute. It can not appear on a sectoral, territorial or regional level.

Collective labor disputes of this kind are conflicts of interest (that is, economic), as there is a clash of different views of the employer and employees. Both sides are trying to establish such conditions of activity that would be most beneficial to them. At the same time, they also want to fix them by creating a normative act with the appropriate content. But no one has a legal right to such actions.

In practice, the second group of disputes is more common. This is due to the functioning of the social partnership mechanism. These disputes, although they arise in connection with the process of concluding collective agreements, are still heterogeneous. Therefore, they, in turn, are divided into two categories:

- those that arise because of the change or conclusion of collective agreements;

- those that arise due to compliance or non-compliance with the obligations stipulated in the collective labor contract.

The first category is connected with the conduct of negotiations. The subject of this dispute is some condition or conditions of the normative act. They may concern, for example, the composition of the commission that will negotiate, or the definition of their procedure.

These are conflicts of interest. Any stage of negotiations can be stopped by them. The one who will act as the parties to the dispute depends on the level at which it occurs. It can be an employer and an authority representing the interests of subordinates. And at the regional, federal level, one side is the association of employers, and the other is the trade unions.

Disputes arising from the implementation of collective agreements are conflicts of law (that is, legal). They appear when the employer does not fulfill the obligations assumed earlier. They can also arise because of a contrived or real violation of the rights of subordinates, emerging from the interpretation of the collective normative act. Accordingly, their parties are the following: the body representing the subordinates, and the employer who has not performed or performed improperly the conditions stipulated in the collective agreement.

Conflicts of this kind arise only at the level of a specific organization.

Russian legislation (as opposed to models adopted abroad) establishes one procedure for resolving disputes of any category. In countries with a market economy, a completely different approach. There, conciliation procedures are applied only when resolving "conflicts of interest". If the labor rights were initially provided for by the signed collective agreement, then they can not be restored in a judicial order.

In our country, everything happens differently. Although a unified procedure for resolving labor disputes of all kinds is the next step on the road to change. Perhaps, much will change the completion of judicial reform. It is hoped that then the consideration of labor disputes of interests and rights will be conducted through various procedures.