Massachusetts AFL-CIO Scholarship Practice Exam

The best description of collective bargaining is a negotiation process between employers and unions regarding working conditions. Collective bargaining is fundamentally a dialogue between two parties—the management of a company and the representatives of the employees, typically organized into a labor union. This process aims to reach an agreement on various employment-related issues such as wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.

By engaging in collective bargaining, both sides can advocate for their interests while working collaboratively to find common ground. This ultimately promotes a more structured and peaceful method for addressing workplace issues compared to more drastic measures, such as strikes. In contrast, the other answers don't encapsulate the essence of collective bargaining accurately. For instance, resolving conflicts through strikes is an outcome of failed negotiations rather than a description of the bargaining process itself. Methods for setting employee schedules and strategies to eliminate non-union jobs relate to management practices and union strategies but do not define what collective bargaining entails.