Britain has one of the most developed systems of collective bargaining in the world, especially amongst manual workers. Dubin has described collective bargaining as, the great social invention that has institutionalized industrial conflict. It could be also defined as a method of determining terms and conditions of employment through the process of negotiation and agreement between representatives of management and employees. Collective bargaining can be divided into three areas they are: the duty to meet and confer; the duty to bargain in good faith, and the duty to cover a particular subject. Collective bargaining does not require a comprehensive collective agreement for a stated period of time. It requires only the recognition of the bargaining agency and the principle of action that problems be considered and decided. The desire of each party to be assured about the other's future conduct makes the collective agreement for a term that the normal commitment of collective bargaining. It requires each party to think into the future, to anticipate situations and to determine solutions before situations arise. It requires the making of policy, which, when agreed becomes the collective agreement. A collective bargaining agreement sets the terms on which an employer offers individual work contracts to each of its employees in the bargaining unit. A bargaining agreement, also referred to as a labor agreement, is a legally enforceable written commitment, which states the rights and duties of all parties involved. The heart of the collective agreement is the process for continuous consideration and adjustments for plant problems. .
Workers organized into trade unions and bargaining with employers provides a measure of power to the powers of management, and that is the reason to industrial relations. The collective bargaining process provides a different interest of management and employees that may be resolved on a collective basis.