Most employees have a contract for employment with their
employer. Even if the contract is not written down, its terms are
implied pursuant to the common law – that is, the tradition
of legal decisions in similar cases.
The collective bargaining relationship, however, is legally
different. When an employee works under a collective agreement,
they do not have an individual employment contract with their
employer. Instead, they are bound to the contract bargained
collectively by their union and with their co-workers. Also, unlike
the individual employment contract context, unionized workers are
generally required to submit their complaints to the labour
arbitration process, where an arbitrator can order the employer to
comply with any breached contract term.
