Given below is a situation which many companies often face in today's competitive scenario.

In a company X, union had given a proposal to the management for a 20 % hike in the wages. The collective bargaining process was still going on.

The Industrial relations manager was clever, so he called for an immediate meeting with the union. He tried to put the state of affairs in front of the union and asked them to find a solution. This is what he presented to the union:

• The input prices (cost of raw material, electricity, water etc.) have gone up by 10 %
• Due to competition the company has to reduce the product price by 10%
• At the same time the shareholders are also expecting 5 % more returns from the existing 15 %

The IR manager puts forward the above circumstances in front of the union and asked them to give a solution.

1. Describe how the union can engage in collective bargaining at the different stages to achieve an increase for the worker?