Designed to assist administrators faced with representing management's position in the collective bargaining process, this paper synthesizes information on the history, legal basis, processes, and trends of collective bargaining in the United States. Section I provides a brief history of collective bargaining, highlighting major federal and state laws and looking at changes in the number and proportion of union members in the U.S. labor force between 1900 and 1980. Section II discusses the legal basis for collective bargaining in the U.S. provided by the Wagner Act, which deals with rights to join a union and to bargain exclusively, and the Taft-Hartley Act, which covers unfair labor practices. Section III describes major features of the collective bargaining process; outlines the main concerns addressed in union-employer agreements; and identifies the stages involved in collective bargaining, as well as the steps leading up to the negotiation stages of the process. An overview of trends in collective bargaining in higher education between 1969 and 1980 is presented in section IV, which includes a comparison of the growth of the three major unions for higher education. Finally, section V provides suggestions for the college administrator to help eliminate or alleviate potential problems in collective bargaining. (HB)