Surface bargaining

Surface bargaining is a legal term defined as a strategy in collective bargaining in which one of the parties "merely goes through the motions," with no intention of reaching an agreement. In this regard, it is a form of bad faith bargaining.

Distinguishing surface bargaining from good faith bargaining is extremely difficult. The entire history of the negotiations must be assessed, including the party's intent, efforts made toward reaching an agreement, and any behavior which may be seen as inhibiting the bargaining process. Surface bargaining tactics may include making proposals the other party could never accept, taking inflexible or unreasonable stands on issues, and/or refusing to offer alternatives to proposals. Reneging on agreements already reached during the collective bargaining process, raising new issues late in the negotiations, or failing to follow generally accepted procedures for collective bargaining may also be seen as signs of surface bargaining.