- (British English also trade union, trades union)(North American English also labor union)[countable] an organization of workers, usually in a particular industry, that exists to protect their interests, improve conditions of work, etc.
- I've joined the union.
- Teachers' unions in England are demanding the same improvements as in Scotland.
- a union leader/official/representative/activist
- the right to form a union
- Do you belong to a union?
- The union represents five million workers.
- public sector unions
- Greece's main workers' union
- a union member
- a member of a union
- a fall in union membership
WordfinderCulture trade unionstrade unionsIn Britain, the trade union movement started in the 19th century after the Industrial Revolution when workers began to form groups to argue for improved working conditions and pay. Each trade (= type of work) formed its own union but, over the years, some combined to form larger, more powerful groups. In 1900 the Labour Representation Committee was founded to enable the unions to enter politics and it later became the Labour Party. By 1926 45% of workers were members of a union and the General Strike showed there was wide support for the union movement. After the Second World War union membership continued to grow, reaching a peak in 1979 with a total of over 13 million members. Since then the number of union members has decreased significantly. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s industrial relations in Britain were bad, with many strikes, and in 1979 the Conservative government introduced a number of changes to the law to control the activities of unions. Unions were not allowed to send members to support strike action by another union (called secondary picketing), union leaders could only declare a strike with the support of the majority of their members in a secret ballot and the closed shop which required all employees in an industry to join a union, was ended. Many trade unions are affiliated (= linked) to the TUC which represents the trade union movement as a whole. There is a lot of discussion about how closely the unions should be linked to the Labour Party. In the US, the early unions were mainly craft unions, but in 1905 the IWW united miners and textile workers and became the first labor union. Modern labor unions began as a result of Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal and in 1935 the Wagner Act gave workers the right to collective bargaining (= negotiation by a group of people) for pay increases, and this led to many new unions being formed. The many strikes after the Second World War caused Congress to pass the Taft-Hartley Act which limited the right of workers to strike and also made the closed shop illegal. Most labor unions belong to the AFL-CIO, which was created in 1955 when the American Federation of Labor joined the Congress of Industrial Organizations.Extra ExamplesTopics Businessb1, Working lifeb1- She became active in the teachers' union.
- The nurses' union negotiated a 3% pay rise.
- The union represents 40% of all hospital workers.
- The union threatened strike action if its demands were not met.
- He spoke out at a meeting of the National Union of Journalists.
- The figures come from a survey by public-sector unions.
- The news emerged yesterday after a meeting between managers and union representatives.
- unofficial action not authorized by the union leadership
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- labor
- trade
- trades
- …
- form
- organize
- set up
- …
- be affiliated to something
- represent somebody/something
- negotiate (something)
- …
- confederation
- federation
- movement
- …
- [countable] an association or a club for people or organizations with the same interest
- the Scottish Rugby Union
- [countable] a group of states or countries that have the same central government or that agree to work together
- the former Soviet Union
- the European Union
- Churchill was not hostile to the continent's attempt at forming a union.
- The crisis will be discussed as a meeting of African Union leaders this week.
- Union[singular] the US (used especially at the time of the Civil War)
- the Union and the Confederacy
- the State of the Union address by the President
- [uncountable, singular] the act of joining two or more things together; the state of being joined together
- a meeting to discuss economic and currency union
- union with something Northern Ireland’s union with Britain
- union between A and B the union between mainland Tanzania and the Zanzibar Island
- sexual union
Extra Examples- Some of the member states wanted a closer union rather than the loose confederation that developed.
- a move in the direction of full political union
- currency union between the two countries
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- close
- loose
- full
- …
- create
- form
- dissolve
- …
- union between
- union with
- [countable] (old-fashioned or formal) a marriage
- Their union was blessed with six children.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- civil
- legal
- holy
- …
- allow
- recognize
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French, or from ecclesiastical Latin unio(n-) ‘unity’, from Latin unus ‘one’.
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