hiring hall

American  

noun

1. an employment office operated by a union for placing members in jobs.

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Etymology

Origin of hiring hall

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

In 1938, Pennington pitched a tent outside the hiring hall for workers building the Shasta Dam, set up some tree stumps for seats and started hawking grub.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

One of the substantial victories of the 1934 Bay Area strike was the replacement of the shape-up system—the informal hustle for day labor work—with a union-operated hiring hall that worked to racially integrate the workforce.

From Salon • Apr. 11, 2019

“They said many times to me, ‘We are not a hiring hall.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2017

Mr. Levy was irate, but ultimately came to terms: He agreed to build a state-financed hiring hall for immigrant day laborers, and the Assembly extended the tax.

From New York Times • Jun. 12, 2014

A National Maritime Union hiring hall is located only a few yards from the nurses town house, and detectives, surmising that the murderer might be a seaman, astutely checked the union office.

From Time Magazine Archive