labor union

American  

noun

labor unions plural

1. an organization of wage earners or salaried employees for mutual aid and protection and for dealing collectively with employers; trade union.

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labor union Cultural  

1. An organization of workers formed to promote collective bargaining with employers over wages, hours, fringe benefits, job security, and working conditions.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• labor unions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of labor union

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

labor union

A labor union spent $31 million gathering signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot in an effort to offset federal healthcare funding cuts that will affect millions of California’s most vulnerable residents.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

But my family’s health insurance, supplied by their labor union, wouldn’t cover care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where I had 33 radiation treatments.

From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026

Samsung and its labor union are holding post-mediation talks this week in a final effort to reach a settlement.

From Barron's ● May 11, 2026

“No one is assigned to do labor union cases, and the unions have every reason to believe no one is looking.”

From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2026

But mine managers refused to acknowledge that the miners had the right to join a labor union.

From "Fannie Never Flinched" by Mary Cronk Farrell

Related Words

• trade union