union shop

American  

noun

1. a shop, business establishment, or part thereof, in which terms and conditions of employment for all employees are fixed by agreement between the employer and a labor union.

2. a shop, business, etc., in which membership in a union is made a condition of employment, but in which the employer may hire nonunion workers provided that they become members after a stated period, usually 30 days.

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union shop British  

noun

1. (formerly) an establishment whose employment policy is governed by a contract between employer and a trade union permitting the employment of nonunion labour only on the condition that such labour joins the union within a specified time period Compare open shop closed shop

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union shop Cultural  

1. A business or industry in which all new workers must join a labor union after a specified period of time. (See closed shop and right-to-work laws.)

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Etymology

Origin of union shop

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

union shop

Even though much of the press portrayed it as "reaching out" to the members of the UAW, the car parts factory is not a union shop.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2023

Conversations no longer focused on his dad’s latest story, but on the duties he had to fulfill as a union shop steward.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2023

A trade union shop steward in Glasgow's shipyards before he moved into football, Ferguson's final team talk concentrated on working-class values.

From BBC ● May 7, 2023

We employ 30 people who speak eight different languages in a union shop represented by the United Steelworkers.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2020

I do not say that this shall not be a union shop; I say that I shall employ whom I will for any purpose I see fit.

From Half a Rogue by Harold MacGrath