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

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

Davis, a longtime union shop steward, warned the officers that they should not count on the overtime they were used to.

From Washington Post • Aug. 28, 2020

Officially mine had become a union shop, yet my men continued to work on non-union terms.

From The Rise of David Levinsky by Cahan, Abraham