labor union
Also known as labour union, work union, workers union, union, worker's union, trade union, trades union, employees' union
organization of workers with common goals
AI overview
A labor union is an organization where workers with common goals band together to advocate for their shared interests. Unions matter because they give individual workers a collective voice to negotiate better conditions and address workplace concerns.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Research
10,792 papers- Union Burying Ground: Mortality, Mortality Inequities, and Sinking Labor Union Membership in the United States.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2021Eisenberg-Guyot J, Mooney SJ, Barrington WE et al.DOI: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001386
- Labor relations: union activity increases among professionals.ReviewHospitals · 1979Bentivegna G
- Radiology Resident Perspectives on and Experiences With Labor Union Participation.Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR · 2025Kinne E, Maxfield C, Varney E et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.jacr.2025.04.005
- Association between labor union presence and return to work after occupational injury or illness: A nationally representative longitudinal study in South Korea.American journal of industrial medicine · 2021Choi B, Bahk J, Lee H et al.DOI: 10.1002/ajim.23296
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Article
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages and benefits, improving working conditions and safety standards, establishing complaint procedures, developing rules governing the status of employees (including rules on promotions and just-cause conditions for termination), and protecting and increasing the bargaining power of workers.
Trade unions typically fund their head office and legal team functions through regularly imposed fees called union dues. The union representatives in the workforce are usually made up of workplace volunteers who are often appointed by members through internal democratic elections. The trade union, through an elected leadership and bargaining committee, bargains with the employer on behalf of its members, known as the rank and file, and negotiates labour contracts (collective bargaining agreements) with employers.