trade union

noun

1. a labor union of craftspeople or workers in related crafts, as distinguished from general workers or a union including all workers in an industry.
2. labor union.

trade union

noun

1. an association of employees formed to improve their incomes and working conditions by collective bargaining with the employer or employer organizations

Derived Forms

• trade unionism, noun
• trade unionist, noun

Other Words From

• trade-union adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of trade union¹

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

The protests, originally called by trade unions, have added other groups with other grievances.

From Time

They’re organizing like never before, forming trade unions and winning battles for better working conditions.

From Ozy

Urban consumers generally liked A&P’s low prices, but trade unions certainly didn’t like the long hours required of workers and the low wages it paid them.

From Washington Post

Thus, it could allow us to exercise our rights as producers of data in much the same way trade unions allow workers to exercise their rights as purveyors of labor.

From MIT Technology Review

You know, when we talk about unions nowadays, we only talk about the real big trade unions.

From Vox

It imploded with the 1978–79 Winter of Discontent, when rampant trade-union militancy brought Britain to a standstill.

From The Daily Beast

The trade union movement was growing and fighting, and every tendency pointed to the fact that a clash of forces was inevitable.

From Project Gutenberg

One whole trade union (the Society of Makers Up), asked "to be sent to school, instead of to labour."

From Project Gutenberg

The renewed trade-union activities brought forth a fresh crop of trials for conspiracy.

From Project Gutenberg

The unequal pace of the price movement drove labor to organize along trade-union lines.

From Project Gutenberg

The American trade union movement has suffered much less from this difficulty.

From Project Gutenberg