Economic Definition of union shop. Defined.
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Term union shop Definition: An employment arrangement, usually written into a collective bargaining agreement, in which a firm is free to hire both union and nonunion employees, with the stipulation that workers must join the union once hired. Union shops became a popular method of gaining control over the labor services when closed shops were outlawed by the Taft-Hartley Act passed in 1947. Those states with right-to-work laws effectively outlaw union shops. The alternative to a union shop is an open shop.
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