- (British English also trade union, trades union)(North American English also labor union)[countable]
an organization of workers, usually in a particular industry, that exists to protect their interests, improve conditions of work, etc. 工会 I've joined the union. 我已经加入工会。 Teachers' unions in England are demanding the same improvements as in Scotland. 英格兰的教师工会要求和苏格兰一样的改进。 a union leader/official/representative/activist 工会领袖/官员/代表/活动家 the right to form a union 组织工会的权利 Do you belong to a union? 你属于某个工会吗？ The union represents five million workers. 工会代表五百万工人。 public sector unions 公共部门工会 Greece's main workers' union 希腊主要的工人工会 a union member 工会会员 a member of a union 工会成员 a fall in union membership 工会会员的减少
WordfinderCulture trade unionstrade unionsIn Britain, the trade union movement started in the 19th century after the Industrial Revolution when workers began to form groups to argue for improved working conditions and pay. Each trade (= type of work) formed its own union but, over the years, some combined to form larger, more powerful groups. In 1900 the Labour Representation Committee was founded to enable the unions to enter politics and it later became the Labour Party. By 1926 45% of workers were members of a union and the General Strike showed there was wide support for the union movement. After the Second World War union membership continued to grow, reaching a peak in 1979 with a total of over 13 million members. Since then the number of union members has decreased significantly. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s industrial relations in Britain were bad, with many strikes, and in 1979 the Conservative government introduced a number of changes to the law to control the activities of unions. Unions were not allowed to send members to support strike action by another union (called secondary picketing), union leaders could only declare a strike with the support of the majority of their members in a secret ballot and the closed shop which required all employees in an industry to join a union, was ended. Many trade unions are affiliated (= linked) to the TUC which represents the trade union movement as a whole. There is a lot of discussion about how closely the unions should be linked to the Labour Party. In the US, the early unions were mainly craft unions, but in 1905 the IWW united miners and textile workers and became the first labor union. Modern labor unions began as a result of Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal and in 1935 the Wagner Act gave workers the right to collective bargaining (= negotiation by a group of people) for pay increases, and this led to many new unions being formed. The many strikes after the Second World War caused Congress to pass the Taft-Hartley Act which limited the right of workers to strike and also made the closed shop illegal. Most labor unions belong to the AFL-CIO, which was created in 1955 when the American Federation of Labor joined the Congress of Industrial Organizations.Extra ExamplesTopics Businessb1, Working lifeb1She became active in the teachers' union. 她在教师工会中变得活跃起来。 The nurses' union negotiated a 3% pay rise. 护士工会通过谈判达成了3% 的工资增长。 The union represents 40% of all hospital workers. 该工会代表医院40%员工的利益。 The union threatened strike action if its demands were not met. 工会扬言若不满足要求就要举行罢工。 He spoke out at a meeting of the National Union of Journalists. 他在全国记者联盟的一次会议上发表了讲话。 The figures come from a survey by public-sector unions. 这些数字来自公共部门工会的一项调查。 The news emerged yesterday after a meeting between managers and union representatives. 这一消息是在经理和工会代表开会后于昨天公布的。 unofficial action not authorized by the union leadership 未经工会领导授权的非官方行动
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- labor
- trade
- trades
- …
- form
- organize
- set up
- …
- be affiliated to something
- represent somebody/something
- negotiate (something)
- …
- confederation
- federation
- movement
- …
- [countable]
an association or a club for people or organizations with the same interest 协会；联合会；会社；俱乐部 the Scottish Rugby Union 苏格兰橄榄球协会
- [countable]
a group of states or countries that have the same central government or that agree to work together 同盟；联盟；联邦 the former Soviet Union 前苏维埃联邦 the European Union 欧洲联盟 Churchill was not hostile to the continent's attempt at forming a union. 丘吉尔并不反对欧洲大陆组建联盟的尝试。 The crisis will be discussed as a meeting of African Union leaders this week. 这场危机将在本周的非洲联盟领导人会议上讨论。
- Union[singular]
the US (used especially at the time of the Civil War) （尤指内战时期的）美利坚合众国，美国 the Union and the Confederacy 合众国与南部邦联 the State of the Union address by the President 美国总统向国会发表的国情咨文
- [uncountable, singular]
the act of joining two or more things together; the state of being joined together 联合；结合；合并 a meeting to discuss economic and currency union 讨论经济和货币联盟的会议 - union with something
Northern Ireland’s union with Britain 北爱尔兰同英国的联合 - union between A and B
the union between mainland Tanzania and the Zanzibar Island 坦桑尼亚大陆和桑给巴尔岛的结合 sexual union 性结合
Extra ExamplesSome of the member states wanted a closer union rather than the loose confederation that developed. 一些成员国想要结成更紧密的联盟，不想形成这种松散的联合。 a move in the direction of full political union 迈向全面政治联合的一步 currency union between the two countries 两国之间的货币统一
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- close
- loose
- full
- …
- create
- form
- dissolve
- …
- union between
- union with
- [countable] (old-fashioned or formal)
a marriage 结为夫妻；婚姻 Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- civil
- legal
- holy
- …
- allow
- recognize
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French, or from ecclesiastical Latin unio(n-) ‘unity’, from Latin unus ‘one’.