Skip to main content
closed shop

closed shop

4 6.4
A workplace that only hires people who belong to a union
  • noun
  • /kloʊzd ʃɑp/
translation icon : sindicato cerrado
  • Construction is virtually the only sector in El Salvador that operates under a closed-shop system.
  • operate a closed shop

Examples

  • Wisconsin can be the first split state: right-to-work for public sector employees, closed shop for private workers.

    Blog text (9)
  • Issues: Did the auto workers' union operate a closed shop?

    Academic text (1990)
  • It's called a closed shop.

  • This is a closed shop.

  • Of course not, but closed shop laws do the same thing.

    Blog text (23)
  • On the other hand, closed shop arrangements are a matter of state law.

    Blog text (23)
  • There are no federal laws that ban closed shop laws, which is why 28 states have these laws.

    Blog text (23)
  • Rule: The 1947 Taft-Hartley Act outlawed closed shops that required new workers to join a union before they could be employed.

    Academic text (1990)
  • There are both closed shops (no bargaining) and open shops (bargaining).

    Academic text (1996)
  • Many factories in the region operate as a closed shop, meaning only union members can be employed there.

Antonyms

open shop
  • Jargon
1 5.2

A workplace where workers do not have to join a union or pay its fees

How Unionized

closed shop
4 6.4
unionized
  • US
12 4.4
open
  • US
54 5.9
nonunion
1 4.3

Surface Forms

closed shop singular
closed shops plural

Morphology

closed + shop

The words 'closed' and 'shop' give a general sense of restriction, but a B1 learner who knows the constituents is more likely to interpret it as a shop that is shut or otherwise not open rather than a workplace restricted to union members. The specific legal/labour meaning 'only union members may be employed' is a specialised, institutional sense that is not fully predictable from the parts, so the expression is partially but not wholly transparent.

Etymology

Closed shop gives a clear picture: a shop with its door closed to people who are not in the union. So it means 'a workplace that only hires union members'.