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Glite Dictionary
craft union

craft union

4.3
A group of workers in the same skilled trade who join together to protect their rights
  • noun
  • /kræft ˈjunɪn/
translation icon : sindicato de oficios
  • The local craft union represents electricians, plumbers, and other trade professionals.
  • Hollywood craft union

Examples

  • After years of organizing, the craft union successfully negotiated higher wages for its members.

  • Skilled workers created guilds and craft unions.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Some craft unions excluded Italians, Jews, and other new immigrants.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Until just a few years before, blacks had been excluded from craft unions and could not earn the experience to qualify for promotions to the skilled positions.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Herbert Hill, the NAACP's labor director and a central figure in the events that unfolded in Hollywood, firmly believed that craft unions and the labor movement in general impeded black aspirations (Hill 317).

    Academic text (2012)

  • Many skilled workers join a craft union to protect their rights and improve working conditions.

Synonyms

labor union
vscraft union
  • US
45 2.7

An organized group of workers that negotiates with employers for better pay and working conditions

limits membership to those who practice the same skilled work, not all employees
organized labor
vscraft union
  • US
20 3.3

Workers who belong to unions that represent them in talks with employers

describes workers grouped by a single skilled job rather than a broad worker collective
trade union
vscraft union
12 2.8

A group of workers who protect rights and talk with employers about pay and work conditions

limits membership to workers doing the same skilled work rather than broad groups
trades union
vscraft union
  • UK
2.7

A group of workers who join together to protect their pay and rights by talking with employers

focuses on a specific skilled group instead of all workers in an industry

How Specialized

craft union
4.3
guild
111 4.2
trade union
12 2.8

Surface Forms

craft union singular
craft unions plural

Morphology

craft + union

The meaning 'a union of workers practicing the same trade' is directly and compositionally derived from 'craft' (a skilled trade) + 'union' (workers' organization). This noun–noun attributive pattern is a common, transparent way to form compound concepts across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should understand the MWE.

Etymology

Craft union is a phrase that comes from old groups of skilled workers who joined to protect their trade: craft means 'skilled work' and union means 'a group joined together', so it now refers to a union made up of workers from the same trade.