to organize union
- phrasal verb
- /ˈɔrɡəˌnaɪz ˈjunɪn/
- US
- Workers organized unions and eventually a political party, while women formed a broadly based social movement seeking equality and especially the right to vote.
Examples
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Workers decided to organize union efforts to improve their working conditions.
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The employees agreed to organize union meetings to discuss their rights.
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However, Minor's illustration makes clear that it is only through organized unions, specifically that of the Communist-aligned Federated Farmer-Labor Party, that freedom from oppression could be realized.
Academic text (2002) -
To address issues like unfair wages, they planned to organize union representation for all workers.
Synonyms
Help people form a group to act together for a common goal
To join or form a group of workers that speaks to their employer about pay and work conditions
Antonyms
How Established
- Formal
- US
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is a direct composition of 'organize' (to bring people together into a formal group) and 'union' (a workers' organization), so a learner who knows both words can readily infer 'to form/establish a labor union.' The construction follows a common verb + noun pattern (often realized as 'organize a union'), and this logic is cross-linguistically familiar, so it should be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Organize union comes from the image of workers arranging meetings, signing up, and joining hands to make a union. Organize means to put people and plans in order and a union is a group that stands together to protect workers, so the phrase means 'to form a labor union'.