BARGAINING UNIT: A specified group of employees empowered to bargain collectively with their employer.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: The determination of wages and other conditions of employment by direct negotiations between the union and employer.

COMPANY UNION: An employee association organized, controlled, and financed by the employer. Outlawed by the National Labor Relations Act.

CONSULTATION: Clauses in union contracts, or in some state laws applicable to public employees, clauses stating that management must consult the union before making any major personnel changes.

COST‑OF‑LIVING INDEX: The Consumer Price Index prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index measures changes in the cost-of-living month by month, year by year.

DISCRIMINATION: Unequal treatment of workers because of race, sex, religion, nationality, or union membership.

FRINGE BENEFITS: Negotiated gains other than wages such as vacations, holidays, pensions, insurance, and supplemental unemployment benefits.

GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE: A committee within the local union that processes grievances arising from the violation of the contract, state or federal law, or an abuse of a shop’s past practice.

INJUNCTION: A court order that prohibits a party from taking a particular course of action, such as picketing, in the case of a union on strike.

MEDIATION: Attempts by an impartial third party to get labor and management to find agreement during a dispute.

PICKETING: The stationing of persons outside a place of employment to publicly protest the employer and discourage entry of non-striking workers or customers. Most picketing takes place during strikes, although there is also informational picketing conducted against nonunion business establishments.

PRODUCTIVITY: The measure of efficiency in production. The comparison of resources used in creating goods and services. If the same resources that were used in the past produce more goods and services, productivity has increased.

REAL WAGES: Wages expressed in terms of what today’s dollar can buy. A common method of determining buying power is through the Consumer Price Index.

STRIKE: A temporary work stoppage by workers to support their demands on an employer. Also called a “turn out” early in the 19th century.

WALKING DELEGATE: A unionist who policed jobs to see that workers were getting fair treatment.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor. Glossary. https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/glossary. Accessed March 25, 2025.[/sidebar]