Definition

Noun: A vertical union is a type of labor union that organizes all workers within a specific industry, regardless of their individual job, skill, or craft. Its primary goal is to unite all employees in that industrial sector under a single union to increase collective bargaining power.

Usage

The term is used to describe a union structure and its organizing principle. * The vertical union at the automobile plant represents everyone from assembly line workers to engineers. * Their strategy was to form a vertical union encompassing the entire steel industry.

Advanced Usage

• The concept is often contrasted with a craft union or horizontal union, which organizes workers based on a specific skill or trade across different industries.
• Vertical union is a key concept in discussions about labor history, industrial organization, and union strategies.

Variants and Related Words

• Industrial Union: This is the more common and direct synonym for a vertical union.
• Craft Union: (Noun) A union organized according to craft or trade, representing the contrasting model to a vertical union.

Synonyms

• Industrial union

Antonyms

• Craft union
• Horizontal union
• Trade union (in the specific sense of a union for a particular skilled trade)

Noun

1. a labor union that admits all workers in a given industry irrespective of their craft