CRAFT UNION

trade union combining workers who are engaged in a particular craft or trade but who may work for various employers and at various locations. Formed to improve wage levels and working conditions, craft unions were established on a permanent basis in the middle of the 19th century in Great Britain. Craft unions derive their power from their control over the supply of skilled labour, maintained through their control of licensing and apprenticeship practices. Many craft unions came to include skills not directly related to the original craft in which the union developed. See industrial union.