UNION SHOP

arrangement under which workers are required to join a particular union within a specified period of time after beginning employment. Such an arrangement differs from the closed shop in that the employer's choice of new employees is not restricted to union members. The justification given for the union shop is that it prevents workers from enjoying the benefits of unionism without bearing their share of the costs of such representation. Union shop agreements are uncommon in most countries, where one union seldom gains exclusive bargaining rights for all the workers of a plant. In the United States, however, where a single union may be chosen by majority vote to represent all the workers, and in Japan, where a single union customarily represents all the employees of an enterprise, union shop agreements are both legal and common. In some states of the United States, however, so-called right-to-work laws prohibit requiring union membership as a condition of employment, thus forbidding both the union shop and the closed shop.