union shop

A union shop is a place of employment where employees are required, as a condition of their continued employment, to have membership in a labor union. Although the non-union workers are not required to be a member of a union before they are hired, they generally must join a labor union within a limited number of days, usually 30 days. A union shop agreement clause authorizes the bargaining representative to demand the discharge of an employee who refused to join the union. The union cannot, however, require that an employee become a member “in good standing,” or, in other words, require an employee to do more than payment of dues or the equivalent. This payment of dues is asserted in a union security agreement. “Right-to-work” laws prohibit and invalidate union security agreements and union shops.

The Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, 585 U.S. 878 (2018), that union shop arrangements requiring public employees to subsidize a union is a violation of the non-consenting employee’s First Amendment rights to free speech. The Court held that states could not require public-sector unions to attempt to collect union dues from non-consenting employees. 

[Last reviewed in April of 2026 by the Wex Definitions Team]

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