A merit shop is term which refers to a firm or organization that pays certain employees by merit (experience/worth to company). Contrary to popular belief, a merit shop can be non-union or union shop. Management retains the right to perform hiring, promotion, salary adjustments, bonuses, and termination, based on the laws of the state and federal government, along with its evaluation of individual's ability to accomplish the tasks assigned to them by the employer.
By law, such decisions will not be biased by age, race, national origin, organizational affiliation, seniority, color, creed and sex. The term "merit shop" was coined by John Trimmer, who served from 1952 to 1976 as an officer of the
Associated Builders and Contractors
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national U.S. trade association representing the non-union construction industry. ABC is an association of 69 chapters with more than 22,000 commercial contractors and construction-related firms am ...
, an American trade association of primarily non-union construction contractors. In common usage, "merit shop" is often synonymous with being non-union or
open shop
An open shop is a place of employment at which one is not required to join or financially support a union ( closed shop) as a condition of hiring or continued employment.
Open shop vs closed shop
The major difference between an open and closed ...
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See also
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Closed shop
A pre-entry closed shop (or simply closed shop) is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times to remain employed. This is different fro ...
Further reading
*{{cite book, last =Cook, first =Samuel, title =Freedom In The Workplace: The Untold Story Of Merit Shop Construction's Crusade Against Compulsory Trade Unionism, publisher =Regnery, date =2005, location =Washington, DC, pages =839, isbn =978-0895260352
Labor relations
Criticism of trade unions