A pre-entry closed shop (or simply closed shop) is a form of

union security agreement A union security agreement is a contractual agreement, usually part of a union collective bargaining agreement, in which an employer and a trade or labor union agree on the extent to which the union may compel employees to join the union, and/or w ...

under which the employer agrees to hire

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times to remain employed. This is different from a post-entry closed shop (US:

union shop In labor law, a union shop, also known as a post-entry closed shop, is a form of a union security clause. Under this, the employer agrees to either only hire labor union members or to require that any new employees who are not already union memb ...

), which is an agreement requiring all employees to join the union if they are not already members. In a union shop, the union must accept as a member any person hired by the employer.Pynes, Joan. ''Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations.'' 2d ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley and Sons, 2004. By comparison, an

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 ...

does not require union membership of potential and current employees.

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

covenants do not address the legality of closed shop provisions, leaving the question up to each individual nation. The legal status of closed shop agreements varies widely from country to country, ranging from bans on the agreement, to extensive regulation of the agreement to not mentioning it at all.

Legal status

Council of Europe

The

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

held that

Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of assembly and association, including the right to form trade unions, subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democra ...

provides for a "negative right of association or, put in other words, a right not to be forced to join an association", in ''Sørensen and Rasmussen v. Denmark'' (2006).

United Kingdom

Dunn and Gennard found 111 UK cases of dismissals on the introduction of a closed shop, involving 325 individuals, and they stated, "While proponents of the closed shop may argue that an estimated minimum 325 dismissals is a relatively small number compared with the total population covered by closed shops, critics would see the figure as substantial arguing that one dismissal is one too many". In relation to the pre-entry closed shop, they stated, "Its ''raison d'être'' is to exclude people from jobs by denying them union membership". All forms of closed shops in the UK are illegal following the introduction of the

Employment Act 1990 The Employment Act 1990 is a piece of industrial relations legislation of the United Kingdom. The Act banned closed shops, which had already been restricted by the Employment Act 1982 The Employment Act 1982 is an Act of the Parliament of the U ...

. They were further curtailed under section 137(1)(a) of the

Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992c 52 is a UK Act of Parliament which regulates United Kingdom labour law. The Act applies in full in England and Wales and in Scotland, and partially in Northern Ireland. The law con ...

(c. 52) passed by the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

government at the time. The Labour Party, then in opposition, had supported closed shops until December 1989, when it abandoned the policy in accordance with European legislation. Equity was one of the last trade unions in the United Kingdom to offer a pre-entry closed shop until the 1990 act. The famous

English tort law English tort law concerns the compensation for harm to people's rights to health and safety, a clean environment, property, their economic interests, or their reputations. A "tort" is a wrong in civil, rather than criminal law, that usually requi ...

case of ''

Rookes v Barnard ''Rookes v Barnard'' 964 AC 1129 is a UK labour law and English tort law case and the leading case in English law on punitive damages and was a turning point in judicial activism against trade unions. The case was almost immediately reversed b ...

'' concerned a closed shop agreement.

United States

The

Taft–Hartley Act The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, better known as the Taft–Hartley Act, is a Law of the United States, United States federal law that restricts the activities and power of trade union, labor unions. It was enacted by the 80th United S ...

outlawed the closed shop in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1947. The

was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court. States with

right-to-work law In the context of labor law in the United States, the term "right-to-work laws" refers to state laws that prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions which require employees who are not union members to contribute to ...

s go further by not allowing employers to require employees to pay a form of union dues, called an agency fee. An employer may not lawfully agree with a union to hire only union members, but it may agree to require employees to join the union or pay the equivalent of union dues to it within a set period after starting employment. Similarly, a union could require an employer that had agreed to a closed shop contract prior to 1947 to fire an employee who had been expelled from the union for any reason, but it cannot demand an employer to fire an employee under a union shop contract for any reason other than failure to pay dues that are required by all employees. The US government does not permit union shops in any federal agency, regardless of state laws. Construction unions and unions in other industries with similar employment patterns have coped with the prohibition of closed shops by using exclusive

hiring hall In organized labor, a hiring hall is an organization, usually under the auspices of a labor union, which has the responsibility of furnishing new recruits for employers who have a collective bargaining agreement with the union. It may also refer t ...

s as a means of controlling the supply of labor. Such exclusive hiring halls do not strictly and formally require union membership as a condition of employment, but they do so in practical terms since an employee seeking to be dispatched to work through the union's hiring hall must pay union dues or a roughly-equivalent hiring hall fee. If the hiring hall is run on a non-discriminatory basis and adheres to clearly-stated eligibility and dispatch standards, it is lawful. The Taft–Hartley Act also prohibits unions from requiring unreasonably-high initiation fees as a condition of membership to prevent unions from using initiation fees as a device to keep non-union employees out of a particular industry. Also, the National Labor Relations Act permits construction employers to enter pre-hire agreements in which they agree to draw their workforces from a pool of employees dispatched by the union. The NLRA prohibits pre-hire agreements outside the construction industry. For the

entertainment industry Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have dev ...

, unions representing performers have as their most important rule banning any represented performer from working on any non-union production. Penalties are imposed on the union member, not the employer, and can lead to loss of union membership. Most major productions are union productions, and non-members join the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

by performing as extras and earning three union vouchers or by being given a speaking line and entering that way. The other performance unions do not have minimum membership standards, but those who join them are prohibited from working on non-union productions. All four major sports leagues are union shops even though a franchise may be located in a state that has a right-to-work law or constitutional provision.

Canada

The status of closed shops varies from province to province within Canada. The

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

has ruled that Section Two of the

Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...

guaranteed both the freedom to associate and the freedom not to associate, but employees in a work-environment largely dominated by a union were beneficiaries of union policies and so should pay union fees, regardless of membership status. However, religious and conscientious objectors were allowed the option of paying the amount to a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

instead.

Australia

All forms of closed shops in the Commonwealth are illegal under Workplace Relations Act 1996. There was an attempt by the Howard Government to change the definition of what constituted a closed shop under the Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (More Jobs, More Pay) Bill 1999. However the bill was subsequently defeated.

References

{{Organized labor Labor relations Criticism of trade unions Business law Labour law