agency shop

noun

|Updated on: 17 Jun 2018

Definition of agency shop

: an establishment in which the union serves as the agent for and receives dues and assessments from all employees in the bargaining unit regardless of union membership

Recent Examples of agency shop from the Web

Yet, if the court strikes down mandatory agency shop fees, a teacher is faced with an entirely different incentive.

— james freeman, WSJ, "Is Trump Saving the Blue States?," 1 June 2018
The agency shop for public unions was challenged in the 1977 Supreme Court case of Abood v. Detroit Board of Education , which issued a divided verdict.

— richard a. epstein, Newsweek, "Is the Supreme Court About to Hobble Labor Unions?," 23 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'agency shop.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of agency shop

circa 1946

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

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Law Dictionary

agency shop

noun

legal Definition of agency shop

: a shop in which the labor union serves as the bargaining agent for and receives dues from all employees in the bargaining unit regardless of union membership — compare open shop, union shop