3. Unions, what they do, and twelve concepts

Warning. THIS IS TWELVE DEFINITIONS PRINTED AS ONE CONVERSATION. On top of explaining what labor unions are, what they do and what services they provide to members, you must show you understand labor, management, collective bargaining, negotiation, union shops, open shops, grievance procedures, mediation, arbitration, work stoppages, strikes and lockouts. Three of those are pairs built to be confused, and they are where a discussion comes apart. A union shop and an open shop differ on whether joining the union is a condition of keeping the job. Mediation and arbitration differ on whether the third party's decision binds anybody. A strike and a lockout run in opposite directions, one being the employees stopping work and the other the employer shutting them out, with work stoppage as the wider word covering both. Get those three straight and the rest follow.