明治時代
工會(labor union)
某一特定行業、工業或工廠的工人聯合會，成立的宗旨是通過集體行動為工人爭取更多的報酬、利益及更好的工作條件。18世紀英國出現第一個博愛互助工會，而現代勞工組織始於19世紀的英國、歐洲和美國。但工會運動遭到僱主及政府的反對，工會組織者經常遭到迫害。1871年英國通過的勞工法確立了英國勞工運動的合法地位。而美國則更為滯後，在法院取消一系列不利於勞工組織的禁令和法律之後，工會運動的合法地位才得以確立。1886年成立的美國勞工聯合會標誌著轟轟烈烈的工會運動的開始。美國勞工聯合會把手工藝工會聯合起來。這些手工藝工會由掌握某一特定技能的工人所組成。有少數工會組織者希望組織行業工會，即代表所有工人（不管是否是熟練工）的單一行業工會。產業工會聯合會由受美國勞工聯合會排擠的工會所組成，主要是把非熟練工人組織起來。到1941年時，產業工會聯合會通過組織鋼鐵和汽車行業工會，使工會運動得以成功地開展（參閱AFL-CIO）。儘管每個國家的工會組織各不相同，但所有非共產主義工業國家都是通過集體談判解決工資、工作條件和勞資糾紛。英國的勞工組織積極地參與政治活動，於1906年成立了工黨。法國的勞工組織也高度政治化，1895年成立的法國總工會曾和共產黨有過多年的聯合，而法國工人民主聯合會在政治上則較為中庸一些。日本的企業工會組織是企業的工會運動，它由一個工廠或多工廠企業工人而不是同行業工人組成。
English version：
labor union
Association of workers in a particular trade,industry,or plant,formed to obtain improvements in pay,benefits,and working conditions through collective action. The first fraternal and self-help associations of laborers appeared in Britain in the 18th century,and the era of modern labor unions began in Britain,Europe,and the U.S. in the 19th century. The movement met with hostility from employers and governments,and union organizers were regularly prosecuted. British unionism received its legal foundation in the Trade-Union Act of 1871. In the U.S. the same effect was achieved more slowly through a series of court decisions that whittled away at the use of injunctions and conspiracy laws against unions. The founding of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1886 marked the beginning of a successful,large-scale labor movement in the U.S. The unions brought together in the AFL were craft unions,which represented workers skilled in a particular craft or trade. Only a few early labor organizers argued in favor of industrial unions,which would represent all workers,skilled or unskilled,in a single industry. The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was founded by unions expelled from the AFL for attempting to organize unskilled workers,and by 1941 it had assured the success of industrial unionism by organizing the steel and automobile industries (see AFL-CIO). The use of collective bargaining to settle wages,working conditions,and disputes is standard in all noncommunist industrial countries,though union organization varies from country to country. In Britain,labor unions displayed a strong inclination to political activity that culminated in the formation of the Labour Party in 1906. In France,too,the major unions are highly politicized; the Confédération Générale du Travail (formed in 1895) was allied with the Communist Party for many years,while the Confédération Fran?aise Démocratique du Travail is more moderate politically. Japan developed a form of union organization known as enterprise unionism,which represents workers in a single plant or multiplant enterprise rather than within a craft or industry.