Labor and Trade Vocabulary

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International Trade

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When countries buy and sell goods with each other. For example, the United States might sell cars to Japan and buy electronics from Japan.

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Labor Union

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A group of workers who join together to ask their employer for better pay, safer working conditions, or other improvements. Working together gives them more power than asking alone.

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Collective Bargaining

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When a labor union talks with the company's bosses to make deals about pay, work hours, and other job rules. Both sides discuss and try to reach an agreement everyone can accept.

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Profit

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The money a business has left over after paying for all its costs. If a store sells items for more than it paid for them, the extra money is profit.

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Outsourcing

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When a company moves their companies to different places (often other countries) to do work instead of using their own workers. Companies often do this to save money.

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Labor Market

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All the available jobs and all the people looking for work in an area. It's like a marketplace, but for jobs instead of products.

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Unionization

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The process of workers forming or joining a labor union. When workers unionize, they organize together to have a stronger voice.

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Tentative Agreement

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A temporary deal that both sides think might work, but isn't final yet. Workers usually vote on whether to accept it before it becomes official.

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Strike

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When workers stop working as a group to protest and pressure their employer to meet their demands. They refuse to work until the problem is solved.

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Automation

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When machines or computers do work that people used to do. For example, self-checkout machines at stores are automation because they do the cashier's job.