Editing Trade union (section)

== Definition ==
[[File:Garment Workers on Strike, New York City circa 1913.jpg|thumb|250px|Garment workers on strike, New York City, {{Circa|1913}}]]
Since the publication of the ''[[History of Trade Unionism]]'' (1894) by [[Sidney Webb|Sidney]] and [[Beatrice Webb]], the predominant historical view is that a trade union "is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment".{{sfn|Webb|Webb|1920}} [[Karl Marx]] described trade unions thus: "The value of labour-power constitutes the conscious and explicit foundation of the trade unions, whose importance for the ... working class can scarcely be overestimated. The trade unions aim at nothing less than to prevent the reduction of wages below the level that is traditionally maintained in the various branches of industry. That is to say, they wish to prevent the price of labour-power from falling below its value" (''Capital'' V1, 1867, p.&nbsp;1069). Early [[socialists]] also saw trade unions as a way to [[Democratization|democratize]] the workplace, in order to obtain political power.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Botz|first=Dan La|date=2013|title=The Marxist View of the Labor Unions: Complex and Critical|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/wusa.12021|journal=WorkingUSA|language=en|volume=16|issue=1|pages=5–42|doi=10.1111/wusa.12021|issn=1743-4580}}</ref>

A modern definition by the [[Australian Bureau of Statistics]] states that a trade union is "an organisation consisting predominantly of employees, the principal activities of which include the negotiation of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members".<ref>{{cite web |title=Trade Union Census |publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics|url=http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/0/9FCBBF538897395ACA2570EC001A6CED?OpenDocument |access-date=27 July 2011}}</ref>

Recent historical research by Bob James puts forward the view that trade unions are part of a broader movement of [[benefit society|benefit societies]], which includes medieval [[guilds]], [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]], [[independent Order of Odd Fellows|Oddfellows]], [[Friendly Society|friendly societies]], and other [[fraternal organisations|fraternal organizations]].{{Sfn|James|2001}}