open shop
noun /ˌəʊpən ˈʃɒp/
/ˌəʊpən ˈʃɑːp/
- a business, factory, etc. where people can work without being members of a trade union. Many British factories and other places of work used to be closed shops, where everybody had to belong to a particular trade union, until the 1980s when the laws affecting the unions were changed, and they became less powerful. In the US most companies operate as open shops though there is no longer a law requiring them to do so.