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A labor union, (also called a labor organization or trade union), is a legal entity comprised of employees or workers having a common interest (such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the trades workers in a particular industry) who form a union for the purpose of collectively negotiating with an employer (or employers) over wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment.

The concept of labor unions began early in the industrial revolution. More and more people left farming as an occupation and began to work for employers, usually in appalling conditions and for very low wages. The labor movement arose as an outgrowth of the disparity between the power of employers and the powerlessness of individual employees.

The legal status of trade unions in the United Kingdom was established by a Royal Commission, which agreed that the establishment of the organisations was to the advantage of both employers and employees.

Labor unions were illegal for many years in most countries. There were severe penalties for attempting to organize labor unions, up to and including execution. Despite this, labor unions were formed and began to acquire political power, eventually resulting in a body of labor law which not only legalized organizing efforts, but codified the relationship between employers and those employees organized into labor unions.

Some countries such as Sweden have strong, centralized unions, where every type of work has a specific union, which are then gathered in large national unions. The largest Swedish union is LO, Landsorganisationen. LO has over 2.1 million members, which is more than a fifth of Sweden's population.

See also Salting, Labor organization, Labor law