Community unionism describes the spectrum of ways in which trade unions work collaboratively with community organisations over issues of common importance to both. Developed as a term to describe grass-roots union-community alliances in the US which vary widely in their goals and capacity for creating durable links, it has been extensively written about in Canada (Tufts 1998, Lipsig-Mumme, 1988 and 2003, Cranford), and more recently, in Australia. Most recently the contrast between community unionism on the one hand and both social movement unionism and the organising model of trade unionism on the other has been brought to the fore, particularly in relation to their differing goals, and the place of the union in union-community alliances.
There are three distinct and common interpretations of community unionism, each defined by different definitions of the term community - community as organization, as identity or interest and place..

See also

• Social Movement Unionism
  Social Movement Unionism
  Social Movement Unionism is a trend of theory and practice in contemporary trade unionism. Strongly associated with the labour movements of developing countries, Social Movement Unionism is distinct from many other models of trade unionism because it concerns itself with more than organising...
  
  
• Organising model
  Organising model
  The organising model, as the term refers to trade unions , is a broad conception of how those organisations should recruit, operate and advance the interests of their members...
  
   of trade unionism
• Jobs with Justice
  Jobs with Justice
  Jobs with Justice is a national campaign for workers' rights in the United States. It was founded in 1987, and includes both individual members and affiliated organizations....