[Ads-l] Antedating of "Collective Bargaining"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is a match for "collective bargaining" in a London newspaper a bit earlier.

Date: December 20, 1889
Newspaper: Public Opinion
Newspaper Location: London, England
Article: The Strike of Gas Workers; Star, Dec, 16
Quote Page 9 (785), Column 2
Database: British Newspaper Archive

[Begin excerpt]
On their success may depend the future of trade unionism. Break that,
and replace collective bargaining by the bargaining of the single,
unprotected, lawless, moneyless labourer with the then omnipotent
capitalist, and starvation wages will be the rule all over England ...
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Jan 22, 2026 at 1:08 PM Shapiro, Fred
<00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> collective bargaining (OED 1891)
>
> 1890 The Age (Melbourne) 18 Jan. 13/1 (Newspapers.com)
>
> Now collective bargaining is the very essence of Trades-Unionism.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org