What is Merit Shop
Definition of Merit Shop in Construction
This term refers to a non-union contractor or shop as opposed to the standard union shop. A merit shop will use non-union employees that they have trained themselves. In most situations, the merit shop does not employ individuals that have been educated through a sophisticated and coordinated apprentice program. The merit shop worker usually has gained experience by on the job training with knowledgeable tradesmen. Contractors that are experienced with the use of both union and merit shop contractors, understand the legalities of minimizing any negative issues on a jobsite, and will try to identify the skilled merit shop contractors from the individual subcontractors, that are merely a group of untrained, inexperienced workers who have associated construction with a financially easy and lucrative means of making a living. If you were to search for contractors, the term merit is used in some context within the name of many firms; this is to identify them as a merit shop in comparison to the union shop.