The teachers FEDERATIONS collect union dues, negotiate with governments....... if it walks like a duck...........!
Skilled labour groups.... IBEW ...... its a duck.
If an association uses it collective, as a bargaining force, collects fees/dues, determine who is "considered" to join ....... its also a duck.
Although I don't put Doctors in the same category as teachers, (don't want to insult), they still can, as an "association" influence their working conditions.
FAST
No they aren't the same thing. For teachers in Public Schools in Ontario:
-Ontario College of Teachers is the governing body
-The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation are the unions
It is exactly the same for most of the non-Doctor medical professions, and a large number of other jobs.
Unions have charter status, and one set of laws behind them, and professional governing associations have another. Both can try to influence politicians and the public, but Unions tend to be there to protect their members and negotiate wages and benefits, and professional associations are there mostly to maintain professional standards and qualifications, and to take disciplinary actions when a governed member wrong / bad/ outside of the scope of best practices even if it isn't against the law.
They are two different things, and lumping them together is wrong. (Edit: Though if you only have one or the other they *can* sometimes somewhat function like each other to a degree.)