Why does the professor mention workers’ unions?

[Professor (male)] Q12 Class, what I want to talk about today is guilds. Um, so I was wondering
   if someone could start us off with a...a definition.
[Student A (female)] Yeah. A guild is...um, it’s like a group of people who have the same kind of
   occupation. I think it’s generally used in a historical sense. I mean, I wouldn’t
   call an association of, um, autoworkers a guild--I’d call them a union. But if I
   were talking about an association of medieval European potters, I think the word
   "guild" would be appropriate.
[Professor] Good. You raised some good points. Now, um, I want you to realize that
   guilds certainly still exist today--ever heard of the Screen Actors Guild or the
   Writers Guild of America? Q12 But the fact is I do want to focus today on
   historical guilds...not modern guilds. Q13 Um, like you pointed out, guilds
   and workers’ unions do overlap in some ways, but t suppose it would be an
   oversimplification to say they’re the same thing. They both exist to...to protect
   workers, but guilds have an additional, um, instructional function: they help
   craftspeople master the skills of their trade, promoting them from apprentices
   to journeymen to master craftspeople.
[Student B (male)] Q17 [uncertain] Um...journeymen? Are we supposed to know these terms already?
[Professor] Well, I assumed that some of you had probably heard of them, but if you’re not
   familiar with these terms, don’t worry about it because we’re going to go over
   their meaning in today’s class. I’ll, um, I’ll get to that when I start talking about
   how guilds are organized. But for now, I’d like to discuss the history of guilds.
   Q14 So, early guilds--this was a long time ago--they were essentially
   associations of craftspeople who worked in the same trade, such as masons,
   glass workers, or carpenters. There’s a history of guilds all over the world.
   There were probably guilds in China as early as the Han Dynasty, which was
   between 206 BC and 220 AD. In India, guilds of the Gupta Empire--320 AD to
   550 AD--were called shreni, and they may have been based on earlier guild-like
   organizations, The first mention of German guilds appeared in the 10th century,
   and, um, by the 12th century, there were guilds in France and England too.Q15(B)
   These European guilds were likely inspired by earlier Roman guilds.
   In some cities in Europe, guilds tightly controlled the way things ran--how
   goods were produced, the way people worked...that sort of thing. Q15(D) In fact,
   sometimes they received special, um, entitlements...directly from monarchs
   or heads of state. These might grant a guild the right to monopolize a certain
   industry. Actually, these letters from political leaders formed the basis for
   the patent and trademark systems, which developed later on. With this kind
   of power, guilds could influence local authorities...and sometimes uprisings
   occurred if people thought the guilds had a little too much power.
   Q15(C) But guilds did more than control labor and production. They controlled
   knowledge about their trade as well. Actually, in ptaces where guilds were in
   control, it could be quite difficult for new people to get into business...because
   guilds made it tough for them to get the raw materials and training they
   needed. Anyone who wanted to learn the trade of a certain guild was subject
   to a long period of apprenticeship, where they would learn about a craft by
   working--as cheap labor--for a master craftsperson in the guild.
[Student B] OK. So someone new to a craft would start out as an apprentice, then become
   a journeyman, and then become a master craftsperson? Just like working your
   way up the corporate ladder?
[Professor] Yeah, you’ve got the right idea. Apprentices performed tasks for a master
   for several years, all the while refining their skills in the trade. Um, but they
   typically would only learn the most basic stuff--you know, none of the trade
   secrets. Not yet. Q17 After a couple of years, promising apprentices
   would get promoted to the position of journeyman. [addressing
   Student B] Remember? You wanted to know what this was. Well, uh,
   journeymen were actually certified with official papers, um, and they could take
   these papers to other towns and study with different masters. Sometimes they
   would travel quite far...perhaps to the other side of Europe. Hence the origin of
   the term. Then, after gaining a couple of years of experience as a journeyman,
   a person was eligible to become a master craftsperson. Of course, this was a
   promotion that had to be approved by all the masters of the guild. Plus, the, um,
   Q16 the potential master had to produce a masterpiece as proof of their skills.
   OK. Next time we’ll talk more about the decline of the guild system and, um,
   what modern guilds are like.