Heartless, ill-equipped English joiners do this (5)

I believe the answer is:

unite

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'joiners do this' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun but the answer is not.

'heartless ill-equipped english' is the wordplay.
'heartless' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'ill-equipped' becomes 'unfit' (I've seen this before).
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'unfit' with its centre taken out is 'unit'.
'unit'+'e'='UNITE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for unite that I've seen before include "Wed?" , "old coin" , "ally" , "pool resources" , "Club together" .)

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