Being hostile to work and assuming an attitude (8)
I believe the answer is:
opposing
'being hostile' is the definition.
('opposing' can be similar in meaning to 'hostile')
'work and assuming an attitude' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'assuming an attitude' becomes 'posing' (I've seen this before).
'op'+'posing'='OPPOSING'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for opposing that I've seen before include "Contending" , "modelling after work" , "Disapproving" , "Going against" , "trying to end a sea of troubles by it?" .)