diff --git a/src/backend/optimizer/prep/prepunion.c b/src/backend/optimizer/prep/prepunion.c
index a0baf6d4a1..fc9f005c09 100644
--- a/src/backend/optimizer/prep/prepunion.c
+++ b/src/backend/optimizer/prep/prepunion.c
@@ -719,9 +719,9 @@ generate_union_paths(SetOperationStmt *op, PlannerInfo *root,

 	/*
 	 * If any of my children are identical UNION nodes (same op, all-flag, and
-	 * colTypes) then they can be merged into this node so that we generate
-	 * only one Append/MergeAppend and unique-ification for the lot.  Recurse
-	 * to find such nodes.
+	 * colTypes/colCollations) then they can be merged into this node so that
+	 * we generate only one Append/MergeAppend and unique-ification for the
+	 * lot.  Recurse to find such nodes.
 	 */
 	rellist = plan_union_children(root,
 								  op,
@@ -1197,13 +1197,6 @@ generate_nonunion_paths(SetOperationStmt *op, PlannerInfo *root,
  *
  * NOTE: we can also pull a UNION ALL up into a UNION, since the distinct
  * output rows will be lost anyway.
- *
- * NOTE: currently, we ignore collations while determining if a child has
- * the same properties.  This is semantically sound only so long as all
- * collations have the same notion of equality.  It is valid from an
- * implementation standpoint because we don't care about the ordering of
- * a UNION child's result: UNION ALL results are always unordered, and
- * generate_union_paths will force a fresh sort if the top level is a UNION.
  */
 static List *
 plan_union_children(PlannerInfo *root,
@@ -1232,7 +1225,8 @@ plan_union_children(PlannerInfo *root,

 			if (op->op == top_union->op &&
 				(op->all == top_union->all || op->all) &&
-				equal(op->colTypes, top_union->colTypes))
+				equal(op->colTypes, top_union->colTypes) &&
+				equal(op->colCollations, top_union->colCollations))
 			{
 				/* Same UNION, so fold children into parent */
 				pending_rels = lcons(op->rarg, pending_rels);