U.S. antitrust laws make exceptions for certain actions by
employees and employers in the collective bargaining context. The
limits of those exemptions are not perfectly clear. Earlier
this month, a district court seemed to clarify and expand the
so-called nonstatutory exemption for activities by employers.
Labor Exemption Basics
Between 1890 and 1914, courts generally viewed as illegal under
the Sherman Act concerted activities by employees to obtain union
recognition. To change that situation, beginning with the Clayton
Act in 1914, Congress created what became known as the "statutory labor exemption," which states
in part:
Nothing contained in the antitrust laws shall be construed to
forbid the existence and operation of labor ... organizations, ...
or to forbid or restrain individual members of such organizations
from lawfully carrying out the legitimate objects thereof
