Masonry Magazine October 1965 Page. 5
Pedersen
HOT CARGO
This article has been written especially for MASONRY by Peer Pedersen, MCAA Legal Counsel. Mr. Pedersen is a partner in the fast growing Chicago law firm of Pedersen & Houpt. He is member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
Hot-Cargo clauses have been a labor relations problem that has been troublesome to Mason Contractors. Hot-Cargo is the designation for goods produced or handled by an employer who a union has declared to be "unfair". In respect to mason contractors, the usual provisions in a collective bargaining agreement provide:
1. That a mason contractor may not take a job where another contractor employs non-union men; or
2. A mason contractor will not subcontract any work to a contractor that employs non-union men.
There had been considerable confusion as to whether or not a union was able to strike for the inclusion of a Hot-Cargo provision in a collective bargaining agreement with mason contractors (and other contractors in the building industry). There was further confusion if there was a Hot-Cargo provision in a collective bargaining agreement as to whether or not a union would be able to picket the job on which a violation of a Hot-Cargo provision occurred.
MASONRY October, 1965
Section 8 (3) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, prohibits a labor organization and an employer from entering into an agreement that limits the right of the employer to do business with other employers.
Commonly known as "Hot-Cargo" clauses, these agreements were prohibited by the 1959 amendments to the National Labor Relations Act except that the prohibition does not apply to the construction industry when certain types of work are performed at the construction site. This limited exemption for the construction industry has created uncertainty among contractors, labor unions, the National Labor Relations Board and in the courts.
Before the 1959 amendment, so long as an employer voluntarily agreed with a union that he would not handle the products of another employer with whom the union had a dispute, the Act was not violated even though the result was an effective boycott. However, the employer could not, by strike or similar action, be forced into making such an agreement.
Section 8 (e) of the Act made it an unfair labor practice for a labor organization and an employer to enter into a contract containing a "Hot-Cargo" clause. (continued on page 25)