''International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO v. Allied International, Inc.'', 456 U.S. 212 (1982), was a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

case which held that a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

that refused to unload cargo from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in protest against the invasion of Afghanistan had engaged in a

secondary boycott Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

, an

unfair labor practice An unfair labor practice (ULP) in United States labor law refers to certain actions taken by employers or unions that violate the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (49 Stat. 449) (also known as the NLRA and the Wagner Act after NY Senator ...

under the

National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...

Background

Allied International was an importer of wood products from the Soviet Union and had contracts with a shipping firm to bring the products to the United States. The shipping company in turn contracted a

stevedoring A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

company to unload the cargo, whose workers were members of the

International Longshoremen's Association The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) is a North American labor union representing longshore workers along the East Coast of the United States and Canada, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and inland waterways. The ILA ...

(ILA). In 1980, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the ILA had resolved not to load or unload Soviet cargo destined for US ports. As a result of this boycott, Allied's shipping was disrupted and the company had to renegotiate its contracts. Allied International sued the union.

Opinion of the Court

Justice Powell rejected the ILA's defense, noting; ''as understandable and even commendable as the ILA's ultimate objectives may be, the certain effect of its action is to impose a heavy burden on neutral employers. It is just such a burden, as well as widening of industrial strife, that the secondary boycott provisions were designed to prevent.'' The Court argued that while ILA claimed to be boycotting the Soviet Union, it was in effect boycotting a third party (the employer). The Court viewed the

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict s ...

as a political act, rather than economic. It dismissed claims that of

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

protection, as the petition clause relates to expression towards domestic government, not foreign.

Subsequent developments

John Rubin, writing on the significance of the case, noted:

Julius Getman Julius Gerson Getman (born 1931) is a professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law, and a noted labor and employment law scholar and labor historian. Education Getman received his bachelor's degree from the City College of New York i ...

, writing at the time as Professor of Law at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, noted the incongruity in the Court's reasoning between this case and ''

NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. ''National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Claiborne Hardware Co.'', 458 U.S. 886 (1982),. was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court ruling 8–0 ( Marshall did not participate in the decision) that although ...

'', which upheld the right to engage in boycotts:

References

External links

* {{caselaw source , case = ''Longshoremen v. Allied Int'l, Inc.'', {{ussc, 456, 212, 1982, el=no , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/456/212/ , loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep456/usrep456212/usrep456212.pdf , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1981/80-1663 1982 in United States case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court United States lawsuits International Longshoremen's Association United States labor case law