Legal Definitions - common-situs picketing

Common-situs picketing describes a specific type of protest activity that takes place when a labor union or group of employees has a dispute with one particular employer (known as the "primary employer"), but that employer operates from a location or worksite that is shared with other, unrelated businesses or entities (referred to as "secondary employers").

The core challenge in common-situs picketing is to ensure that the protest is clearly and lawfully directed only at the primary employer involved in the dispute, without unlawfully pressuring, disrupting, or coercing the neutral secondary employers who are not part of the conflict. Labor laws often establish strict guidelines for such picketing to prevent it from becoming an illegal "secondary boycott," which would unlawfully involve neutral parties in a labor dispute.

• Example 1: Construction Site Dispute

  Imagine a large commercial construction project where a general contractor has hired several independent subcontractors for different tasks, such as plumbing, electrical work, and drywall installation. If the employees of the plumbing subcontractor go on strike due to a dispute over wages and decide to picket, they might do so at the main entrance to the entire construction site. This situation is common-situs picketing because the general contractor and all the other subcontractors are neutral parties, not involved in the plumbers' dispute, but they share the same physical worksite entrance. The picketers would need to clearly indicate through their signs and actions that their protest is solely against the plumbing subcontractor and not against any other company on the site.

• Example 2: Office Building Cleaning Services

  Consider a multi-story office building that houses numerous different companies, each renting its own office space. A cleaning company provides janitorial services to several of these businesses. If the cleaning company's employees go on strike, they might picket the main lobby entrance of the office building. This is common-situs picketing because the many other businesses within the building are neutral to the dispute between the cleaning company and its employees, yet they share the same primary access point. The picketers would be legally required to make it obvious that their protest is directed only at the cleaning company and not at any of the other tenants in the building.

• Example 3: Shared Industrial Park Entrance

  Suppose an industrial park contains multiple warehouses and manufacturing plants, each operated by a different company, but all sharing a single main road and entrance gate for deliveries and employee access. If the employees of one particular manufacturing plant go on strike, they might picket at the shared entrance to the industrial park. This scenario exemplifies common-situs picketing because all the other companies in the industrial park are neutral parties, not involved in the dispute with the striking plant, but they all rely on the same shared entrance. The picketers would need to ensure their signs and conduct clearly communicate that their grievance is exclusively with their employer, the manufacturing plant, and not with any of the other businesses operating within the industrial park.