Legal Definitions - Secondary boycott

A secondary boycott occurs when a group, typically a labor organization, directs its protest or boycott actions not against the primary target of their dispute, but against a separate, unaffiliated company or organization that does business with the primary target.

The goal of a secondary boycott is to exert indirect pressure on the primary target by disrupting its business relationships. By targeting a supplier, customer, or business partner (the "secondary" party), the boycotting group hopes to force that secondary party to stop doing business with the primary target, thereby increasing the economic pressure on the primary target to concede to the group's demands.

In the United States, particularly under Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), labor organizations are generally prohibited from engaging in or supporting secondary boycotts. This prohibition aims to prevent economic instability and protect neutral, third-party businesses from being unfairly drawn into disputes that are not their own.

Here are some examples illustrating a secondary boycott:

• Imagine a union representing factory workers at "Apex Manufacturing" is on strike due to a disagreement over healthcare benefits. To escalate pressure, the union organizes protests and urges consumers to boycott "Global Retailers," a large chain store that sells Apex Manufacturing's products. The union's message to consumers is to avoid shopping at Global Retailers until Apex Manufacturing resolves the labor dispute.

  This is a secondary boycott because the primary dispute is between the union and Apex Manufacturing. Global Retailers is a neutral third party, and the union is attempting to pressure Global Retailers to stop selling Apex products, thereby indirectly harming Apex Manufacturing's sales and forcing them to negotiate.

• Consider a situation where a labor union is in a heated contract negotiation with "Transcontinental Shipping," a major freight company. When negotiations stall, the union begins to picket and distribute flyers outside the facilities of "Portside Logistics," a company that provides warehousing and loading services exclusively for Transcontinental Shipping. The flyers encourage Portside Logistics' employees and the public to refuse to work with or patronize Portside Logistics until Transcontinental Shipping agrees to the union's demands.

  This exemplifies a secondary boycott because the union's primary dispute is with Transcontinental Shipping. Portside Logistics is a separate entity being targeted to disrupt Transcontinental Shipping's operations by cutting off its essential logistics services.