USS-POSCO Industries v. Contra Costa County Building & Construction Trades Council

We explore the nether reaches of two areas of antitrust law: the statutory labor exemption and the Noerr-Pennington doctrine.

*804 I

USS-POSCO Industries (UPI) is a joint venture between USX Corporation (formerly U.S. Steel) and Pohang Iron and Steel Co. of South Korea, formed to modernize and operate an old steel facility in Pittsburg, California (PITCAL). Interested unions allegedly attempted to coerce UPI into awarding the general contract to a unionized contractor. After bidding, UPI nevertheless awarded the $350 million construction contract — involving over 800 jobs — to appellant BE & K, a merit-shop contractor. See Henry Weinstein, Workers Are Steeling Themselves to Fight Non-Union Upgrading of Pittsburg Plant, L.A. Times, Mar. 16, 1987, at 3.

BE & K alleges the unions then began a campaign to eliminate non-union construction in Northern California by making an example of PITCAL. Although none of the unions had a collective bargaining agreement with BE & K, defendants allegedly filed automatic protests to BE & K’s permits in order to cause it gratuitous expense and delay; lobbied for a local toxic waste disposal ordinance that would require BE & K to obtain more…