United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners v. Building & Construction Trades Dep't

We must decide whether a labor union’s use of economic pressure is extortion under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

I

The Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, (“Building Trades”) is an umbrella labor organization representing unions and individuals in the construction industry. Subordinate labor unions pay the Building Trades per capita monthly fees and must comply with the Building Trades’ rules. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (“Carpenters”) is no longer affiliated with the Building Trades because it believes that the Building Trades’ services are “unrequested, unwanted and unnecessary” and that its rules are “stale, outdated and anticompetitive.”

This case concerns the “Push-Back-Carpenters Campaign,” a campaign of (at least) intense economic pressure orchestrated by the Building Trades to force the Carpenters into paying what it calls “monthly bloated per capita payments in perpetuity,” that is, into reaffiliating with the Building Trades and paying dues. Allegations of “economic pressure” include: promoting a 2008 AFL-CIO resolution authorizing the AFL-CIO to charter a union to compete with the…