-Aiming at Dollars, Not Men-: Recovering the Congressional Intent Behind the Labor Exemption to Antitrust Law.

• Author: Alvaro M. Bedoya & Bryce Tuttle
• Pages: 805-818

805

“AIMING AT DOLLARS, NOT MEN”: RECOVERING

THE CONGRESSIONAL INTENT BEHIND THE LABOR

EXEMPTION TO ANTITRUST LAW

A M. B

B T*

We are aiming at the gigantic trusts and combinations of capital and

not at associations of men for the betterment of their condition. We are

aiming at the dollars and not at men.... Let us put the man above the

dollar and exempt all associations of men organized for the betterment

of their condition.

– Representative Thomas F. Konop (D., Wisconsin), June 1, 19141

Antitrust law has been used by courts to stop a range of worker-organizing

efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries—despite the existence of a

labor exemption. This article explains that these actions contradict Congress’s

intent in passing the Sherman, Clayton, and Norris-LaGuardia Acts. To under-

stand legislative intent and how the courts misapplied the antitrust laws to

labor, it is necessary to look at the history of the antitrust laws and how the

labor exemption became law in the first place.

I. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER AND TONY FERNANDEZ

At the time of its incorporation in Ohio in 1870, Standard Oil was already

the wealthiest company in America, with one million dollars in assets and

1 51 C. R. 9545 (1914).

* Alvaro Bedoya is a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission; Bryce Tuttle served

as an honors paralegal in the office of Commissioner Bedoya at the Federal Trade Commission.

The views of the authors are our own and do not represent the views of the Federal Trade Com-

mission, its staff, or other FTC commissioners. This article was originally delivered in modi-

fied form as a speech entitled Aiming at Dollars, Not Men for an April 2023 conference at the

University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, Whither the Consumer Welfare Standard? How

Antitrust Can Protect Worker Interests, hosted by the Utah Project on Antitrust and Consumer

Protection. The authors would like to thank the University of Utah S.J. Quinney School of Law,

The Utah Project on Antitrust and Consumer Protection, Hal Singer, Marshall Steinbaum, Kate

Conlow, Max M. Miller, Hiba Hafiz, Sanjukta Paul, Sandeep Vaheesan, Brian Callaci, Udit

Thakur, Elizabeth Wilkins, Holly Vedova, Rahul Rao, Geoffrey Greene, and Marka Peterson.