An Appraisal of the Antitrust Approach
| Author | Sar A. Levitan |
| Published date | 01 January 1961 |
| Date | 01 January 1961 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000271626133300110 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
108
An
Appraisal
of
the
Antitrust
Approach
By
SAR
A.
LEVITAN
Sar
A.
Levitan,
Ph.D.,
Washington,
D.
C.,
is
Labor
Specialist
of
the
Legislative
Refer-
ence
Service,
Library
of
Congress
and
lecturer
at
Johns
Hopkins
University.
He
is
au-
thor
of
Government
Regulations
of
Internal
Union
Affairs,
Federal
Aid
to
Labor
Surplus
Areas,
and
other
studies
published
by
congressional
committees
and
professional
journals.
ABSTRACT:
There
is
a
revived
interest
in
the
application
of
antitrust
legislation
to
unions.
Those
who
favor
this
legisla-
tion
assert
that
unions
possess
excessive
power
and
enjoy
spe-
cial
immunities
under
the
law.
Even
if
the
claim
of
the
dam-
aging
impact
of
unions
were
correct,
it
is
rather
doubtful
whether
the
mere
application
of
antitrust
legislation
would
in
itself
provide
the
remedies
sought
by
those
who
would
weaken
the
power
of
unions
in
collective
bargaining.
The
Taft-Hart-
ley
Act
already
bans
most
union
activities
which
were
pro-
scribed
by
the
courts
when
antitrust
legislation
was
applied
to
unions
during
the
first
four
decades
following
the
passage
of
the
Sherman
Act
in
1890.
The
sweeping
application
of
antitrust
legislation
to
unions
would
also
result
in
confusion
as
to
al-
lowable
area
of
union
activities
and
present
obstacles
to
the
achievement
of
sound
labor-management
relations.
More-
over,
the
techniques
used
in
trust-busting
are
not
applicable
to
unions.
Encouragement
of
competition
among
unions
would
tend
to
raise
the
cost
of
labor.
However,
the
antitrust
route,
with
its
strong
sanctions
and
ability
to
supply
speedy
relief
through
injunctions,
may
be
useful
as
a
tool
to
discour-
age
specific
harmful
union
activities.
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