Labor Law: Against Union Discrimination

Even after they win membership in once-segregated unions, Negroes often find that white union leaders refuse to negotiate their grievances against an employer. The National Labor Relations Act empowers the National Labor Relations Board to bar unfair labor practices by unions as well as employers, but the law does not specifically say that unfair representation is an unfair labor practice. As a result, unions have questioned the enforceability of NLRB orders to that effect, and many locals have continued to discriminate against their members on the basis of race or other arbitrary reasons.

That practice may now be ended. The...