# Are secondary consumer boycotts illegal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188 "2003-10-13T14:24:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/1 "2003-10-13T14:24:32Z")
Can a consumer (as opposed to a union) legally “organize” a secondary boycott? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/2 "2003-10-13T14:34:55Z")
What’s a “secondary boycott”? ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/3 "2003-10-13T16:29:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > \*\*What’s a “secondary boycott”? \*\* > [@](#): > > Secondary boycott > > A boycott or the picketing by employees and/or a union of a business not directly involved in a labor dispute for the purposes of bringing pressure to bear on the business of an employer who is. So a secondary boycott by a consumer might be “organizing” a boycott against Walmart for selling clothes manufactured by “Happy Land Sweatshop Clothing Manufacturing Company.” ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/4 "2003-10-13T17:16:24Z")
How could there be a law against consumers not shopping at a particular store? There are regulations about unions in engaging in such activity, but if I, Joe Shopper, doesn’t want to go to Store X because Union Y is picketing it and I tell my friends not to go there either, I don’t see the problem. In my neighborhood, two of the local supermarkets are being struck by their clerks. So I am shopping elsewhere. I can’t see the markets getting an injunction on me to keep me from going to another store because of it. I suppose you could consider the economic boycotts of pre-Mandela South Africa or present day Cuba to be examples of this on a larger scale. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/5 "2003-10-13T19:05:10Z")
IANAL, but I would think that the First Amendment would permit consumers to organize picketing of a secondary business as long as they were peacably assembled. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/6 "2003-10-13T19:11:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > \*\*How could there be a law against consumers not shopping at a particular store? There are regulations about unions in engaging in such activity, but if I, Joe Shopper, doesn’t want to go to Store X because Union Y is picketing it and I tell my friends not to go there either, I don’t see the problem. > > In my neighborhood, two of the local supermarkets are being struck by their clerks. So I am shopping elsewhere. I can’t see the markets getting an injunction on me to keep me from going to another store because of it. > > I suppose you could consider the economic boycotts of pre-Mandela South Africa or present day Cuba to be examples of this on a larger scale. \*\* Well I’m thinking of something a bit more organized than “tell my friends not to go there.” I’m thinking more along the lines of grassroots programs that end up raising funds to support their cause, etc… ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/7 "2003-10-13T19:34:36Z")
Is this by any chance in reference to the planned boycott of Green Linnet Records being organized by their artists who reportedly have not been paid in 4 years? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/8 "2003-10-13T20:21:55Z")
Secondary boycotts can be illegal, but it depends, it depends: [FIRST CIRCUIT ENJOINS IBT SHOPPING SPREE](http://www.saspc.com/art_ibt.htm): > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON (ELB 1995) - When can shopping be illegal? If it is conducted in a manner designed to pressure retailers to cease doing business with another company, it may be an unlawful secondary boycott. That was the conclusion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Pye v. Teamsters Local 122. The Court of Appeals upheld a Section 10(l) injunction under the National Labor Relations Act that had been sought by the NLRB and granted by a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. But also see the [Consumer Appeals and Boycotts](http://www.missouri.edu/~labored/1997-29.html) page, which provides many complications. And Google on “secondary boycott” legality for many other citations. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/9 "2003-10-13T20:42:54Z")
How could someone force you to shop somewhere, anyways? It sounds like it would be pretty hard to enforce. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/10 "2003-10-13T21:48:39Z")
It’s not a question of forcing. Obviously you can shop wherever you like. But let’s imagine you started an organization whose purpose was to drive Wal-Mart out of business. You collected money, members, etc., had a big advertising campaign whose theme was, “Don’t shop at Wal-Mart; they are killing the local merchants”. This would be a secondary and the question (to which I do not know the answer, BTW) is, would this be illegal. I believe the Montgomery bus boycott was ruled illegal, but not much came of that. There were boycotts against lettuce when Cesar Chavez was trying to organize the pickers. There were boycotts against South African products generally. I guess no one tried to get them ruled illegal, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/11 "2003-10-13T22:02:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BwanaBob \* > \*\*Is this by any chance in reference to the planned boycott of Green Linnet Records being organized by their artists who reportedly have not been paid in 4 years? \*\* Nope, haven’t heard of that. Just one of those things I’ve always wondered. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/12 "2003-10-13T22:16:21Z")
Note that the one case cited is “Pye v. Teamsters Local 122”. Thus, there are other considerations than private citizens to think about in that particular instance. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/13 "2003-10-13T22:31:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > \*\*Note that the one case cited is “Pye v. Teamsters Local 122”. Thus, there are other considerations than private citizens to think about in that particular instance. \*\* Yes, my question is specifically in regard to private citizens. The legislation that made secondary boycotts illegal was targeted specifically at organized labor, not consumers (Taft-Hartley Act). ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/14 "2003-10-13T22:47:37Z")
So, if it’s a group of consumers with no ties to organized labor, how could it possibly be illegal? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/15 "2003-10-13T23:31:00Z")
I started a [thread on this a while back](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=169288) involving radio host Michael Savage apparently asserting it WAS illegal. Check out the responses; there are some enlightening ones there. ---
**Author:** ![viking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@viking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/viking)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/16 "2003-10-13T23:52:39Z")
well, it seems to me that if Wal-Mart _were_ driving small businesses out of business, then they couldn’t do much about you telling other people not to shop there because of it. If they _weren’t_, they could sue you for libel. McDonalds UK tried this, if I recall correctly, and while they won most of their case, it was a PR nightmare, and the judge ruled that the part about animal cruelty was _not_ libellous, because the rearing conditions were beyond the pale. McDonalds US has since, relatedly or not, decided to establish standards for their suppliers; in fact the chain restaurant association established a common standard for all the fast food joints so as to not end up with a morass of competing standards. Googling on mclibel gives more web pages than I care to name, plus a book on amazon. The above is my impression of the case based on hearing about it from others; I haven’t read the book or the web sites returned by google. Professional driver on closed road, IANAL, YMMV, objects in rearview are closer than they appear, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-secondary-consumer-boycotts-illegal/207188/17 "2003-10-14T02:05:28Z")
[interrogator]We have ways of making you shop.[/interrogator]