Racial Equality in Jobs and Unions, Collective Bargaining, and the Burger Court

In dealing with the problems of employment discrimination, the Burger Court will have to face several new and major issues. This Article is concerned with two of the most important of those issues. The first is whether the present requirement that workers seek redress of their grievances through the exclusive representation of the union is applicable to victims of racial discrimination; and if not, what other remedies should be available to those workers. The second is whether quotas and ratios based on race are permissible; and if so, whether it is required that they be used to integrate union leadership after a merger of two previously segregated unions. While the main focus of this Article is on these problems, it will also deal briefly with the effect of the Supreme Court’s decision in Gaston County v. United States on remedies for existing discriminatory employment practices resulting from past segregation.