Subcontracting Clauses and Section 8(e) of the National Labor Relations Act

The addition of section 8(e) to the National Labor Relations Act in 1959 jeopardized the validity of all subcontracting clauses-provisions in employer-union collective bargaining agreements which in some manner eliminate or condition the employer’s right to contract out work or which penalize the exercise of that right. Although it was not the congressional intent that section 8(e) indiscriminately abolish all subcontracting clauses, this is the literal impact of the language used in the section.