Yellow Dog Contract

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Yellow Dog Contract

The term "Yellow Dog Contracts" refers to employment contracts that prohibit employees from joining labor unions. There was a period in which labor union members who wanted to get and hold jobs were the victims of widespread employer discrimination practices. Contracts between employers and their employees were used by employers to accomplish this anti-union employment discrimination. Before hiring workers, employers required them to sign agreements stating that the workers were not and would not become labor union members. Such anti-union practices were so obnoxious to workers that they gave these required agreements the name of "yellow dog contracts." This hostility of workers also prompted passage of state and federal laws to ban employer discrimination against union members and to outlaw yellow dog contracts. Thus, the yellow dog contracts are no longer enforceable.