General Building Contractors Association v. Pennsylvania

A construction union's collective bargaining agreements required signatory employers (defendants) to hire operating engineers exclusively through the union's referral lists, which were tied to a discriminatorily administered apprenticeship program; Pennsylvania and a class of minority workers (plaintiffs) sued the union and the employers, and the district court found the union's referral system discriminatory while finding the employers unaware of the discrimination but still in technical violation of the relevant statutes. The district court ordered detailed injunctive relief against the employers, including minority hiring goals, quarterly compliance reporting, and a requirement that the employers share the financial cost of the overall remedy; the court of appeals affirmed, and the employers sought Supreme Court review.