A yellow dog contract is an agreement between an employer and employee in which the employee agrees not to join a union, with the threat of being fired if they do. This practice was outlawed in the US in 1932, but the term is still used to refer to confidentiality and non-compete agreements.
In American slang, a yellow dog contract is a contract between an employee and an employer in which the employee agrees not to join a union. This is seen as a term of employment; if the employee joins or organizes a union, he can be fired. In the United States, this practice is now illegal, but it was quite common, used as a tool to force people to give up their right to organize in exchange for job security. Labor organizers vigorously protested the practice of writing yellow dog contracts as conditions of employment, and as a result, the practice was outlawed in 1932 under the Norris-LaGuardia Act.
The yellow dog contract began to appear in the late 1800s as employers became increasingly concerned about the power of unions and the influence of unionization in American workplaces. Many potential employees were willing to sign yellow dog contracts to get jobs and ensure their jobs were secure, and employers used this to effectively close the union of their workplaces. People referred to these contracts as “yellow dogs” to convey the idea that the employees who signed these contracts “were worth little more than a yellow dog.”
Unions naturally objected vigorously to the yellow dog contract, arguing that it inhibited employee freedoms and made it substantially more difficult for unions to promote workplace protections. Employers suggested that employees be given the option not to sign these contracts, although unions felt that there was a high degree of coercion, as employees were not often hired without signing a yellow dog contract. For people in stressed financial positions, little real choice was involved when faced with a yellow dog contract.
Unions were finally able to overthrow the practice in 1932, and freedom to organize and join a union was imposed in 1935 with the Wagner Act, putting a permanent end to the yellow dog contract. With the freedom to organize, unions became much stronger, lobbying their members to ensure that American workers had safe working conditions and fair wages.
Some people use the term “yellow dog agreement” to refer to the confidentiality agreements that many people sign when they enter into jobs that deal with confidential information. A non-compete agreement may also be called a yellow dog contract in some circles. Both types of agreements are common in many industries.
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