Case: Contractors Association of Eastern Pennsylvania v. Secretary of Labor

(This summary is temporary, while we research the case.) The contractors' association and individual contractors filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against various state and federal officials, challenging the validity of the Philadelphia Plan. The Department of Labor issued the Philadelphia Plan in 1967 to combat the exclusion of nonwhite workers from membership in industrial and craft unions. The Philadelphia Plan required government contractors to take affirmative action to hire minority workers. The plaintiffs alleged that the Philadelphia Plan was illegal and void because it was an unauthorized exercise of executive power, inconsistent with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, inconsistent with the National Labor Relations Act, and violated due process.