Which 1914 law strengthened antitrust laws and exempted labor unions from being treated as illegal restraints?

• A. The Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
• B. The Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
• C. The Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
• D. The Hepburn Act (1906)

Answer: (B)

The key idea is how the law sharpened antitrust rules while explicitly protecting workers’ rights to organize. The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 built on the earlier Sherman Act by naming specific practices that already reduce competition and by giving individuals and businesses a clearer path to challenge or prevent those practices—such as mergers that would lessen competition, price discrimination, exclusive dealing, and certain interlocking directorates. It also created private remedies, allowing harmed parties to sue for damages and seek injunctions.

Most importantly for this question, it set a clear exemption for labor unions, stating that unions and their peaceful activities—like collective bargaining, strikes, and boycotts—would not be treated as illegal restraints of trade. This change addressed a longstanding tension during the Gilded Age, when labor organizing was sometimes prosecuted under antitrust laws, and it allowed workers to organize without being automatically pursued as monopolistic restraints.

So, the law that strengthened antitrust enforcement while shielding labor unions from being considered illegal restraints is the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.