The U.S. Supreme Court case National Labor Relations Board v. International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO et al., 1984 revolved around the issue of whether a labor union could be held accountable for secondary boycotts under Section 8(b)(4) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The International Longshoremen’s Association had been encouraging its members to refuse handling goods that were being shipped to and from Soviet Union in protest against its invasion of Afghanistan. This action was deemed as an illegal secondary boycott by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which led them to file charges against the union. However, on appeal, it was argued that this activity fell within exceptions provided by NLRA for political advocacy activities. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of NLRB stating that while there are certain exemptions available under NLRA for political activities carried out by unions; these do not apply when such actions directly affect neutral employers who have no control over or connection with dispute at hand - thus making their conduct unlawful.

The dissenting opinion in the case of National Labor Relations Board v. International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO, et al., argued that the majority had misinterpreted and overstepped its authority under Section 8(b)(4) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The dissenters believed that this section was intended to prevent unions from coercing neutral employers into labor disputes not involving them directly. However, they contended that in this case, there was no such coercion or secondary boycott as defined by NLRA because all parties involved were part of a single dispute with a common employer. They also disagreed with the majority's interpretation of "employer" under NLRA as it applied to shipping associations and their members. According to them, these entities should be considered separate employers for purposes of determining whether an unfair labor practice has occurred. Therefore, they concluded that since there was no evidence showing any attempt by union respondents to force or require shipping associations' members who are not direct parties in dispute to cease doing business with each other; hence NLRB failed proving violation against ILA.