Pullman-Standard v. Swint

Respondents were black employees at the Bessemer, Ala., plant of petitioner Pullman-Standard (the Company), a manufacturer of railway freight cars and parts. They brought suit against the Company and the union petitioners — the United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO-CLC, and its Local 1466 (collectively USW) — alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 263, as amended, 42 U. S. C. § 2000e et seq. (1976 ed. and Supp. IV), and 42 U. S. C. §1981.1 As they come here, these cases involve only the validity, under Title VII, of a seniority system maintained by the…