15 U.S.C. § 17 — Antitrust laws not applicable to labor organizations

This section is a single, undivided provision. This section states a basic principle: a human being's labor is not a commodity or an article of commerce. Building on that, nothing in the antitrust laws can be used to forbid the existence or operation of labor, agricultural, or horticultural organizations — as long as those organizations are set up to help their members, and don't have capital stock or operate for profit. The antitrust laws also can't be used to stop or restrain individual members of these organizations from lawfully carrying out the organization's legitimate goals. And these organizations, or their members, cannot be treated or found to be illegal combinations or conspiracies that restrain trade under the antitrust laws.