Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or labor law), employers engaged in the building and construction industry are privileged to enter into a limited type of collective bargaining relationship with labor unions, whereby either party is free to repudiate the relationship upon the expiration of the contract. The employer and the union may also decline to negotiate or adopt a successor agreement once their contract expires. Construction employers and labor unions may enter into this limited collective bargaining relationship, commonly referred to as an 8(f) relationship (in reference to the section of the NLRA) even before employees have been hired.

A Section 8(f) relationship is less burdensome on the employer than a regular collective bargaining relationship (also referred to a Section 9(a) relationship, in reference to the section of the NLRA), which can lawfully be entered into only upon some showing that a majority of the employees want to be represented by the union. Under a regular collective bargaining relationship the employer is obligated to refrain from making unilateral changes in terms and conditions of employment, even after the expiration of the contract, absent an overall impasse in bargaining. (Similarly, the presumption of union majority status continues after the contract expires.) In contrast with a section 8(f) contract, a section 9(a) contract, in effect, survives its expiration.