Also known as a secondary employer, an employer who does not have a labor dispute with a picketing or striking union. Under the National Labor Relations Act, unions with labor disputes, called primary unions, have the right, with limitations and qualifications, to engage in picketing about their labor disputes with primary employers. However, primary unions cannot engage in certain activities aimed at neutral employers to stop them from doing business with the primary employers (29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4)).

Property owners and worksite managers can confine union strikes or pickets against primary employers at a workplace location, facility, or site shared with neutral employers, often called a common situs, to particular locations by setting up a reserve gate system. For more information, see Standard Document, Reserved Gate Guidelines.

For more information about union picketing and strikes, see Practice Notes, Employee Rights and Unfair Labor Practices Under the National Labor Relations Act and Labor Law: Overview.