sweetheart contract

noun

1. a contract made through collusion between management and labor representatives containing terms beneficial to management and detrimental to union workers.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sweetheart contract¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Section 9: Directs the departments of Agriculture and Interior to calculate the full economic value of any subsidies provided to any farmer, rancher or energy company directly or as part of a sweetheart contract or royalty agreement, and subjects such subsidies to the personal and corporate income tax.

From Washington Post

“It seems like a sweetheart contract. It’s too cute... and clearly they thought nobody’s going to notice.”

From Los Angeles Times

Employees, who earn 14 cents a week, are bound by a “99-year sweetheart contract” and imprisoned if they try to quit.

From Washington Post

Meanwhile, Riley had a sweetheart contract that went out several years, and the assumption was always, if a change was going to happen in Corvallis, it wasn’t going to be because he was fired.

From Seattle Times

Gonzalez’s deal, a sweetheart contract for the Nationals, calls for him to make $11 million in 2015.

From Washington Post