Union drivers who went on strike while their trucks were full of wet concrete are not protected under the National Labor Relations Act.
That was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in a recent case involving Glacier Northwest – a Washington concrete company – and a local Teamsters union.
“The union’s actions not only resulted in the destruction of all the concrete Glacier had prepared that day, they also posed a risk of foreseeable, aggravated and imminent harm to Glacier’s trucks,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the 8-1 decision released on June 1. “Because the union took affirmative steps to endanger Glacier’s property rather than reasonable precautions to mitigate that risk, the NLRA does not arguably protect its conduct.”
Background
A labor dispute between Teamsters Local 174 and Glacier Northwest led to a strike in 2017. According to court documents, the union called for a work stoppage on a morning it knew the company was in the midst of mixing substantial amounts of concrete, loading batches into ready-mix trucks and making deliveries.
The union directed drivers to ignore Glacier’s instructions to finish deliveries in progress. At least 16 drivers who had already left to make deliveries returned with fully loaded trucks. According to court documents, Glacier prevented significant damage to its trucks but failed to preserve the concrete.
Glacier sued the Teamsters for damages in state court. The Washington Supreme Court dismissed the case, but the U.S. Supreme Court took the case on appeal. The June 1 ruling means that Glacier can move forward with its lawsuit.
Dissent
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s lone dissenter, wrote that the decision against union drivers would hinder the ability to strike.
“The court’s ruling is likely to cause considerable confusion among the lower courts,” Jackson wrote. “And any such confusion not only threatens to encroach upon the (National Labor Relation Board’s) prerogatives, as Congress has assigned them, but also risks erosion of the right to strike.”
Teamsters general president also spoke out against the union drivers ruling.
“Today’s shameful ruling is simply one more reminder that the American people cannot rely on their government or their courts to protect them,” O’Brien wrote on Twitter. “They cannot rely on their employers. We must rely on each other. We must engage in organized, collective action. We can only rely on the protections inherent in the power of our unions.”
Darin Dalmat, an attorney for the union, called the Glacier lawsuit “meritless” and that “nothing in this decision will stop workers from exercising their federally protected rights to strike when necessary to achieve better wages, benefits and working conditions.” LL
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