US Supreme Court hands defeat to organized labor in truckers strike case (updated)
01/06/2023 15:40
(Adds vote breakdown and quotes from ruling and Justice
Jackson's dissent)
By John Kruzel
WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on
Thursday dealt another setback to organized labor by making it
easier for employers to sue over strikes that cause property
destruction in a ruling siding with a concrete business in
Washington state that sued the union representing its truck
drivers after a work stoppage.
The 8-1 decision overturned a lower court's ruling that said
the lawsuit filed by Glacier Northwest Inc, which sells and
delivers ready-mix concrete, against a local affiliate of the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters was preempted by a U.S.
law called the National Labor Relations Act. Glacier Northwest
is a unit of Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement Corp. 5233.T
Glacier Northwest filed a lawsuit in Washington state court
accusing the union of intentional property destruction during a
2017 strike.
A group of drivers went on strike while their mixing trucks
were filled with concrete. Although the drivers kept their
mixing drums rotating to delay the concrete from hardening and
damaging the vehicles, the company was forced to discard the
unused product at a financial loss.
The Washington state Supreme Court in 2021 ruled that the
company's claims were preempted by the National Labor Relations
Act (NLRA), saying the company's loss of concrete was incidental
to a strike that could be considered arguably protected under
federal labor law.
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who wrote the
ruling, said the union's actions had not only destroyed the
concrete but had also "posed a risk of foreseeable, aggravated
and imminent harm to Glacier's trucks."
"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," Barrett wrote.
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a 27-page dissent,
wrote that the ruling "is likely to cause considerable confusion
among the lower courts" about how preemption under the National
Labor Relations Act should apply in future cases and "risks
erosion of the right to strike."
Glacier Northwest had urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule
that federal preemption does not bar claims made under state law
involving intentional destruction of an employer's property.
The union, Teamsters Local Union No. 174, had claimed the
strike not only was arguably protected under federal labor law
but the resulting loss of concrete did not satisfy the high bar
to override federal preemption. While the U.S. Supreme Court has
found that labor unions can be sued in state court for violent
or threatening conduct, the union had argued, this narrow
exception should not be expanded to permit property damage
claims brought under state law.
President Joe Biden's administration had urged the justices
to reverse the lower court's decision, allowing Glacier
Northwest's lawsuit to proceed.
The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has
leaned toward curbing the power of labor unions in rulings in
recent years.
The justices in 2021 struck down a California agricultural
regulation aimed at helping unions organize workers. The court
in 2018 ruled that non-members cannot be forced, as they are in
certain states, to pay fees to unions representing public
employees such as police and teachers that negotiate collective
bargaining agreements with employers.
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U.S. Supreme Court considers narrowing federal protections for
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(Reporting by John Kruzel in Washington; Editing by Will
Dunham)
((andrew.chung@thomsonreuters.com; 332.219.1428 ; 646.407.9441
mobile;))