Supreme Court Rules OK for company to sue Strikers

 The National Labor Relations Act did not preempt Glacier’s state tort claims related to the destruction of company property during a labor dispute where the union failed to take reasonable precautions to avoid foreseeable and imminent danger to the property.

 Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters - SCOTUSblog

To recap briefly, this case concered whether the Washington Supreme Court properly dismissed a tort action by Glacier Northwest, a concrete mixing company, arising out of a strike by the Teamsters. The company alleged that the Teamsters purposely timed their strike to inflict harm on the company and should be liable for any costs associated with the hardening of cement that was loaded into the mixers before the strike commenced. The state court, in dismissing the lawsuit, held that the NLRB should go first in assessing whether the National Labor Relations Act protected the strike conduct.

Sharon Block, Court grapples with how to handle company’s lawsuit against union that went on strike, SCOTUSblog (Jan. 11, 2023, 12:08 PM),