Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Glacier Northwest, a concrete company, sued a Teamsters local in Washington state court for property damage when drivers walked off the job with loaded concrete trucks. The union timed the strike to cause the perishable concrete to harden and damage the vehicles. The company argued the strike was unprotected under the National Labor Relations Act due to the intentional destruction of property. The Washington Supreme Court dismissed the suit, finding it preempted by the NLRA. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed, holding 8-1 that the union's actions were not arguably protected by federal labor law, allowing the company's state tort claims to proceed.

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the lower court's ruling in an 8-1 decision by Justice Barrett, holding that the union's deliberate property damage was not protected activity under the NLRA, thus the state lawsuit was not preempted.

Whether the National Labor Relations Act preempts a state tort claim against a union for intentionally destroying employer property during a labor strike.

The decision clarifies the limits of union strike protections by affirming employers can sue for intentional property destruction in state court, potentially chilling aggressive strike tactics. It rebalances the line between federal labor law preemption and state tort remedies regarding union economic weapons.