SCOTUS Deals Blow to Unions in Truckers Strike Case

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Facts

  • The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on Thursday ruled 8-1 against truck drivers who went on strike while their vehicles were full of wet concrete. The lawsuit involved Washington's ready-mix concrete seller Glacier Northwest and a local affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.1
  • The ruling overturns that of a lower court which, referring to the right to strike enshrined in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), found in favor of the truckers and blocked Glacier Northwest's lawsuit against the union.2
  • However, SCOTUS has enabled Glacier Northwest to pursue the lawsuit, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett noting that there are limits to the NLRA's protections. The suit asserts the union is liable for the losses suffered by the company, which had to dispose of the wet concrete following the 2017 strike.3
  • In her judgment, Barrett stated that "the union took affirmative steps to endanger Glacier's property rather than reasonable precautions to mitigate that risk," meaning it relinquished its protections under the NLRA.4
  • Barrett added that the state court is free to evaluate whether the union's conduct could fall under the NLRA, which protects the lawful use of economic pressure by unions, or defer the lawsuit to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which enforces labor law against unfair practices.5
  • Meanwhile, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, arguing that the union lawfully timed its strike to put maximum pressure on the employer, pointed out that the SCOTUS ruling "could undercut the labor law" by giving state courts jurisdiction over labor disputes instead of the NLRB.5

Sources: 1Associated Press, 2Reuters, 3Al Jazeera, 4NBC, and 5Roll Call.

Narratives

  • Right narrative, as provided by Daily Caller. This ruling sets a precedent that unions can't evade responsibility for taking deliberately harmful actions. Had SCOTUS ruled against Glacier Northwest, the court would've been granting immunity to union bosses from state lawsuits, even when ordering the deliberate destruction of property.
  • Left narrative, as provided by Vox. SCOTUS' decision is the latest in a string of cases suppressing the right to organized labor. The ruling risks opening unions to a barrage of lawsuits from employers, effectively stifling union freedoms and eventually bankrupting workers.

Predictions