In an 8-1 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 1 decided that a union’s deliberate destruction of company property as a pressure tactic in a labor dispute is not protected by federal law.
Labor activists have said that endangering and destroying company property during a dispute is fair game that has long been protected by the law, but companies like the petitioner in this case—Glacier Northwest a ready-mix concrete company headquartered in Seattle—pushed back.
Glacier Northwest does business as CalPortland.
The new ruling will allow companies to sue striking unions to hold them accountable for damage caused during labor actions.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision (pdf) in Glacier Northwest Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174 (court file 21-1449), allows the company to sue the union in state court.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito both wrote separate concurring opinions. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter.
Good! Unions can be problematic but even if you support them in general you certainly can’t support them destroying valuable property of the employer. That’s crime, pure and simple.
Ketanji-Jackson was the lone dissenter. Shocking.
The union itself should foot that bill.