The cement-truck drivers turned around on their delivery routes and drove their trucks back to the concrete plant, and the company had to use “emergency maneuvers” to get the concrete off the trucks before it dried. However, the work day had already begun, and concrete was already being mixed and delivered when the union ordered a work stoppage. According to the brief of the case, the contract expired without the two being able to come to a resolution, and as a result, union workers went on strike.
Glacier Northwest, a concrete-mixing company based in Seattle, Washington, was in the midst of renegotiating a new contract with the Teamsters, one of the oldest and largest unions in the industry. Cornell’s Legal Information Institute defines the question: “Does the NLRA preempt an employer’s state tort claims against a labor union for intentionally destroying the employer’s property during a strategically-timed labor strike?” International Brotherhood of Teamsters, debated whether a union can be held responsible for company damages or monetary losses resulting from a union’s decision to go on strike under the National Labor Relations Act.
