Page:Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters.pdf/1

(Slip Opinion)

Glacier sued the Union for damages in state court, claiming that the Union intentionally destroyed the company’s concrete and that this conduct amounted to common-law conversion and trespass to chattels. The Union moved to dismiss Glacier’s tort claims on the ground that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) preempted them. While a federal law generally preempts state law when the two conflict, the NLRA preempts state law even when the two only arguably conflict. San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236, 245. In the Union’s view, the NLRA—which protects employees’ rights “to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, … and to