Page:Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters.pdf/4

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delivered the opinion of the Court.

Glacier Northwest, a concrete company, depends on its truck drivers to deliver concrete to customers in a timely manner. But when relations between Glacier and its drivers soured, the drivers went on strike. Their labor union allegedly designed the strike with the intent to sabotage Glacier’s property. Although Glacier managed to avoid damage to its delivery trucks by deploying emergency maneuvers, the concrete that it had already produced that day went to waste. Glacier sued the union in state court for destroying its property. But the company did not get very far: The state court dismissed Glacier’s tort claims on the ground that they were preempted by the National Labor Relations Act. We reverse.

Enacted in 1935, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) “encourag[es] the practice and procedure of collective bargaining” between labor and management to resolve “industrial disputes arising out of differences as to wages,