Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1449_d9eh.pdf
Page Number: 29

8 

GLACIER NORTHWEST, INC. v. TEAMSTERS 

JACKSON, J., dissenting 

With respect to Glacier’s tort suit, the Washington courts
engaged in the standard Garmon inquiry, ultimately result-
ing in a determination by the Washington Supreme Court 
that  the  lawsuit  could  not  proceed  because  the  Union’s 
strike conduct was arguably protected by the NLRA.  Glac-
ier sought, and we granted, certiorari to review that deci-
sion.  Notably,  however,  after  the  Washington  Supreme 
Court issued its decision, the regional director acting on be-
half of the Board’s General Counsel filed an administrative 
complaint against Glacier.  In my view, for the reasons ex-
plained below, that subsequent event has greatly simplified 
the Garmon question. 

A 
The filing of the General Counsel’s administrative com-
plaint  necessarily  suffices  to  establish  that  the  Union’s 
strike conduct is “arguably protected” within the meaning
of Garmon.  Thus, the General Counsel’s complaint should 
have marked the end of any court involvement in this mat-
ter at this time. 

The General Counsel’s complaint alleges that Glacier in-
terfered with strike conduct protected by §7 when it disci-
plined its drivers for walking off the job and when it filed 
this tort suit.  That complaint represents the General Coun-
sel’s  conclusion—reached  after  an  extensive  independent 
investigation involving collecting testimony and other evi-
dence, and after careful consideration of the competing le-
gal principles and policy concerns—that the Union’s claim
that  its  strike  conduct  was  protected  “appears  to  have 
merit.”  29 CFR §§101.4, 101.8.  One “cannot credibly con-
tend that a claim that makes it through this gauntlet does
not concern conduct ‘arguably’ protected by the NLRA.”  Da-
vis Supermarkets, Inc. v. NLRB, 2 F. 3d 1162, 1179 (CADC 
1993); accord, Makro, Inc., 305 N. L. R. B. 663, 670 (1991). 
A  court  presented  with  a  General  Counsel  complaint
should therefore find Garmon inherently satisfied.  This is