Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1449_d9eh.pdf
Page Number: 33.0

12 

GLACIER NORTHWEST, INC. v. TEAMSTERS 

JACKSON, J., dissenting 

with directions to stay proceedings or dismiss Glacier’s com-
plaint  without  prejudice,  on  the  straightforward  ground
that the General Counsel’s complaint triggers the jurisdic-
tional hiatus that Garmon requires.4 

The  majority  sidesteps  my  preferred  resolution  of  this
matter and instead proceeds to engage in Garmon’s “argu-
ably  protected”  test  by  applying  a  series  of  fact-intensive
Board  decisions  to  the  bare  allegations  in  Glacier’s  state-
court  complaint.    To  do  this,  the  majority  invokes  the 
Board’s  “reasonable  precautions”  principle.    Ante,  at  6–8. 
That principle (discussed in Part IV, infra) is derived from
the Board’s determination that striking workers must take 
reasonable  precautions  to  protect  persons,  the  employer’s
premises, and its equipment from foreseeable, aggravated, 
and imminent harm due to the sudden cessation of work. 
The majority has taken it upon itself to apply the Board’s 
reasonable-precautions principle to the factual allegations
about the Union’s conduct that Glacier alleges in this law-
suit,  and  it  thereby  concludes  that  the  drivers’  conduct  is
not even arguably protected by the NLRA.

This course of action (which is already confounding given
that the Board itself is currently considering the challenged 
strike conduct with the benefit of developed facts and labor 
law expertise) reflects an analytical approach to the issues 
presented that cannot be squared with Garmon. 

A 
Whether the NLRA protects particular strike conduct of-
ten turns on subtle factual disputes and nuanced legal dis-
tinctions.  Here,  for  example,  whether  the  Union’s  strike 
conduct is protected or unprotected might well depend on 

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4 The Washington Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of Glacier’s 
claims.  Because only a pause of the state-court litigation is necessary 
under Garmon, the proper disposition is either a stay of proceedings or 
dismissal without prejudice.