January 12, 2023

Teamsters Local 174 has always been willing to use all legal measures to fight for the hardworking women and men who make up our ranks. One of those measures is resorting, where necessary, to strike action. It has been well-established since the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935 that the right to engage in such strikes is at the core of the Act.

We are confident that the United States Supreme Court, after reviewing our briefs and the briefs of multiple ‘friends of the court,’ including the State of Washington and fourteen other states and the District of Columbia, will recognize that the current way that state courts handle disputes arising out of strikes, which is to refer those disputes to the National Labor Relations Board (the federal agency to which the Act assigns primary authority regarding labor disputes), is far and away the best policy. We also contend this was the intent of Congress in its drafting of the National Labor Relations Act since it is firmly grounded in the text of the Act itself.

No matter how the Supreme Court rules in the specific case before it, however, unions’ ability to engage in these kind of strikes, and the use of that method to increase our bargaining leverage and thus obtain better wages and working conditions for working people, will continue to exist. Local 174 will never cease engaging in such actions so long as this type of strong member advocacy is necessary in order to accomplish our goals.