For nearly 90 years, the National Labor Relations Act has given unions the right to strike. We have the right to collectively withhold our labor if we are being treated unfairly by employers.
Workers don’t get paid or collect unemployment during a strike. Striking is done to ensure a better future for our families.
On June 1, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a concrete company, Glacier Northwest, against the truckers with the Teamsters Union in Washington state, who were seeking livable wages and benefits. The employers sued, claiming “intentional property destruction.” Cement hardened but no trucks were lost. The court sided with Glacier Northwest.
In any strike, a company can now claim intentional property destruction and can sue. Dissenting Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says this decision will now spread confusion in the lower courts, risking the erosion of a union’s ability to strike.
Anyway, hats off to Hawaii Teamster members of Local 996 striking at Hawaii Gas company for livable wages (“Hawaii Gas service not yet disrupted by strike,” Star-Advertiser, June 3).
Raymond Catania
Lihue
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