To:                   All Longshore, Clerk, and Walking Boss Locals

From:               The Coast Negotiating Committee

Subject:            Negotiations Update -- November 13, 2002 Federal District Court Hearing

                        On Status of Taft-Hartley Act Injunction

            On November 13, 2002, the Department of Justice issued its “Plaintiff’s Status Conference Statement” to the U.S. Federal District Court in San Francisco, notifying the Court that “the United States believes that there is credible evidence that both the PMA and the ILWU are at least partly responsible for [a] drop in productivity” on the docks, but “that the United States is not able to determine at this time that either party has engaged in improper conduct of sufficient scope or effect as to warrant a recommendation to this court to impose a penalty of contempt of the Order.” 

The Department of Justice also informed the Court that the PMA and the ILWU would be contacted in order to resolve the issues raised by the parties without the need for the Court’s intervention and that the United States reserves the right to file contempt charges against the ILWU and PMA based on its continuing investigation.

In Solidarity

“An Injury to One is an Injury to All.”

RAM/cwa39521