LONGVIEW, Wash. -- A judge has issued a temporary restraining order in an effort to keep the peace along picket lines outside a Longview box plant.
The Daily News of Longview reports that on Tuesday a judge granted Illinois-based KapStone Paper and Packaging a three-day restraining order.
The order instructs all parties to "conduct themselves in a manner which does not cause a breach of the peace" and obey all laws within 500 yards of the KapStone mill gate. It imposes a 10-mph speed limit on the roads entering the plant.
On Friday the judge will hold a hearing on KapStone's request to limit the union to two pickets on either side of the mill-employee gate.
Local 153 of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers has been striking against the company since Aug. 27 over what they say are unfair labor practices.
Over the weekend, the dispute heated up after a picketer and a worker who crossed union lines were involved in an incident that sent Steve Blanchard, a 36-year-old St. Helens resident, to the hospital.
KapStone has accused strikers of smashing picket signs into vehicles entering the plant and taunting workers.
-- The Associagted Press