Northwest's motion requested searches of the hard drives of the office and home computers of union officials. Parties told to Restart Negotiations On January 11, Judge Frank ordered the union to refrain from encouraging any illegal action. Judge Frank pulled back his second order within a day, after being notified by the National Mediation Board that he had no jurisdiction. The Decision on Discovery On February 8th, Minnesota District Court Judge Boylan issued the order on discovery. The Union has filed grievances claiming none of the employee's sick calls were false.
Negotiations remain unsettled.
Union negotiators have recently asked federal mediators several times during meetings in Washington last week to release them from the talks, which would set in motion a 30-day countdown to a strike. Northwest requested searches of both employee work and home computers. Prior to Northwest's Airlines lawsuit, individual employees openly aired their frustrations regarding stalled negotiations on the union's website. Others expressed their views on unrelated matters. Some have argued that Judge Boylan's broad discovery order creates a chilling effect, discouraging employees from expressing their work related frustrations through electronic communications.