A federal judge in Manhattan has rejected a federal prosecutor's call to hold the carpenters' union in contempt, saying it had not violated a 1994 agreement intended to fight corruption in the union. The United States attorney's office and many carpenters argued that the union had agreed to several important changes in a job referral system that improperly favored construction contractors.
See "Judge Upholds Agreement on Union Carpenter Referrals", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, January 17, 2006