Invited papers: 2. “We didn’t have time to train the monkeys!” The 2002 Presidential Board of Inquiry on the work stoppage in the West Coast ports.

This paper contains a description of the measures that can be invoked for strikes deemed “national emergencies,” and the realities faced in their application. The Act’s statutory procedure, the 2002 Executive Order creating the Board of Inquiry for the ILWU West Coast lockout (of which Board the author was a member), and the Board’s report to the President are set forth in appendices.