LONGVIEW, Washington (From The Daily News) -- Six months after mill workers walked out, a federal judge is considering whether KapStone acted legally when it fired four striking union pickets.

A hearing into the cases ended last Tuesday in Portland, but an administrative law judge isn't expected to rule for another two months.

KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. says it fired the workers for "egregious misconduct" during the walkout, such as blocking traffic or acting violently to intimidate contractors and security guards.

Attorneys for the National Labor Relations Board, arguing on behalf of the union, say the workers picketed peacefully and at times had to defend themselves against violence from contractors.

Federal labor law protects striking union workers' jobs unless they engage in misconduct. Union officials say that's not what happened during the walkout.

"We look at this as a tactic on the company's part to intimidate the workforce," said John Minor, bargaining board member for Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers.

Nearly 800 members of AWPPW Local 153 returned to work on Sept. 8 after a 12-day strike, and a deal has yet to be struck.

Union officials filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB in September after the company fired union members James Froberg, Jon Bouchard, Melvin Elben, Mike Allen and Steve Blanchard.

NLRB Regional Director Ronald Hooks said there isn't enough evidence to support KapStone's accusations. Hooks wrote that KapStone was attempting to "discourage employees from engaging in these (union) activities."

Earlier this year, KapStone reached a settlement with the AWPPW over nine unfair labor practice charges, most of them unrelated to the firings. Part of the settlement was to rehire Allen, but Froberg, Bouchard, Elben and Blanchard are still without work.

KapStone attorney, Jim Shore, told the judge that some protesters threw tacks in to the road and shouted racial slurs and taunts at disabled employees crossing the picket line (although he was not referring to the five fired workers specifically).

"Women were called vile, misogynist names. ... One woman had a car tailgate her so closely she couldn't see the license plate," Shore said.

Shore said Blanchard "engaged in two separate and unprovoked acts of violence" -- kicking and denting a contractor's car and later attacking another contractor's S.U.V. Shore said protesters "swarmed" the SUV, blocked it from passing and smashed picket signs against the windows, and that Blanchard jumped on the hood.

"The contractor drove away to escape the erupting actions," Shore said.

The contractor, 35, of Alabama, later was reportedly cited on suspicion of third-degree driving with a suspended license. The sheriff's office hasn't released his name.

NLRB attorney Elizabeth DeVleming said Blanchard acted in self defense after the contractor drove recklessly and failed to stop for picketers.

DeVleming said after Blanchard jumped on the car, the SUV accelerated, propelling "him several feet in the air." Blanchard reportedly went to the emergency room with a head injury, but he left without treatment when he realized KapStone had cut off his medical insurance, according to the union.

In the other incident, DeVleming said Blanchard reflexively kicked a truck when it failed to stop.

"This alleged 'pattern of violence' was a split-second kick to a contractor's truck ... it left nothing more than the imprint of a half a gym shoe on a dirty truck," DeVleming said.

For the other three employees, KapStone accused them of attempting to block a truck from leaving the mill.

"This truck driver was essentially held hostage for 20 minutes until a Cowlitz County sheriff's deputy asked them to move," he said. "It was disorderly conduct" that violated a temporary restraining order imposed by Cowlitz Superior Court Judge Stephen Warning.

DeVleming said the workers stood in an area designated by law enforcement officers for picketing, but they moved 3 feet to the side when asked to do so anyway.

"There was not even a police report filed over the incident," DeVleming said. "Picketers were in the same location there daily."

She argued the employees' firings were "in retaliation for their participation in the strike."

While workers await the judge's decision, a GoFundMe page started in January has collected $2,000 for the fired workers.

"No one should have to go (through) this and have the possibility of losing what they have worked for all their lives just so the company can be greedy," supporters wrote on the GoFundMe page.

Yet KapStone said it rightfully fired the four employees.

"Their acts were intended to intimidate and harass KapStone contractors," Shore said. "It had a chilling effect on ... employees' willingness to go to work during the strike."