Jewish Labor Committee Organizes Boycott to Aid California Farm Strikers

The Jewish Labor Committee reported today it was helping to organize a nation-wide boycott against California table grapes as part of its campaign in support of efforts by farm workers at the Giumarra Corporation in California to obtain recognition of their union. A strike against the corporation by the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO. is now in Its eighth month.

A spokesman said that the JLC had organized a number of Jewish organizations for a concerted effort to persuade the New York metropolitan wholesaler of table grapes, Victor Joseph Company, to stop buying grapes from Giumarra. The New York firm handles most of the Giumarra grapes sold in this area.

The JLC regional offices in Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston and Minneapolis all are active in backing the organizing effort and in urging their members and consumers generally to boycott California grapes. In Detroit, the Michigan Committee to Aid Farm Workers, whose activities are being coordinated by the local JLC office, arranged a conference of union and community groups from 12 states to rally support for the farm workers. In Philadelphia, the JLC office co-sponsored a luncheon with the Negro Trade Union Leadership Council at which Cesar Chavez, the farm workers’ leader, was the speaker. More than 100 labor, civil rights and religious leaders attended the luncheon and heard a plea for the grapes boycott. In Boston, the JLC office helped to arrange a reception-luncheon for Mr. Chavez which was sponsored by and attended by Sen. Edward Kennedy. The JLC spokesman said the organization’s Los Angeles office was playing a major role in helping the farm workers and seeking support for their organizing drive.