A bill to bar New Jersey firms from complying with the Arab boycott of Israel was signed into law last Friday by Gov. Brendan Byrne, who said the new measure reinforced the state’s stance of opposing all forms of discrimination. The state Civil Rights Commission, which will enforce the new law, has power to award triple damages to an ” aggrieved party.”
A spokesman for Ingersoll-Rand Co., a major producer of pumps, compressors and drills for international trade, said the new law was an “unnecessary” restriction on business and that it would cost New Jersey companies up to $500,000 a year in lost trade. The spokesman said Ingersoll-Rand has received backing for its stand since sponsoring newspaper advertising on May 9 denouncing the anti-boycott bill.
The spokesman said the company calculated that the impact of the new law on state firms doing business in the Middle East might affect 25,000 jobs in New Jersey. Gov. Byrne responded that ” you cannot put a dollar sign in front of a basic moral concept. The bill establishes a principle.”
REMINDER: There will be no Daily News Bulletin dated May 30 due to Memorial Day, a postal holiday.
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