Ibo Says Strike Has Little Effect on Sales; Shapp Refuses to Cross Picket Line

The Israel Bond Organization claimed today that the strike of 500 employes now in its fourth week “has had very little effect so far in reducing Bond sales.” A spokesman for the Bond Organization told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that according to unofficial estimates, at least $2 million in bonds were sold at functions in 19 cities outside of New York yesterday. The spokesman confirmed reports that Gov. Milton J. Shapp of Pennsylvania refused to cross the picket line to attend a Bond dinner in Philadelphia last night at which he was to be the principal speaker. According to the IBO spokesman, the Philadelphia Bond office had advised Gov. Shapp, who is Jewish, that there was a strike and that he would be “excused” from attending the function because “we didn’t want to embarrass him politically.” A spokesman for Local 1707 of the Community and Social Agency Employes Union, AFL-CIO, told the JTA that 500 people were expected at the Philadelphia Bond dinner, the major function of the current campaign in that city, but only 200 showed up. The spokesman said he got the figure from the pickets. The IBO spokesman claimed that only 300 were expected that 280 attended and that $526,000 worth of bonds were sold. He was unable to confirm or deny a claim by the union spokesman that only 25 persons showed up for a Bond affair in Long Beach, Calif. yesterday at which 100 were expected. The union and the Bond management are continuing their negotiations through the New York State Mediation Service. A mediation session is scheduled for tomorrow. A session held last Thursday failed to produce progress toward a settlement, the union spokesman told the JTA.