Boycott Farah

THE FARAH PANTS Company has purchased an advertisement elsewhere in this newspaper which seeks to rebut charges leveled against the Company by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union, various Chicano groups, and a variety of religious leaders.

In keeping with The Crimson's policy of attempting to air all sides of important questions, the ad has been run, although we regard it as a feeble attempt to bolster Farah's untenable position.

The boycott of all Farah products must continue until the Company's workers win what they consider a fair settlement of their legitimate grievances. We commend the Harvard Coop and the J. August company for ending their orders of Farah products, and we urge them to take their present stocks of Farah products off the shelves until the dispute is settled.

The Farah ad cites "an above average wage scale" as one of the benefits that accrue to fortunate Farah workers. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers, in response, have said that Farah has testified before the National Labor Reltions Board that it pays an average hourly wage of $1.80. The ad cites no figures, so it must be assumed that the Company has a nineteenth century definition for average wage.

The other points in the ad are similarly vague. "Opportunities for advancement," "modern manufacturing plants," and "dignity and respect" all look nice in print, but these items were evidently not abundant enough to prevent 3000 Farah workers from walking out 15 months ago.

Moreover, the boycott triggered by that initial walkout has spread from coast-to-coast, forced down the price of Farah stock, and clearly shoved the Company up against the wall. How else to explain the surprising appearance of this ad in a newspaper some 2000 miles from the Company's plants in El Paso, Texas.

The ad's reference to "freedom of choice" is its most obnoxious aspect. In practice, this phrase means the freedom for the Farah ownership to choose that their employees not unionize.

Union-busting is a particularly repellent strategy the rich and the powerful use to retain their supremacy. This strategy must continue to be blocked. Boston's Humberto Cardinal Medieros and the leaders of the Massachusetts state federations of Jews and Protestants have endorsed the boycott. We urge that the boycott continue.