Wholesaler May File Suit To End Anti-Gallo Protest

A major distributor for the Harvard Provision Co.--a Square liquor store which has been boycotted and picketed for refusing to honor a nation-wide Gallo wine boycott--said yesterday he is considering legal action to end the picketing.

Jack Pappas, head of C. Pappas distributors company, said yesterday that "an injunction is being prepared for filing," and he has "a suitcase full of complaints" from retailers who have complained about picketing.

John M. Doukas, an attorney for Pappas, said yesterday that he will discuss the case with his client this morning.

"We have assembled a mass of information and evidence in this case, and we will take whatever legal action we think is proper and in my client's best interest," he said.

A group of 70 demonstrators picketed outside the Provision Co. on Mt. Auburn St. Saturday night, urging customers to stay out of the store until the management takes Gallo off the shelves.

The United Farm Workers Union claims the E. & J. Gallo Winery of Modesto, Calif., signed unfair contracts with the Teamsters union in 1973. Gallo claims the contract was legal and fair, and states that the current UFW-sponsored boycott of their wines is unjust.

Several Harvard groups--including the New American Movement, the Center for United Labor Action, and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee--have picketed at the Harvard Provision Co. for several months.

Pappas and the Provision Co. management both say they think the boycott is unfair.

The liquor store's managers said yesterday in a formal statement, "Our customers will dictate what we will carry, not what we will not carry." They added they think the Gallo dispute is an inter-union problem.

The United Farm Workers claim that Varsity Liquor, Broadway Supermarket, Thrifty Liquor, Sage's and several other Cambridge liquor dealers have either taken Gallo off their shelves or will not order more when current stocks are depleted.

Mary M. Lassen '75, a member of NAM's UFW Support Committee, said yesterday the picketing groups will continue their protests.