Protestor Urge Dairy Firm Boycott

More than 30 students and striking employees of H.A. Hovey Corporation Harvard's main supplier of dairy products picketed in front of the Freshman Unions yesterday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., demanding that the University stop doing business with the Cambridge based distributor of institutional food.

The protesters distributed leaflets to passers by and marched in a circus for nearly 40 minutes, chanting alogans. They then heard two speeches, one by a student and one by a union organizer, that charged Hovey with union busting and called upon students to pressure Harvard into buying its dairy products elsewhere.

Employees of Hovey--which has since replaced the strikers--have been on strike since February 22 because of the company's refusal to permit them union representation. The dispute is now before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for arbitration.

The demonstration was the initial stage of a campaign designed to raise student awareness of the issue, said Thomas E. Canel '83, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and an organizer of the campaign.

He added that a campus-wide petition drive asking Harvard to change suppliers would continue and become more extensive next week.

As the major consumer of Hovey products, Harvard allows the firm to continue operating without recognizing the union, Canel said, adding, "There is a strong chance that if Harvard would stop buying from Hovey, (the company) a would be forced to allow a union election."

But Harvard has no intention of discontinuing its purchases, Benjamin H. Walcott, assistant director of food services, said yesterday.

'Business Concerns'

"We do business strictly on business concerns," Walcott added. He called Hovey a "reliable vendor," and said it would be inappropriate for him to penalize the company, particularly because the facts of the case were unclear.

Harvard could not affect Hovey's business even if it wanted to, said Vernum R. Mead, the company's treasurer. He explained that "the volume we do with other concerns is far greater" than their business with Harvard.

Hovey has unfairly fired four pro-union workers, threatened others with the loss of their benefits, and hired a union-busting law firm to extend the legal battle, according to Arthur Koustis, labor organizer for Local 592 of the United Food & Commercial Workers.

Mead called Koustis's charges "a distortion" and said Hovey had acted fully within its legal rights throughout the strike.