END GOVERNMENT BUSINESS WITH NLRB VIOLATORS

WHEREAS, the J.P. Stevens Company has consistently treated its employees with contempt; used intimidation, deceit and coercion to fight union representation; and acted in the most flagrant, inhuman and oppressive manner toward employees; and

WHEREAS, this company has openly violated rulings of the National Labor Relations Board and was found to be so infamous as to be described by Boyd Leedam, NLRB Chairman under President Eisenhower, as "so out of tune with a humane, civilized approach to industrial relations that it should shock even those least sensitive to honor, justice and decent treatment;," and

WHEREAS, the J.P. Stevens policy against decent treatment of its workers includes refusal to pay medical costs of serious and incapacitating injuries sustained in its factories; refusal to pay workmen's compensation; defiance of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in refusing to protect workers from hazards such as brown lung (byssionosis); dismissal of employees who've worked a lifetime in its plants, because of union activity or testifying before the NLRB as in the recent case of two workers at the Statesboro, Georgia factory; inciting racial conflict when other anti-union tactics fail; refusing a lunch hour; and

WHEREAS, as recently as 10 years ago AFL-CIO President George Meany urged President Johnson to order a halt to the awarding of government contracts to firms in violation of labor laws--specifically J.P. Stevens--and was told that "nothing in the law compels the Department of Defense to pay attention to the findings and directives of the NLRB;" and

WHEREAS, despite NLRB rulings which recognize the right to union representation and upholding of successful elections, the Stevens empire has yet to acknowledge union status or enter good faith bargaining:

RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO, AFT and the entire labor movement demand that legislation be formulated which would end government business with firms like J.P. Stevens, who stand first among the violators of labor laws; and

RESOLVED, that the current effort of the AFL-CIO Executive Council and its special committee of union presidents, in conjunction with the TWUA (Textile Workers Union of America) and the IUD (Industrial Union Department-AFL-ClO) be expanded to include not only Union organizing and contract for Stevens workers but media "blitzes" (advertisements) in the Southern, as well as Northern press, calling for total boycott of the entire line of Stevens products, including the subsidiaries. (Executive Council)