Farah pants boycott fails
to crease Lincoln sales
:
I i 111
j.;t v" '
By Tam Mehuron
Despite favorable union publicity concerning
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
American (ACWA) boycott of Farah
Manufacturing Co., no Lincoln stores have been
affected, according to Paul Hartman, Farah
sales representative.
The ACWA's efforts to unionize the world's
largest manufacturer of men's slacks have failed
thus far, he said. In Nebraska the effect of the
union's efforts have been counterproductive,
according to Ron Preston, Magee's sales
manager.
Farah slacks sales haven't decreased at Miller
and Paine and Brandeis stores although a recent
article in the Lincoln Gazette encouraged
consumers not to buy the slacks.
Because Farah is the largest garment
manufacturing company in the Southwest,
ACWA views Farah employes as a potential
source for increased union membership and
finances, Preston said.
However, most Farah employes don't want
to become union members because they have so
much more now than a union could provide,
the sales manager added.
Employe fringe benefits include a free
medical clinic, free medicine, eye glasses at cost
and non-contributory profit-sharing and
pension plans.
Health and life insurance plans that are
non-contributory after the first year, vacations
and a company lunch room offering substantial
meals for 75 cents are provided also according
to Hartman.
The Gazette reported that the workers are
paid $1.80 to $2.25 an hour, pay that the
Gazette called very low wages for factory
work.
if ' t VM ,,.... i. .on jiU.
riowever, a union poster indicated that 3,000
were supporting the union.
To become the bargaining agent for a
company's employes, a union must have the
signatures of 30 per cent of the total work
force on union cards requesting the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct an
election by secret ballot.
The National Labor Relations Act states that
more than 50 per cent of the eligible employes
shall determine the outcome. The union
receiving the majority vote then becomes the
bargaining agent, according to the NLRB.
The ACWA has failed for four years to
obtain the necessary quota of signatures to call
for an NLRB election, according to company
statistics.
To offset this failure, the union and the
AFL-CIO called a nationwide boycott against
the company, Hartman said.
In an effort to settle the matter, Farah twice
has requested the NLRB to hold plantwide
elections at two plants in San Antonio and one
in Victoria, Tex. However, if the ACWA
preferred, Farah would agree to company wide
elections.
The ACWA, however, has refused
consistently to agree to such elections. Hartman
said "The union actually filed a letter with the
NLRB saying that the ACWA does not in fact
represent anyone in Farah."
Hartman said the 1,200 union supporters
wanted to choose for 10,000 Farah workers,
and that this violated the majority over
minority policy of Farah.
More complications have developed as a
result of recent church involvement at the El
Paso plant. Roman Catholic Bishop Sidney M.
Metzger said he supports the Farah union
because "they are poor workers and if I had
refused, they would have been bitterly
disillusioned with the church."
The bishop's support of the pro-union
minority resulted in a letter from 8,000
Catholic Farah workers, protesting his action.
The letter, which was printed in the El Paso
Times, read in part: "Your talk to the workers
who walked out from their jobs at Farah was
disheartening to all of us Catholics, who are
working at Farah and who know the true
facts.. .I am certain that there is no one in El
Paso who has tried as hard to get good twnr;'
and improve working cond;,;
employees as WiM c
uie unionized in other factories..."
Farah management first learned of the
workers' action when the letter apiJoared in the
newspaper, according to Paul Poling, a United
Presbyterian Minister who investigated the
Farah situation and wrote a booklet about it,
. called "For the Defense of Farah Workers."
Hartman said that anyone who wants to is
encouraged to visit the Farah plants. The
bishop was invited to visit the plant to
investigate it, but he refused, according to
Poling.
Astronaut Edgar Mitchell
Astronaut to probe
'inner space' in talk
The sixth man to walk on the moon, Edgar Mitchell, will
speak on "Exploring Inner Space" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in
the Nebraska Union.
Mitchell conducted an ESP experiment during the
Apollo 14 moon mission and, since his retirement from the
Navy in 1972, has embarked on a new career.
He founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Palo
Alto, Calif., in 1973. Noetic refers to consciousness. The
institute is dedicated to scientific research in the processes
of human consciousness, and educational activities designed
to expand awareness and release human potential.
Mitchell's talk is part of the Nebraska Union Talks and
Topics Committee's Human Potential Series. The series,
being sponsored in conjunction with the United Ministries
in Higher Education, concludes Oct. 11 with an address at
' 1 ' 1 -- . l-r.inrjy and
hoskens criticizes
UNO fee use story
Hartman termed the
'misunderstanding in the church."
n c id e nt
Both Preston and Hartman noted that since
Nebraska is not "union country", there has
been little publicity about the Farah situation.
The chancellor of the
University of Nebraska at
Omaha, Ron Roskens, has
accused UNO's student
newspaper, the Gateway, of
"distortions" which he said
appeared in a recent issue of
the newspaper.
However, in an editorial in
Wednesday's Gateway, the
newspaper said the chancellor's
"attempted refutation of a
Gateway story concerning
purchases of various
items amounted
but hollow
The Fastest - Toughest - Roughest - Most Exciting ACTION PACKLI) Sport!
PROFESSIONAL
i i r
$3.50 yTw-rtw-i
Tickets on Sale at
Pershing Auditorium
Adults
Students 14 years
& younger $2.50
UNL Hockey Club
vs
UNO Hockey Club
immediately following
Knights game.
entertainment
to nothing
rhetoric."
The Gateway story in
question disclosed that UNO
purchased $7,880 worth of
china, silverware and a van
with UNO student fee money.
At a meeting of the UNO
student senate, Roskens,
holding a copy of the
newspaper, pointed to a front
page story headlined,
"Student-paid fees buy china,
silver, van." Then he said, "It
opens up an impression that
there have been some
underhanded activities."
He continued, "We have no
objection to criticism. In fact,
we expect it. Neither do I want
to give the impression that we
are somehow trying to put a
clamp on the Gateway. But
one would get the impression
from this story that the china,
the silver and the van were
purchased for my
convenience."
He said that the university
has not provided a home for
him as many other universities
do for then chancellors, and
said, "We are under no
obligation to use our home for
university purposes."
He said that he and his wife
spend much time and work in
their entertaining efforts for
the university.
Roskens iIkmi referred to
several poinis in the Gateway
account of his expenditures
which he said were distortions.
First, he said the story
created the impiession that the
price of the things purchased
was exoibitant. He explained
that the $1,800 china was
purchased at a 30 per cent
discount.
Second, he said the article
gave the impression that the
catering van was to be used
only for transportating food to
his home, when actually it will
be used in many other areas.
See Gateway, page 7.
page 2
daily nebraskan
monday, October 8, 1973
