Chavez Calls Strike Moratorium

The United Farm Workers' Organizing Committee (UFWOC) has suspended its national lettuce boycott for 30 days.

The moratorium on the boycott was announced by Cesar Chavez, leader of the UFWOC, after George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO, and Frank E. Fitzsimmons, president of the Teamsters, agreed to submit disputes between the two national unions to binding arbitration. The UFWOC, a member of the AFL-CIO, has been challenging the jurisdiction of the Teamsters to represent lettuce pickers.

The agreement also provides that the Teamsters must annul all contracts with lettuce growers covering field workers. Chavez plans to begin negotiations immediately with the 75 growers in the Salinas Valley of California who signed contracts with the Teamsters last summer.

At Harvard

Organizing at Harvard to demand that the University buy only UFWOC lettuce began last October with a series of one-night boycotts of dining halls to dramatize the demands. After the boycotts, the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life voted to serve UFWOC lettuce exclusively.