Freshmen Stage Mock Funeral In Support of Lettuce Boycott

Twenty freshmen performed a mock funeral yesterday to protest A&P's sale of lettuce not picked by members of the United Farm Workers Union (UFW).

The demonstrators, carrying a coffin which bore the A&P insignia, paraded through the Union and around the Yard. A flag bearing the inscription "Long Live the [UFW] Strike" led the procession, while a makeshift band played "Taps" and various other funeral marches.

Grad Students Join In

Fifty graduate student picketers joined the procession as it rounded University Hall but broke away as the group headed towards Memorial Church.

The demonstrators, who passed out leaflets explaining their views on A&P policies and denouncing the Teamsters, support a UFW drive to boycott A&P lettuce.

William L. Durette '76, one of the organizers of the mock funeral, said yesterday, "Harvard must become aware that the Farm Workers are boycotting A&P and are urging everyone else to do so."

A&P supplements its sale of UFW lettuce with lettuce picked by members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The Teamsters controls field labor for 70 per cent of lettuce picked in the U.S., while the UFW controls 15 per cent.

Not Legitimate

The UFW maintains that the Teamsters is not the legitimate union for farm workers. It bases its argument on a decision of the California State Supreme Court, which ruled last January that the Teamsters was blocking UFW efforts to unionize lettuce pickers.

The Court added that "a substantial number of field workers desired to be represented by the United Farm Workers and not by the Teamsters."

Last month A&P issued a statement declaring, "The dispute is between the Farm Workers and the Teamsters. We regret we cannot solve this dispute."