Resolution Adopted by the CCAR
J.P. Stevens Company Boycott
Adopted by the CCAR at the 88th Annual Convention of
the Central Conference of American Rabbis
or subsequent to that Convention in 1977
We regard as basic the right of employees to organize for collective bargaining in
order to attain economic justice and safe and humane conditions of work.
The condition of the textile workers at the J. P. Stevens Company is such as to command
our concern.
It has come to our attention that the J. P. Stevens Company has been judged guilty
of unfair labor practices by the National Labor Relations Board on fifteen occasions
within the past thirteen years, more than any other company in the United States,
and that these convictions have been sustained on appeal eight times by the Circuit Court
and three times by the United States Supreme Court.
We have, therefore, come to the considered judgment that the J. P. Stevens Company
has refused to recognize the legal right of its workers to organize and bargain.
Taking note that a boycott of this company’s products, addressed to consumers across
the nation, is under way to obtain recognition and the right to collective bargaining,
we endorse and support the endeavor of the employees of the J. P. Stevens Company
to achieve economic justice and humane and safe working conditions through collective
bargaining.
We urge that the boycott of the J. P. Stevens products be supported until such time
as collective bargaining takes place in good faith.
Members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis are, therefore, encouraged to
support and strengthen the Stevens boycott.