Grape Boycott
BC labour led a four-year boycott of non-union American grapes
http://www.labourheritagecentre.ca/grape-boycott/
Date Written: 2025-01-29
Publisher: BC Labour Heritage Centre
Year Published: 2025
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX25393
The United Farm Workers' (UFW) strike began in 1965 near Delano, California but soon spread. The strike became a struggle for justice and human rights that resounded globally. When the union called for a consumer boycott of non-union grapes, the BC labour movement responded by asking the public to stop buying California grapes.
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The BC Fed's leader, Ray Haynes thought the labour movement should take the boycott a step further. In 1969, the Federation declared non-union grapes "hot", and asked union members to refuse to handle them. This was an unprecedented escalation of the years-long boycott.
Haynes explained. "We said, 'Let’s not handle the grapes'. [The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union] had a couple of produce outfits and we stopped handling them. We convinced the Teamsters to stop handling the grapes. I think that was a contribution, quite a contribution to winning the strike."
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