Farah Knuckles Under

Willie Farah swore with 19th century capitalistic fervor that he would never allow a union in his Farah Manufacturing Co. plants and kept that vow through not only a 93-week strike but a nationwide boycott against his products: men's slacks. Yet last week he sat down to breakfast with officials of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in New York City and capitulated totally. He agreed to recognize the union as sole bargaining agent for all employees of the El Paso-based firm, rehire all strikers, and begin immediate negotiations for a wage-and-benefit contract. Said Farah: "It's the only way to go."

What changed his mind? The boycott, organized by the A.C.W.A. and vigorously supported by high-powered politicians and even the Roman Catholic bishop of El Paso, turned Farah's 1971 profit of $6 million into losses of $8.3 million in 1972. Farah stock, soaring at $56 the day the strike was called, closed at $8 the Friday before the settlement. Quite as important, National Labor Relations Board and court decisions during the long battle consistently favored the strikers. When the NLRB ruled early last month that Farah must let union organizers enter his plants (TIME, Feb. 11), he apparently decided that further resistance was futile. He permitted a poll, and 67% of Farah's workers voted for the union. Indeed, stories spread that Willie quietly passed word to the workers that he would not be disappointed to see the union win in order to end the strike. A company official claims that the majority of the workers were opposed to the union but went along out of loyalty to Farah. One union official asserts: "We suspect Farah told his people it was O.K. to sign up."

It was a classic knuckling under to a classic labor confrontation. As company president, the 54-year-old Farah originally saw no reason why his workers needed a union. After all, he claimed, he paid well ($1.70 an hour to start, lO-c- above the federal minimum wage) and provided a clean, bright, air-conditioned factory. On the other side, the Amalgamated was eager to organize Farah Manufacturing as an opening wedge to crack the dozens of clothing manufacturers in the Southwest that bask in a non-union atmosphere. Union organizers were able to capitalize on a genuine labor grievance. Farah's mostly Mexican-American workers complained that they were held to unreasonable production quotas that often forced them to cut short their lunch hours and skip rest-room breaks. The battle was joined in May 1972, when Farah dismissed six workers, allegedly for union-organizing activities. About 2,000 Farah workers walked off their jobs in sympathy; the Amalgamated came out in support of the strike and later started organizing the boycott.

Tempting Targets. Both sides are clearly relieved by the settlement. Besides its toll on the company, the struggle depleted the Amalgamated treasury by almost $5 million. "You are going to see a grown man cry if we have to do that all over again," says one union official. But the union emerges from the battle as a powerful new force in the Southwest. Among the next tempting targets are Haggar Co., Mann Manufacturing Co., Hicks-Ponder and Levi Strauss & Co. With Farah, supposedly the toughest opponent of them all, now having joined its camp, Amalgamated officials hope that a domino effect will knock all the other plants into its organizing basket.

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