Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday
Gallo boycott events in Bay Area and
cross country before July 21 talks
With contract negotiations between Gallo of Sonoma and the United Farm Workers set for July 21 in Santa Rosa, the UFW is stepping up its renewed boycott of Gallo wine with events organized across Northern California and the nation.
- Saturday, July 16, 2005. Dozens of top national religious leaders will join Sonoma County farm worker supporters and UFW President Arturo Rodriguez for a silent vigil and prayer service at Gallo of Sonoma’s exclusive MacMurray Ranch in Healdsburg. There some 2,000 wine connoisseurs will sample wine from 125 wineries and gourmet food prepared by 50 chefs as part of the Sonoma County Showcase sponsored by the Sonoma County Wineries Association. Organizing the 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. protest in Sonoma County is the National Farm Worker Ministry, made up of 40 national, state and local religious bodies, which is holding its annual board meeting nearby. The MacMurray Ranch is located at 9015 Westside Rd., Healdsburg, CA 95448.
- Sunday, July 17, 2005. Rodriguez will lead more than 1,000 farm workers and supporters in a “No Gallo!” march through the Mission and Castro districts and down Market St. in San Francisco. The march, attended by hundreds of farm workers from Napa, Sonoma and Monterey counties and the Central Valley, begins at 12 noon in Dolores Park, 18th St. and Mission St.
- Tuesday, July 19, 2005. UFW supporters in more than 20 cities across the U.S. will take part in the union’s first National Day of Internet Organizing for “No Gallo!” They will gather in the offices of unions and other groups to forward the Gallo boycott appeal to their personal address books and their organizations’ list serves. It will help the boycott go “viral” in communities across the nation and around the world. This is the first of many such events planned throughout North America. They will also help distribute “No Gallo!” buttons, bumper strips and posters.
Gallo of Sonoma workers and supporters promoted the boycott by marching from the company’s tasting room in Healdsburg to its winery in Santa Rosa on July 10. The second UFW boycott of Gallo wine in 32 years and the union’s first major nationwide boycott in more than two decades kicked off on June 14, when hundreds of farm workers and supporters rallied on the steps of San Francisco City Hall.
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