Apartheid Foes, Unions Open Shell Oil Boycott

An anti-apartheid group joined with the United Mine Workers and the AFL-CIO Thursday in launching a nationwide boycott against Shell Oil Co., calling on Americans to tear up their Shell credit cards and picket the corporation’s businesses.

Through its subsidiaries, Shell Oil’s parent company, Royal Dutch-Shell Group, has a variety of petroleum and mining interests in South Africa “which both enhance the repressive capabilities of the Pretoria government and contribute to its economic vitality,” declared a spokesman for the Free South Africa Movement, an anti-apartheid coalition.

In a statement, the coalition also accused Shell of shipping large quantities of crude oil to South Africa in violation of an international oil embargo against the country and of operating a coal mine there under “virtual slave labor” conditions.

The coalition, which led last year’s daily demonstrations outside the South African Embassy, organized the campaign against Shell in a shift of strategy to pressure U.S. corporations to end their ties with the white-minority regime.

“Royal Dutch-Shell’s supply of oil to the South African government is a strategic pillar supporting the apartheid regime,” United Mine Workers President Richard L. Trumka said. “This boycott gives all Americans an opportunity to strike a blow against oppression.”

Coalition leaders said plans for demonstrations outside Shell offices nationwide will be announced later this year. In addition to several unions, the boycott is being supported by the National Organization for Women.

Jack Doherty, a spokesman for Shell Oil, called the boycott “clearly misplaced and very unfair.”

“Not only is Shell Oil Co. unable to influence either Shell South Africa (the South African subsidiary of Royal Dutch-Shell), but the people who will get hurt the most are local American Shell dealers and jobbers, who individually lease and operate virtually all Shell Oil service stations in the country . . .,” Doherty said. “We have been an equal opportunity employer for many years and fully support equal opportunity for all races in our employment practices.”