NEWS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
PACE INT'L. UNION, AFL-CIO/CLC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  August 3, 1999
CONTACT:  Gladys Haley
            Crown Boycott Coordinator
            770/994-3415 
          Joe Drexler
            Special Projects Director 
            615/831-6285

     Nashville, Tenn.--The boycott and campaign 
against Crown gasoline stations and Zippy Mart and Fast 
Fare convenience stores along the Atlantic Coast
and throughout the South continue to expand with
recent endorsements coming from prominent groups and
politicians in Georgia and South Carolina.

     Within the last two weeks, the campaign garnered
support from the Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan
Atlanta, Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials,
Mayor Chuck Burris of Stone Mountain (Ga.), Atlanta
City Councilwoman Mable Thomas, Georgia State Senator
Gloria Butler, Georgia State Representative Tyrone Brooks
and South Carolina State Senator Robert Ford.

     A resolution is also pending before the Atlanta
City Council.

     The AFL-CIO initiated the Crown boycott after
Crown Central Petroleum forcibly removed 252 union
workers
in February, 1996 from its main oil refinery in
Pasadena, Texas, when workers refused to accept all of
Crown's contract demands.  The boycott has escalated
steadily throughout Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama
and the Carolinas, and informational leafleting at Crown
gasoline stations and convenience stores has
increased dramatically.

     Last week, Crown reported an $11 million loss for
the 2nd Quarter of 1999 and a decline of 7.4% in its per
store gasoline volume.

     Crown has been sued under Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act for "creating a hostile workplace" and
denying promotions to women and African-Americans. 
Crown supervisors are charged with distributing racist
leaflets and cartoons.  One leaflet, parading as an
application for "Jesse Jackson's Staff Positions," asks
"length of last jail term" and "number of convenience
stores robbed."  African-American workers, who once
comprised about 30 percent of the work force at Crown's
Pasadena refinery, were virtually eliminated as a result
of the lockout.  Replacement workers are almost entirely
white males.

     Stone Mountain Mayor Chuck Burris issued a
proclamation that states:  "The people of good will of
the
City of Stone Mountain condemn the policies of Crown
Central Petroleum, which continues a brutal lockout
against the members and families of PACE Local 4-227,
continues to pollute the environment and maintains
workplaces which are not free of discrimination."

     "The public is recognizing in ever-increasing
numbers that the struggle against Crown is both a civil
rights of these key political leaders and organizations,"
said PACE Executive Vice President Robert Wages.

     Other organizations endorsing the campaign against
Crown include the National Baptist Convention USA
Inc., Baltimore City Council, Greater Birmingham
Ministries, National Black Caucus of State Legislators,
NAACP, Southern Organizing Committee for Economic and
Social Justice, Baltimore Interdenominational
Ministerial Alliance, Sierra Club, Environmental Defense
Fund and Natural Resources Defense Council.

     Crown owns and operates gasoline stations and
convenience stores in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.  PACE International
Union is headquartered in Nashville and has 320,000
members.

     For further information, see the Crown Boycott web
site at www.crownboycott.org.