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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  August 19, 1999

Contact:  Joe Drexler, PACE (615) 834-8590
          Gary Flowers, Rainbow/Push Coalition (773)373-3366
          Lane Windham, AFL/CIO (202) 637-3962

     AUGUST 19, WASHINGTON D.C. -- American 
corporations should treat workers fairly and stop 
workplace race and gender discrimination, Reverend Jesse 
Jackson asserted today as he announced that he and the 
Rainbow/Push Coalition are endorsing the AFL-CIO boycott 
against Crown Central Petroleum gasoline.

     "We are asking consumers not to spend their dollars
at Crown gasoline stations and convenience stores, until
Crown stops its abuse of workers and addresses its race
and gender problems," said Jackson.

     AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, "We applaud
Rev. Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition for the
endorsement, which sends an unmistakable message to Crown
- stop your attack on working families and stop your
discrimination, or we will not buy your products." 

     In February 1996, Crown forcibly removed 252 union
members from its Pasadena, Texas, refinery after workers
refused to strike. The company wanted to eliminate most
of the seniority provisions in the labor agreement and
increase the use of contract labor. This
disproportionately affected the one-third minority work
force, according to locked-out Crown worker Alvin
Freeman. After the lockout, Crown replaced union workers
with nonunion contract employees and virtually eliminated
African-Americans from its hourly workforce.

     In 1997, a group of African-American and women
employees filed a lawsuit against Crown, alleging
violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
at the company's Pasadena and Tyler, Texas, refineries.
Submitted as evidence were several racist and sexist
leaflets reportedly distributed by Crown supervisors. One
of these, a so-called application for "Jesse Jackson's
Staff Positions," asks such questions as "length of last
jail term" and "number of convenience stores robbed."

     Crown also has been sued for environmental
violations. In August 1998, the company received the
largest air pollution fine in Texas history for
contaminating the largely low-income and Latino
neighborhoods surrounding its Pasadena refinery.

     Jackson's endorsement of the boycott against Crown
gasoline -- sold at company-owned chains operating under
the names of Crown, Fast Fare and Zippy Mart along the
Atlantic Coast and in Alabama -- is the latest in a
series of boycott and campaign endorsers. Other groups
signing onto the campaign include the eight-million-
member National Baptist Convention USA; the National
Black Caucus of State Legislators; the NAACP; the
Baltimore City Council; Georgia Association of Black
Elected Officials; ministerial alliances in several major
cities; the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and three
national environmental groups.

     In its latest filing with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, Crown admitted for the first time
that the campaign and boycott "could have a materially
adverse impact on the company's future results of
operations." Crown suffered a 7.4% drop in per station
gasoline volume according to its second quarter earnings
statement, while nationwide gasoline consumption
increased.

     This is the second time Jackson has publicly taken
on an oil company at the gasoline pump. In late 1996 and
early 1997, he threatened a boycott against Texaco if it
did not address charges of discrimination lodged against
it.

     The locked-out Crown workers are represented by the
Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, and Energy workers
International Union (PACE), which has conducted a fierce
campaign against the company.  PACE has 320,000 members
nationwide.