LABOR: Don’t Boycott–Buy!

The boycott of a struck firm’s products is a familiar union tactic. Last week 250 striking workers at Q-Tips Inc., a manufacturer of cotton-tipped swabs in Long Island City, N.Y., tried a neat switch-about.

Taking ads in New York City newspapers, the strikers, who want a 10¢-an-hour increase, pleaded: “Don’t boycott Q-Tips —buy them please. If your druggist says he is out, ask him to order more. We want you to create such a demand—such a backlog of orders—that our employer will have to open the plant and call us back to work.”