ACTIVIST GUIDE TO ENGAGING WITH
YOUR LOCAL CHEVRON FRANCHISE GAS STATIONS

There are 8,300 Chevron- and Texaco-branded stations in the U.S. Only 365 of these are owned and operated directly by Chevron (all of these 365 corporate-owned stations are located in Oregon, Washington, and California, and visible on this map by AFSC). Chevron’s corporate gas stations locations are priority for pressure, but are only based in Oregon, Washington, and California. For these locations, you can see step-by-step tips for boycotting corporate-owned stations in this USCPR toolkit.

The rest of Chevron’s locations are franchises: independently owned and operated by an individual or business/cooperation, but branded to exclusively carry Chevron's gas and products. If you don’t see Chevron-owned stations in your area, then looking at franchises to target is a tenable strategy, and they can be found in: Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska, and Hawaii. They won’t appear on the map above, but are on Chevron’s MAP OF GAS STATIONS IN THE U.S. (or see the links on this page for worldwide gas stations). The toolkit below illuminates strategy and tactics specific to franchise stations:

For Chevron-branded franchise gas stations:

Asks of Station Owners:

1. Ask them to put up a sign in support of Chevron pulling out of apartheid Israel. This may only be viable in cities with friendlier political climates. Signs for printing are included in the materials section.  
2. Ask the owners to sign on to a letter to Chevron from franchisees demanding that Chevron end its business in apartheid Israel. Chevron is putting all of its franchisees at risk, legally and financially, through its continued activity in Israel. Once this letter reaches a critical mass of signatories, it will be sent to Chevron. We can guarantee that the names on the letter would not be made public in any way if that is preferred, but we will send the letter with their names privately to Chevron at a future campaign moment.

Tactics to reach Gas Station Owners

Start off by approaching owners in good faith; present the facts about Chevron’s complicity in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians and in violating other communities’ rights, and explain that you are part of a global campaign to pressure Chevron to cut all of its contracts with apartheid Israel. SAMPLE SCRIPT HERE. Then discuss the asks above (#1 is the top level ask).

See this guidance from Dov Baum of AFSC on lessons from gas station visits in CA. Below many of these lessons are synthesized alongside other tactics ideas for what to do if your asks are refused. See the following section, FAQ, for more on strategy.

1. Get in touch with the franchise owner via persistent presence and making your request respectfully: Try asking workers when they come in, visiting the gas station regularly, and leaving a letter with a request to connect and your phone number.
   
2. When talking to a franchise owner, make in person contact with them and center the conversation around the facts about Chevron in Palestine. Once you get in contact, try to assess where they stand. Share with them that Chevron is extracting gas off the shores of Israel/Palestine, making it a major partner in Israeli energy apartheid and in the military siege of Gaza. You can use the information from the campaign fact sheet, but do discuss anything “boycott” related, as that may end all discussion and push them away. Do not continue the conversation at the given moment if they seem unsupportive/oppositional. If they are receptive, follow up with the two asks above. If they’re unsure, ask what support they would need from the community to make that commitment.

3. If your demands are refused, THEN stage a march, bike or car caravan from one gas station to another raising your demands. Make banners, print out fliers and hand them out to passersby, have climate groups and other human rights groups give speeches at the gas station, in addition to speeches about Palestine. Deliver a letter or meeting request to the managers.
   
4. If they refuse to meet or still refuse your demands, THEN raise the stakes with tactics like boycott picketing. Find roles, guidance, handouts, and chants in this toolkit.
   
5. If you still haven’t won your demands, THEN assess if your target is still moveable. If it is, you can also raise the stakes by scaling up the boycott of Chevron in your community by organizing houses of worship, community organizations, and small businesses to pledge to boycott Chevron, and increasing the frequency of pickets

Don’t have a Chevron branded gas station near you?

Chevron sells consumer products (like lubricants and coolants) under its Delo, Havoline, ISOCLEAN, Techron, and VARTECH brands, at thousands of retailers and auto shops across the country.

1. Find retailers selling products near you by using Chevron’s search tool.
2. Flier using this gas station products flier

FAQs

Who do we contact for support with:

1. Getting advice on approaching gas station owners:

1. Attend BDS office hours with AFSC, every Tuesday or Thursday--they can speak from personal experience!
2. Join Boycott Chevron regular grassroots coalition calls: Contact DSA organizers or Leah (Leah@uscp.org) from USCPR for an invitation

2. Seeing if our local gas station has signed the letter: email olivia@bdsmovement.net 
3. Understand our rights when we go to gas stations, whether for conversations or pickets: Every jurisdiction is different, but in general understand that the sidewalk is public property whereas the station is private property and subject to more restrictive laws, such as trespassing laws, so there may be possible legal consequences if you don’t leave when asked by the establishment. Contact a local movement lawyer such as via the National Lawyer’s Guild’s local chapter in your area.

Do we know of anyone who has succeeded in getting a sign-on to the gas station owners letter through canvassing?

• There was a success case in early March in Florida: Organizers successfully negotiated with two store owners to meet some of their demands. Both store owners signed on to the letter to Chevron’s CEO, and one store owner put up the campaign sign in the store window. However, neither agreed to sign the pledge to not renew contracts with Chevron, and they argued it was because they’re distributors, not the owners of the store itself. This led to organizers shifting their pressure on distributors moving forward, and helped campaign organizers understand that disaffiliation is a somewhat far-off goal compared with the support-related asks of the letter & displaying the sign.

• In terms of strategy, these victories came after several attempts of contacting the owners. Building rapport with a store worker over multiple visits is what finally allowed organizers to get in direct contact with the station owner.
• Additionally, protests help bring the owner to the store quicker. In this case, the store owner came in and was told that a nearby store had agreed to sign on to the letter, which caused the owner to hear the organizers out and eventually sign as well.
• This case shows that one victory can help set up the next one.

• History teaches us the successes we can reach with mass organizing over time: In the late 1980s, thousands of people were taking targeted action to end the multinational company profits flowing from apartheid, and Shell Oil was a major target. Consumers boycotted, community groups hosted boycott pickets, and local governments and trade unions terminated their contracts with Shell such that by the late 1980s Shell’s share of the UK gas market fell by nearly 7%. Learn more here or watch Have You Heard from Johannesburg: The Bottom Line.

Why does the Boycott Chevron campaign recommend focusing our asks on support (letter sign-ons, posting signs) from station owners rather than disaffiliation?

• Boycott Chevron recommends focusing on support rather than disaffiliation because many owners rely on their affiliation with Chevron, and can also be on multi-year contracts with Chevron. Disaffiliation from Chevron is more of a long term goal once we as campaign organizers have won support from a large number of station owners.
• A more achievable goal is to get owners and the public to be educated and on our side. A campaign cannot get off the ground if people are not educated and/or in support of Palestine. It is important to appeal to owners before you ask them to boycott; meet owners where they are. Some owners may be educated on Chevron’s connection with genocide and others may not.

How can we prepare our group members to be effective at this particularly sensitive type of canvassing conversation with gas station owners?

• Run a training (slides, script) to prepare organizers to reach out to gas stations, including discussing the strategy, practicing a script, and discussing what seems effective and not.
• Additionally, debrief every attempt to go out to reflect on what’s needed.
• Contact: Olivia@bdsmovement.net with questions

If we make the demand and get a no or are ignored, when is the time to escalate? How do we maintain our leverage and not just push them away? Should we escalate if franchise owners are not responding or should we move to a different station?

• If they refuse to get on your side, that’s a strategic time to protest and picket.
• If you’re ignored, first try reaching out to the workers consistently, come daily or weekly, etc., then escalate when it’s clear that you’re being ignored intentionally then you can start protesting and picketing.
• However, if/when you are flat out told no or simply can’t get a response, think about what’s causing the no: is it inadequate leverage or simply lack of awareness? This can also be very situational based on how many stations are in your county, where your owners stand, how much knowledge the public has, etc. If you need specific guidance, it’s recommended that you reach out and let us know the background of your situation.

What are our rights to engage with gas station owners and staff on their property? If asked to leave, what’s the consequence if we don’t leave?

• Ask a lawyer for details about your area, such as the National Lawyer’s Guild’s local chapter in your area. In general, consider the difference between organizing an action in a public (ex- picket on the sidewalk) vs. private space (ex- trying to have a meeting with the franchise owner on the property of their gas station).

Where does fighting Chevron’s complicity in causing clim ate change fit into our outreach to gas station owners and consumers?

• Gas station owners are bought into oil & gas, and boycotting Chevron and sending consumers to another gas station does not meaningfully reduce harmful fossil fuel emissions. So, this remains a more difficult vein of the Chevron campaign strategy to bring in climate & environmental justice organizers. If this is your primary angle for the campaign, consider strategies that focus on isolating Chevron or harming its brand- see the Chevron Toolkit section 1. Locations: Institutions/Events that Accept Chevron Sponsorship & Local Governments (or Universities) Invested in Chevron
• You can still encourage environmental and climate justice organizers to plug in to your efforts via teach-ins, shared messaging, and shared education, and you can bring messaging/signs on Chevron’s environmental crimes to pickets. See this fact sheet 3rd section and this Amazon Watch report for introductory information on Chevron’s environmental crimes and the multi-decades efforts for accountability by environmental, climate, and indigenous groups.

MATERIALS:

Materials for organizing to get support of franchises:

Flyer: Flyer for gas station marches

Training for gas station canvassers: slides, script

Sign for hanging inside supportive gas stations: PDF HERE

Letter from Chevron franchisees to Chevron demanding that Chevron end its business in apartheid Israel: GOOGLE FORM SIGN ON HERE

Excerpt: “As gas station owners, we are also concerned about the legal and financial risks of continuing to be associated with Chevron. We are concerned about the reputational and financial damage of potential boycotts, protests and pickets at our locations due to Chevron’s involvement in grave human rights violations worldwide.

We are calling on the Chevron brand to work to protect its independently owned and operated Chevron branded stations by immediately ending these activities that violate international law and universal human rights principles.”

Long-term tactic for support franchise owners:

Pledge for other gas station owners: GOOGLE FORM SIGN ON HERE

“As gas station owners that are not currently affiliated with the Chevron brand, we pledge to not affiliate with the Chevron brand or purchase Chevron gas or other products as long as Chevron remains complicit in Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

QUESTIONS? CONTACT olivia@bdsmovement.net