EI Malc:riadoTHE VOICE OF THE FARM WORKER

I II

IN ENGLISHMonday, April 15, 1968 . Delano, California Volume n, ~. 4-------....---------------------------1

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L ; iii II

2/EL MALCRIADO, Monday, April 15,1968

CantentsI

To members, subscribers, and supporters:

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Who kiZZed King? 3(an editorial)

Reagan recruits scabs 6

ApriZ fOoZ's dayin court 7

Green Giant not sojoZZy any more 8

Grower's fractureZaw 9

News from theboycott 10

Hurt? Get naid for it:Workmen's ~omne~sation 11

Struck grower backshoax: Pandol and riohtto work - 13

EL MALCRIADO wishes to thank the Fran­ciscan brothers at San Juan Bautista for help­ing to provide the Union with a "new" mailingmachine. It is a 1917 vintage Addressographbut has·a new motor and will work fine for along time. The generosity of the FrancisCanswill enable us to automate our mailing systemover the next two months. We hope soon toset up a regular system of news releases andother publicity, Union news and work bulletinsto members, and other publicity, as well as toautomate the ,subscription list for EL MAL­CRIADO.

We must still invest in a Graphotype machine,costing several hundred dollars, to make themetal add res s plates; so there will still beso m e delay in automating our sub s c r i ptionlist. For those of you receiving more than onecopy of the paper, we ask your patience. Passit on to a friend. We are so understaffed thatwe simply do not have the facilities for remov-

. ing all duplications at present.And for those of you who have never formally

subscribed to EL MALCRIADO, or whose sub­scriptions are about to expire, we urge you tosend in your $3.50 today, to be sure that YOliwit 1 con tin u e to receive the paper after wechange to the new addressing system. '

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P.O. BOX 130OEL/INO .CALI F.

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More and more people are finding out that aSUbscription to EL MALCRIADO is the best wayto keep up with the farm worker struoole.Don't b~ left ou~-send in this coupon t~~ay!

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We are 3,000 miles from the s~ene ofthe crime and we ha~e no part in the in­vesti~ation, but we have some opinions.

Martin Luther King was killed by anindividual who acted as the trigger manfor the hatred, hostility and violencewhich have come to characterize out nat­ion.That trigger man had to understand that

he acted out the feelings of our racist

Continued on page 12

There is a bond .betwe~n the struggle of the farmworkers in California and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.It is a bond of love and leadershi~ a bond which can­not be broken by the bullet of his assasin.

It was Dr.Martin Luther King who taught us to valueourselves as individuals. His example proved for usthat all farm workers, Mexicans, Filipinos, Negroes,Anglos, could live together and work together to gainthe place in society which we merit as men.

Dr. King proved that the only road we can walk isthat of non-violence and love. It was his examplethat inspired and continues to inspire us as we con­front the obstacles on that road, and overcome them.

Through his work and in his death he breathes lifeinto the teachings of· Christ and Ghandi. His greatfaith that We Shall Overcome is the same faith whichallowed us to continue, no matter the odds.

The victories achieved under his leadership were no,less important for the poor in the fields of our nat­ion than for the poor in the cities. He spearheadedthe movement for voting right~ for an end to segrega~

ted facilities, for jobs, and for equal protection ofthe law. '

He fought against police brutality and the violencewhich grinds down the lives of our people and all thedisinherited.

It was no accident that Martin Luther King placedhimself in the center of the battle against the warin Vietnam .. He saw the slaughter of Vietnamese farm­workers as an atrocious abuse of military power. Hespoke out against the outrageous use of black youthand all minority youth as cannon fodder in a war ofannihilation. He chose to aim his movement at the wardespite the advice of many that such a turn could de­stroy the movement for human rights. He did so be­cause it was right.

We have a debt to Dr. King, a debt larger than toany living man. It can only be repaid as he wouldhave it, ,in sacrifice and continued non-violent strug­gle against those who have oppressed us and would con­tinue to oppress us. It will be repaid by effectivelyorganizing in the fields of our nation, so that farmworkers can wrest their right to dignity and a decentlife from the forces that have confined us for so illn~

Dr. King spoke of the dream which moved him. Hedreamt of a "day when all God's children, black menand white men,Jews and Gentiles,Protestants and Cath­olics, will be able to join hands and sing the wordsof the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last, free at last,Thank God Almighty, we're free at last

When we have done our most to turn that dream intoreality, we will have repaid our debt to Dr. MartinLuther King, a great leader, a great teacher, a greatman.

The U.S. Attorney General and his stafflanded in Memphis in search of the as­s ass i n. The ne ~I spa pers pr i nted a com p0 s ­ite drawing of the killer's description.At every opportunity the Attorney Gener­al and -all other 1aw enforcement peopl eemphasized that all clues lead to the,conclusion that it was a lone assailant,acting on his own. They admit to no ~on­

clusive evidence yet they fill our eyesand ears with their preconceived conclu­sions.t

Who killed King?EL MALCRIADO, Monday, April 15, 1968/3

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41 EL MALCRIADO, Monday, April 15, 1968

CESAR CHAVEZ DIRECTOR UFWOC DELANO CAL

I AM DEEPLY MOVED BY YOUR COURAGE IN F~STINr, AS YOURPERSONAL SACRIFICE FOR JUSTICE THROUGH NON·VIOLENCE.YOUR PAST AND PRESENT COMMITMENT IS ELOQUENT TESTIMONYTO THE CONSTRUtTIVE POWER OF NON·VIOLENT ACTION AND THEDESTRUCTIVE Ir~poTENCE OF VIOLENT REPRISAL. YOll STANOTODAY AS A LIVING EXAMPLE OF THE GHANDIAN TRADITIONWITH ITS GREAT FORCE FOR SOCIAL PROGRESS AND ITS HEALINr,SP I RITUAL POHERS. MY COLLEAr,ES AND I COMMEND YOll FORYOUR BRAVERY. SALUTE YOU FOR YOUR INnEFATlr,ABLE WOPKAGAINST POVERTY AND IN\HJSTIC~ ,ANn PRAY FOR ynlJP~ HEIIL TilAND CONTINUING SERVICE AS ONE OF THE OlJTSTANDINr, MEN OFAMERICA. THE PLIGHT OF YOUR PEOPLE AND OURS IS so GRAVEfHAT WE ALL DESPERATELY NEED THE INSPIRING EXAMPLE liNDEFFECTIVE LEIIDERSHIP YOU HIIVE GIVEN.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

PRESIDENT. SOUTHERN CHRISTIANLEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

have a dream.Spoken without notes by MartinLuther King at the 1963 Marchon Washingt~n.

·But I say to you, my friends, eventhough we face the difficulties of today and to­morrow, I still have a dream.It is a dream deeply rooted in the American

dream. I have a dream that one day this nationwill rise up and live out the true meaning ofitscreed: "We hold these truths to be self-evidentthit all men are created equal. "

I have a dream that one day on the red hills ofGeorgia that the former slaves and the sons offor mer slave-owners will be able to sitdowntogether at the table of brotherhood. . . I havea dream that one day, even the state of Mississ­ippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injust­ice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, willbe tra nsf or m e d into an oasis of freedom andjustice.

I have a dream that my four little children willone day live in a nation where they will not bejudged by the color of their skin, but by the con­tent of their character. I have a dream today,I have a dream that one day down in Alabama,with its vicious racists, with lits governor havinghis lips dripping with the words of interpositionand nuUification, one day right there in Alabama,Ii t tl e black boys and little black girls will beable to join hands with little white boys and lit­tle white girls as brothers and sisters. I havea dream today.I have a dream that one day every valley shall

be exalted, every hill and mountain shall bemade low, the rough places will be made plainand the crooked places will be made straight.T his is our hop e, This is our faith that I goback to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew of themountain of despair a stone of hope. With thisfaith we will be able to work together, to praytogether, to struggle together, to go to jail to­gether, to stand up for freedom together, know­ing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day---this will be the day whenall of God's chi 1d r e n will be able to sing withmeaning "My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land ofliberty 1 of thee I sing Iland where myfathersdied/la nd of the Pilgrim'spride/from everymountain side let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation, thismust become true. So let freedom ring. Fromthe prodigious hill top s of New Hampshire, letfreedom ring. From the mighty mountains ofNew York, let freedom ring.

From the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsyl­vania:, let freedom ring. From the snow-capp­ed Rockies of Colorado, let freedom ring. Fromthe curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that; Let freedom ring from StoneM 0 u n t a in of Georgia, Let freedom ring fromL 0 0 k 0 u t Mountain 0 f Tennesse;e, Let free-·dom ring from every hill and molehill of Miss­issippi. . From every mountainside, let freedomring,

And when this happens, when we allow freedomto ring, when we let it ring from every villageand every hamlet, from every state and everycity, we will be able to speed up that day whenall of God's children, black men and white menTews and Gentiles, Pro te s ta n t s and Catholicswillbe able to join hands and sing the words ofthe old Negro spiritual:

Free at last, free at last,Thank God Almighty, we're free at last.

EL MALCRIADO. Monday, April 15, 1968/5

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FULL RATE ILETTER TElEGRA.M I

"SHORE.SH'P I

To t~RS

Street and No.Care of or

Apt. No.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JRSOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONF~TLANTA, GA

At a memorial service for Dr. King held inBakersfield recently, Rev. Emilio Carranza,minister-farm worker, and UFWOC vicepresident Andy Imutan were speakers.. Wereprint here Brother Imutan's talk.

For the farm worker Dr. King's influence hasbeen and will continue to be the greatest sourceof our strength next to our united numbers.Through his life he has welded the concepts ofnon-violence, organization and unity into livingconcrete examples which give us hope for a futurewith justice.

Commitment to non-violence has become for us inthe Farm Workers Union a way of life. The basisof our movement is a belief in th? importance ofeach individual human life. We cannot compromise.

The measure of a man is not how violent he maybe - it is in his strength and his win to achievejustice through just means.

In this measure Dr. King was a truly great man.It is this greatness to which our Union is qo~

mitted.We may take today to mourn the death of Rev. Dn

Martin Luther King, but that really doesn't meanmuch. Words of mourning have fallen from the ~s

of many enemies of the cause of social justic&The very racists Dr. King was marching against inMemphis have put up a reward for his assailant.

Rather than mourn his death, we should learnfrom his life and work in our own lives accordingto his wisdom. Dr. King stated many' times, "If aman has nothing worth dying for, then he also hasno reason to live." The farm workers who are wag­ing a non-violent battle for dignity and a decentlife accept that statement and live by it. Wheneach of us takes that statement as a code of ourown lives we will be honoring the man, MartinLuther King, and his memory.

Andy Imutan

DEAR t1RS KING

HE ARE DEEPLY SADDENED TO LEARN OF THE DEATH OF YOUR HUSBAND. OURPRAYERS ARE FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN IN YOUR SORROH. IT IS t1YBELIEF THAT MUCH OF THE COURAGE HHICH WE HAVE FOUND IN OUR STrUGGLEFOR JUSTICE IN THE FIELDS HAS HAD ITS ROOTS IN THE EXAMPLE SET BYYOUR HUSBAND AND BY THOSE MULTITUDES WHO FOLLOWED HIS NON-VIOLENTLEADERSHIP. HE OHE SO r~UCH TO DR. t1ARTIN LUTHER KING THAT I·IORDSALONE CANNOT EXPRESS OUR GRATEFULNESS. DESPITE THE TRAGIC VIOLENCEWHICH TOOK YOUR HUSBAND, THERE IS MUCH THAT IS GOOD ABOUT OURNATION. IT WAS TO THAT GOODNESS THAT YOUR HUSBAND APPEALED. IT HASTHAT COMPASSION IN ALL OF US THAT HE REACHED OUT TO TOUCH. HIS NON­VIOLENCE WAS THAT OF ACTION--NOT THAT OF ONE CONTEMPLATING ACTION.BECAUSE OF THAT, HE WILL ALWAYS BE TO US MORE THAN A PHILOSOPHEROF NON-VIOLENCE. RATHER, HE WILL BE .RH1EMBERED BY US AS· A tAAN OFPEACE. CESAR E. CHAVEZ 01 RECTOR, UFIWC

Rev. Emilio Carranza

6/ EL MALCRIADO. Monday, April 15, 1968

Reagan recruits scabs,

-rhe California Department of Employmentmarked the passage of April Fools Day byinitiating a new policy of strikebreakingand scabherding. They issued an order tothe state farm labor offices to beginsending scabs to six of the strike-bound

, ranches in Delano. The decision was madeon the basis of "proof" offered by thegrowers, following a strange sort of in­vestigation. Evidence, proof or argumentof 'the striking Union, UFHOC, vIas neverasked for or looked into.

Reagan's little Labor Department de­cl i ned to recogni ze the fact that tileUnion might even have arguments whichcontradict those of the growers.

The matter seemed to hinge upon whetheror not the original strikers were still apart of the strike action against thegrol'lers.

The Union supplied Reagan's Labor De­partment with a list of some of thestrikers who walked out more than twoyears ago. Many of them have been a partof the strike since 1965; some have takenjobs with other ranches and are eitherwork;-:nq out of the area, at Union ranchesor for ranchers who are not being struck.- The Union stated that the list wasstill a partial list and that many peoplewere here in Delano ready to be inter­viewed by the investigators. The listwas never examined, the strikers neverinterviewed, and the decision was made.

The Reagan Labor Department sent outan April Fools Day letter to the sixgrowers, Caric & Sons, Zaninovich, JakeCesare & Sons, Jack Radovitch, SandriniBrothers, and Anton Caratan & Sons. Weassume they are all 1oya I Keaqan supnort­ers. There are still some weather-wornReagan election siqns at some of the ran­ches. The letter stated "Our attorneyshave reviewed your proof •••••• and, foundthat your proof is valid."

It is hardly surprising to find theReaQan administration overlookinq therules of evidence. It is in line withthe general Reagan policy of overlookinqthe rules of fairness, decency and intel­ltgence.

The state is supposed to refrain fromreferring workers to ranches where thepeople have walked out in a labor disputewhether or not there.is an active picket­line on the day of referral.

He have evidence to prove that Reagan'sLabor Department has been guilty of re­ferring workers to Giumarra. In one in­stance a worker was given a hand drawl!map directing him to a ranch which wassurrounded by seventy pickets just a fewblocks away from the Farm Labor Office.The worker returned to the office, refus­ing to cross the picketline and was told,"You just go back there again tomorrow.That picketline moves around allover theplJce, they may be up in Ducor in themorning."

Stories from the past...by WiLLiam T. Gray

westminster, CoLorado

In Colorado, there were no early res­ervoirs of cheap labor in the sugar beetdistrict. In 1918, sugar beet companiesbegan the importation of laborers fromMexico, the Great Hestern Sugar Companybeing the chief importer.

The technique was a one-way transpor­tation system. The company distributedMexican laborers to growers. The growerstried to place t~e responsibility forthe welfare of.the workers on the compa­ny; the company disclaimed the burden.

There was neither a company-employee,nor a satisfactory grower-employee rela­tionship.

This was an era of human exploitationand economic boom. From 1905 to 1939,common stockholders in the Great Western

Sugar Company received an averaqe annualreturn of 43.2 per cent on original in­vestment.

The spirit of these times is reflectedin legislation passed by the State ofColorado. In 1927, a law was enactedprohibiting the use of county funds forthe burial of these poor workers. Theirbodies had to be delivered within 24hours of death to the State Board ofHealth for removal to one of the medicalcolleges for disection.

This law struck mortal terror to thou­sands of workers. In death, as i'n life,the Great Western Sugar Company dis­claimed any responsibility for the wel­fare of its workers. At present, sugarbeet workers in Colorado are without theprotection and human dignity offered byUFWOC.

'!VIVA LA CAUSAl

EL MALCRIADO, Monday, April 15, 1968/7

April Fool's day in court

"Right to work"?

BAKERSFIELD, April 1-­Kern County'sl reputationfor justice grows daily.Apr i 1 F001 s 0ay i s no ex­ception. With all thewisdom of a Sol 0 m 0 nJudge P.R. Borten coachedthe Giumarra attorney toprotect his client. Butin trying to respond du­tifully, the rancher law­yer flubbed up.

UFWOC attorney JeromeCohen appeared before thejudge on a motion to re­lease the Giumarra evi­dence for inspection inthe contempt case againstthe Union, Cesar Chavez,

"Right to work" is ashiny phrase, invented. bythe Advertising Men. Itcovers a law which deniesthe right of the majoritywhen they want a union. Itends the possibility ofhaving democracy on thejob.

When a man goes for ajob, who sets the condi­tions of employment? Theboss tells the man how hewi 11 dress, when and ~Ihere

he will go, what he willdo, how he will act, andhow much he will be paid.This only changes whenthere is a union to sitdown and work out an agree­ment with the boss tochange the conditions of

Epifanio Camacho, and 300"John Does." Cohen arguedthat when there are crim­inal charges the defenseattorney has a right toinspect the evidence.

Judge Borten reluctant­ly agreed, then leanedover the dais to tellWilliam A. Quinlan, Giu­marra's lawyer, that hewould limit the order ifonly he would give someevidence to justify a li­mitation.

Quinlan hastily took ahighly unusual. course byrushing to the witnessstand and swearing him­self in as his own wit­ness.

employment. If a majoritof the workers decide thathey want membership inunion to be one of the coditions of employment anthey have the unity tmake that decision stick,that is the beginning 0

democracy on the job.Under. a "Right to Work

Law" the boss would havecomplete control. T~eonly decision about thejob a worker' would haveleft would be whether totake the job or starve.

EL MALCRIADO says: Whenworkers believe in on-thejob democracy they fight"Right to Work" laws. Weare not so stupid to swal­low poison no matter howsweet the candy coating. I

He testified that ifhis contempt witnesseswere known they would beintimidated by the Union.

When Borten asked howthey. would be intimidatedQuinlan responded:

"At the last hearingthere were 2,000 farmworkers here and my peo­ple were scared. Theyeven had a man who kepttaking their pis~~res.

They were intimidated."Borten: "Was the man

with the camera from theUnion?"

QUinlan: "I think so,but we're not sure."

With the new "evidence"in hand the representa­tive of Kern Countv Jus­tice limited U F W0 C 'sright to view the evi­denceto 24 hours beforethe next hearing--hard­ly time to study and rre­pare a case.

UFWOC attorney C~hen

then followed Quinlan'sprecedent and he too tookthe stand as a witness,stating,

"Yes, there were 2,000farm workers, but not asinqle threat or even alook of intimidation. Theman taking the pictureswas from EL MALCRIADO. We.have pictures of thewit nesse s for the 1as tmonth and they have notbeen intimidated or mo­lested at all. How canthe Court be protectingthe identity of the wit­nesses when we alreadyknow who thev are?"

In the nature of KernCounty Justice thejudge's order stands, butit will be open to re­view shortly, and we ex­pert that it will bechilnged.

EL MALCRIADO SAYS: Theonly intimidation whichtook place in connectionwith the pictu~es of thewitnesses was when one ofthe scab g~oup came atthe photog~aphe~ with a~aised fist, saying,

"I'll knock that came~a

into YOUI' face." ThephotogI'apheI' ducked theblow, but photogI'uphedthe man as he appI'oached.

8/ EL MALCRIADO. Monday, April 15, 1968

oandhisthirip

TniaeentioTheneehadwhesta

TorneourealTlteranithe

N'1at.italleou

N'fa i'qu i 1

Green Yu~~, Ci~rlY Gr"n Giant in Yuba City wa> found to b,trampling on the workers in his asparagus fields. TheGreen Giant may have thought of those workers as the

C. t cute little elves depicted in the TV commercials. On'Ian the other hand, the workers thought of themselves

differently - as men of value and dignity who have aborn right to be treated as such. The "elves" unitedand proved themselves far taller than the giant.

The men han heen promised $4.75 per 100 pounds of

Sasparagus cut. Resentment in the camp grew as the

O'bosses cheated the men of up to 60 per cent of whatthe wages should have been.

There was never any accurate accounting of what aman produced, the sanitary conditions in the fieldwere atrocious and in violation of the law; fue condi­tions had become totally intolerable.

There were about 50 men living in the camp and work­ing in the Jolly Giant's asparagus patch. Three repr~

sentatives were chosen: Ricardo Gaytan, Rafael Berverand Refugio Ramirez~

They spoke with the boss, an unlicensed labor con­tractor, and tried to remedy the situation. They hadno success. Instead they found that, after workingfive hours one day, they were paid an average of $2.79gross wages. "

The next day they failed to get their paychecks ontime. When the payChecks finally did come, they wereshort. Gaytan refused to accept his abbreviated checkand told the others to refuse the checks until theywere filled out to the right amount.

Gaytan was then told to turn in his blanket and getout of the camp. Within minutes the police arrivedand Gaytan was carted away, arrested for trespassing.

Nobody went back to work after the arrest. A seriesof meetings was held at the only available place, alocal church. The men drew up demands: that chargesagainst Gaytan be dropped, all men fired for walkingoff the job be taken back, sanitation standards bebrought up to state'requirement~and that the companypay according to its promises when the men were hire~

The morning of March 28 the sun came up on picketsorderly stationed at the entrances to the ranch, campand packing shed. That same day a busload of 72 scabsarrived. They had been recruited by the CaliforniaDepartment of Employment in~Calexico and subjected toa 20-hour ride with one meal, bad enough to make someof the men ill. The pickets convinced about 50 of thescabs to join their ranks, while the other 20 left tofind other jops.

The strikers fo~nd enough sympathy and support inYuba City to provide' 100 people with food and lodging.The picketing continued, aided by sympathetic YubaCity resident~ while a six-man delegation, of strikersdiscussed a settlement with three '~reen Giants'flownout from the home office in Minnesota.

After an allnight bargaining session the strike wasterminated. The company was frightened of losing itscrop, and apparently scared to death that the menmight call in UFWOC. They bowed to all the dema~dsof the strikers. All charges were dropped h all strlk­ers rehired. A minimum of $1.65 per hour or $1.50 perbox was set, and the men agreed to go b~ck to work.

As if to underline its fear of the Unlon, the JollyGreen Giant wrote indivDual contracts for each of the

'men. When the work is done, the men, having learnedthe power of unity, can keep those docu~ents as wri~­ten proof that the little elves can Whlp a Green Gl­ant, no matter how Jolly, just so long as they stand

4d~~~ side by side with their brothers.

NotJolly

Anymore

EL MALCR~ADO. Monday, April 15, 1968/9

Growers fracture lawDespite the whimpering .pleas'for law

and order on the part of Ronnie Reagan,his administration does little or no­thing to control the laNlessness of ag­ripower.

The Marysville office of the Califor­nia Rural Legal Assistance Program re­cently ran a survey of labor law viola­tions on the ranches of four counties.The survey was a part of the researchnecessary to represent a farmworker whohad been denied unemployment insurancewhen he refused a ranch job that had sub­standard conditions.

The survey was made in Northern Calif­ornia's Sutter, Yuba, Colusa and nuttecounties. The employers sampled were areasonable cross section of 173 ranches.T~e overall finding was that 95% of theranches were in blatant violation ofthe law.

Ninety-one percent of the growers vio­lated the law on drinking water. Eitherit was not ~vailable for the workers atall, or it was distributed in a way thatcould spread disease.

Ni nety-ei ght percent' of the ranchesfailed to live up to the laws which re­quire clean toilets for the field work-

ers.Ninety-five percent of the farms sur

veyed failed to live up to the lawwhich protect the worker on payday. Many had no notice of the time and placof payment. Often workers were laid-ofwithout immediate payment. Workers whquit, frequently had their pay I'lithelbeyond the legal 72-hour limit. A largnumber of employers never itemize thdeductions on the paystubs. It was nounusual to find employers paying a wholfamily on a single paycheck, withsingle social security deduction.

The investigators found 2,468 violation in all, exactly half of them relating to the protection of consumers frocontaminated food. The health laws concerning both consumers and farm workerwere broken in 735 cases. The ranchesurveyed collided with the law i~ 49cases relating to wage payments. •

There is no reason to think that thireport made any attempt to single ouranches. The figures obtained only beaout the facts of life which ~re familiato anyone who has ever worked in thsunlit sweatshops of California.

10/ EL MALCRIADO. Monday, April 15, 1968

Back the boycott!The intensive boycott work begun by 48

members of the United Farm Workers inNew York City in January has nowbranched out to include Boston and Chi­cago. It is a period of the year whenthere are almost no table grapes on themarket. The grapes now on the shelveshave been in cold storage for six toeight months and are very 10~1 ,qualityand high in price.

But Giumarra will soon be trying tosell his scab potatoes to the Americanpeople. And his next crop of grapes willbe hitting the market in less than fourmonths.

The farm worker boycotters want tomake sure that every union member andfruit broker and grocery store ownerwill know about the Giumarra strike andwill refuse to handle Giumarra productswhen they arrive on the market.

Dolores Huerta, Vice President of theUFWOC is in charge of the Boycott in theEast. She reported to "EL MALCRIADO"from Chicago last week that progress wasgood in the Windy City. Headquarters ofthe Union and boycott committee in Chi-

cago are 1300 \Jabash. and f1i dl'lest sunporters of the Union should write the~for information on how to help in theitowns and cities.

In New York boycott headquarters arat 182 21st St., in Brooklyn. Thanks tthe tremendous generosity of Paul Halland the Seafarers International Union,the boycotters were equiPPed with an of­fice, typewriters, mimeo machines. foo'and living quarters. The S.I.U. helpethe Californians to fan out over the Ci­ty. which has more than 8,000,000 in­habitants, and to reach literally thous­ands of Union locals. churches, clubs,groups and organizations of all kinds.

"We doubt a scab grape ever reaches astore counter in New York, but if itdoes. we'll be ready with our picketsigns." one huelguista stated with con­fidence. "And the people here know a­bout our strike. Cesar's fast remindedthem of our suffering. They will notcross our picket lines."

In Boston. r'larcos flunos heads the boy­oott, with headquarters at 73 TremontStreet. r·lunoz led successful boycotts

in Sacramento and Arizona against grow­ers who later signed contracts with theUnion.

In California, the Boycott centers areLos Angeles and the San Francisco Bayarea. Bill Chandler leads the boycottin L.A. (2827 Winter, Phone 262-5479)and Pete Velasco leads the boycott inthe Bay Area (568 4th St. Oakland, phone655-3256). The next issue of "EL MAL­CRIADO" will give more information onthe boycott in California, and the la­bels that Giumarra is using this year totry to market his rotatoes.

Every month that Giumarra and theother 30 scab table grape growers refuseto sign decent contracts is causing thetable grape industry irreparable damage,according to Mrs. Huerta. Many people.con f use d by all the 1abe 1 s1·1i t chi n9 t hatGiumarra does. have simply given up eat­ing ~ table grapes.

For those of you who have joined yourdinner table to the massive boycott, andlike to write letters. why not thismonth write to Milan Caratan (Cecil Ave­nue, Delano, California 93215).

Caratan is the President of the Calif­ornia Table Grape Commission. He is oneof the original 33 struck growers whorefused to open the letter from CesarChavez when the Union asked for a meet­ing and discussion of wages and workingcondit ions.

Caratan nelped Giumarra recruit work­ers and loaned Giumarra his labels.Write to Caratan and tell him you won'teat ~ California table grapes untilthe growers begin negotiations withtheir workers. And send a carbon copy ofthe letter to UFWOC, so we can send co­pies to the other 30 growers. Our ad­dress is P.O. Box 130, Delano, Califor­nia, 93215.

EL MALCRIADO, Monday, April 15, 1968/11

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There is an accident. Atractor in reverse crush­es a worker's leg. Juanscreams. The crew gathersaround and a friend car­ries him off to the hosp­ital. Juan recovers butthe doctor says he'll becrippled for life. Thecompany pays the doctorbills as if they are do­ino a tremendous favor.They then offer $500 sothe family can get alongwhile Juan recovers. Juansigns a little paper andtakes the money.

Everyone is happ'y for afew weeks ,unti 1 the moneyruns out and the 'familyis hungry. Juan spendsthe rest of his life as acripple, begging for oddjobs until the kids areold enough to go into thefields to earn a living.

How many times has thissort of thing happened?Nobody knows. Nobodycounted, but always thecompany i s ~/e 11 thoughtof for what they havedone for the "Juan" in­volved.

Every large company orranch which employs work-

ers has to carry I~ns~r­ance in case a man 1S 1n­jured. The more costlythe injuries, the higherthe rate for the company.

The company always tryto skin by with payingthe least.They never leta man know his full rightof workmen'scompensation.If they have to let theinsurance company know ofthe injury,then it is theinsurance company whichtries to cheat the work­er. The less the insur­ance company pays out,themore money it makes. Theyare in business to makemoney, there is no otherreason.

The insurance companieshire high powered lawyerswhos~ only job is to keepthe company from payingout money when a man ishurt on the job. Thesemen are specialists inusino the law to cheatthe \:/orkers. And the 1 a~/they use was written forno other reason than toprotect the workers.

These insurance companylawyers know all thetricks. No man is ouali­fied to beat them at

their own qame unless hehas studied the law and1's a, profess i onal a't thatsame game. A farm workerknows farm work. When heis hurt on ihe job heneeds a lawyer to dealwith the company lawyers.

When you are hurt on thejob and it costs you ,anytime at all, you need tosee both a doctor and alawyer. Always report aninjury to your foreman or'supervisor. Never trustth~ company's dpctor,la~~yers, or ~/ord. Theyare'out to bear--vou out ofthe compensation th~t youhave coming to you.

When you are injuredyou should get a lawyeryou can trust. It willcos t you not hi ng! The 1a\'/-yer's is set by theWorkmen's ComnensationAppeal Board. It usuallyruns around ten percentoft he fin a1 a\'/ iI rd. Ifthe company has to flayyou ten thous'and dollars,then the lawyer gets a­bout $1000 of that monev.The lawyer rs-not al'm1edto take any money fromyou directly. The WCABsets the lawyer's fee andthe company has to payit. The Union servicecenter can help you get aoood 1a\~ver.- The ne~t time you haveany accident at work, getin touch with your localUnion office and get helflfrom your reflresentative.

You never know how ser­ious a small injury canget in later years.

Any time you have tolose work to recover froma j 0 bi nj ury you can beqetting temporary compen­sation which is at least65%percent of,your regul­ar earnings. It goes along way toward easingthe pain. The final dis­ability award which iswon by your lawyer can

,often amount to thous-ands. It is better thanany medication.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUEST­IONS ABOUT WORKMEN'S COM-PENSATION, SEND YOUR,QUESTION TO EL MALCRIADO.

12/ EL MALCRIADO. Monday, April 15, 1968

'Good Grief! They Want To ORGANIZE - Just Like Us!'--Reprinted from Ventura

Star-Free Press. Sentto us by Peter Renault.With permission·.

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193,000 work­ers cheatedby bosses

A Department of Laborinvestigation has reveal­ed that during the firstsix months of 1967 atleast 193.668 Americanworkers were cheated bytheir bosses. This was arise of 6% over 1966.

The Labor Departmentinvestigators found 138.000 cases where workersdid not get time-and-a­half p~y for working overtime; and 78.000 workerswho were paid less thanthe Federal Minimum Wageand who were covered bythe law. The Departmentof Labor admi ttedl thatthey had only discovereda fraction of the cheat­ing that goes on.

Farm workers are nowcovered by the FederalMinimum Wage Law and theyshould be receiving atleast $1.15 an hour forevery hour worked. Ifyour boss is not paying$1.15 an hour~ he isbreaking the law. If youwork more than 42 hours aweek. you are entit]ed to

.overtime pay at least 1.5times the minimum wage.($1.72 an hour).

EL MALCRIADO SAYS: Thereis a lot of talk about"crime in the streets"and "cracking down oncrime." But this type ofcrime.cheating poor work­ers out of money thatthey have earned throughhard work. is the worstpossible type of crime.and hurts the people whocan least afford it. TheUnion can help stop thesecriminal practices.

or default.King's killer acted fDr every man whose

courage weakened when another said "nig­ger" or "greaser" or "wetback" or "f1 ip"or "kike" and he failed to say NO.

Those who never challenged the racistinstitutions such as the draft and thewar killed King. just as surely as ifthey had raised the gun.

Racismi subtle or strong. direct orpassive. taints the past and present ofAmeri cans.

Whether or not the trigger man isbrought to justice. we know who the kil­ler is.

"Our King is dead. Our King of Peaceis ~ead. Long live our King."

King?Who killedContinued from page 3

soci ety. He acted for every K1 ansman whoever wore a hood. He acted for every copwho ever raised a billy club needlessly.He acted for every judge who ever ruledto maintain the nationwide standard ofracial. national. ethnic and economicinequality before the law. He acted forevery member of Congress who eve~ allow­ed this nation to withhold the naturalrights of a man because he was poor orb1ack 0 r brown•

He acted for every employer who everdrew a penny of profit by exploiting thegroup differences between men. He actedfor every newspaper. mnvie company. T.V.mogul and educator who allowed racism topermeate our society. whether by design

EL MALCRIADO. Monday, April 15, 1968/13

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·Struckgrowerbacks hoaxStruck Deiano grower Jack Pando1 took a dive into

the slime of politics with his entry into "Californi­ans for Right to Work." Pando1 is one of the bestknown growers hit by the strike. He is not wellknown because of power, wealth, cruelty or the out­standing quality of his product. He is known becauseevery time a TV camera or a news reporter came nearthe picket1ine in the first year of the strike, JackPando1 was there to be seen, photographed, and inter­viewed.

Pando1 is a studiously pleasant man whose mouthseems never to stop recounting the woes of the poorgrower. He is so convincing about the "hardships" heis forced to endure as a rancher, that our hearts goout to him. We have nothing but pity for the poorman.

Our feeling for Pando1 is not wasted either. Inreturn he has "great feeling" for the plight of thepoor farm worker. "I pay them even more than the u­nion asks. If one of my boys treats me right, I givehim the best. I give him the best house to live inand a job for life."

We know that when he makes a statement of this sorthe speaks with the greatest sincerity and understand­ing. But we understand him at least as well as heknows us. For instance we all know what he meantwhen he said "Our workers have never shown any dis­satisfaction. We take good care of them. And mostof these Mexicans like the arrangement of ~ot workingsteady. It's the nature of these people to move fromplace to place." One of the Pando1 brothers oncetold a MALCRIADO reporter that the reason Mexicansare poor is that they have too, many children, andthat if they worked harder in the fields they' wouldnot have that sort of problem. Oh, yes, those Pan­do1s understand us:

Jack Pando1 has now become the Secretary-Treasurerof the "Californians for Right to Work." He is notsatisfied just to fight the Union on the picket1ine.He is now working to destroy the right of the workersto have a union shop agreement. He is joining forceswith some of the most conservative and ignorant poli­tical forces in the state. Their philosophy seemsto be "If you can't win in the twentieth century, youmay as well try the nineteenth."

Pando1 and his buddies seem to forget that is wasthe "Right to Work" item on the ballot in 1958 whichresulted in the most overwhelming defeat the reac­tionary ~nti-1abor forces ever received in 'thisstate.

In the past we have been honored to be consideredan enemy by Mr. Pando1. Now we feel a little leftout. His new friends in "Californians for Right toWork" are likely to do hi,m even more harm than weever could. Sincere1" though, we pity the "Poor"Pando1.

We getI etters-----ISr. Edi tor:

I was happier than Hellto read E1 Ma1criado andknow what was happening inDelano again.

It was quite an up-liftfor my ego to see the art­icle. On that part muchasgracias. I would like tocorrect one thing, thepart that I have played inthe Guada1'~pe Organizationhas been ni 1. The onlypart that I have played iswishing the people goodluck and lets move on for­ward. The person whoshould get credit for thisis Mr. Lauro Garcia, agood friend of Cesar's andmine. I hope you printthis 1ett p r ~n that therp.won't be any misunderstan­dings.

Tu Amigo,Gustavo GutierrezTempe, Arizona '

P.S. My' hunting groundshave been Stanfield andPeoria, never forgettingLa Causa del Campesino.

::Que Viva 1a Causa::

Editor:In the other day, our trade

union newspaper, the Swed­ish Commune Worker, con­tains a very inte'resting arti­cle about your newspaper andyour problems "over there':

We have with great interestand loyalty been reading thisand decided today, at ourboard-meeting, that we wanttop u tour n a m e on a sub­scription of your news-paper"EL MALCRIADO'.' . "

It's our very hope, that youw ill be able to continue withyour activity in the future andit's also our conviction thatwe can speak for all our tradeunions in this ourwich.

Thus, as you can see wehave adjoin a cash on 3 dlrs .and we look forward to thenewspaper to the addresseedown-stairs.

With hope of a good contin­uation of the year and a per­manent growing collaboratingacross all the boards betweenthe trade -unions, we sign,

Malmn, febr. 8:th 1968Kjell Hansson

Svenska Kommunal­arbetarefnrbundet.

I

14/ EL MALCRIADO. Monday, April 15, 1968

Gift from,the­

bloody 30'sTwo "old timers" visit­

ed Delano last month,wish the strikers luck,

. pe:form an act of gener-OS1ty, and tell somehair-raising stories a­bout the "good old days;"

Haskell Smith of Fresnoand Charlie Bolton of Tu­lare have been in thisvalley almost 40 years.They have worked in justabout every crop. Theyhave seen farm workerstry to get together andorganize, and they haveseen the growers and consand' judges and oolit~­cians crush the ooor peo­ple with bullets and lawsand injunctions and fram­euos. But they were notafraid to fight for whatthey believed in. Andtheir struggles are partof the rich traditionwhich gives us inspira­tion and courage today.

Let Haskell Smith tellit in his own words:

"I came out from Okla­homa in 1937. Thingswere bad there and theysaid that everyone gotrich in California. WellI wasn't here veri longbefore I joined the Unionand got into the strike.

"Our Union was the old"UC~PAWA" (United CannerYAqri cul tural , Packi noand A)lied Workers of A~merica, CIa, founded in1937). There vias allkinds 'of peoole in thatUnion, Oakies, Neqroes,Mexican reonle. 1 was int1adera in 1939,and rret­tv much all the workersthere wanted the Union.

"In the fall of 1939we heqan a strike in thecotton. Sometime th~y

paid 75t, sometimes 85¢a hundred (it takes twoto three hours for an av­evaqe worker to pick a100 lbs. sack of cotton).From the first day theywere out to get us. Onthe first day we put upa picket line, 24 werejailed. Thev tried topick up all' the leadersand 16, that they thoughtwere leaders, was in jailfor 8 months. Not forburnin~, or hitting any­body. Just for beinastrikers. "

"We couldn't rent ahall so we met in thepark, but one day thefarmers came in and beatup a lot of guys, beat upwomen and children, club­bed them. They used teargas. Thirty or 40 womenand children had to behospitalized after thoseAssociated Farmers gotthrough with the clubbingand beatings. (The As­sociated Farmers were thenotorious storm-trooper­vigilante organization ofCalifornia growers ex­posed by the LaFolletteReport and U.S. Senateinvestigation. LaFolletterevealed that the Associ­ated Farmers had stockedup on machine guns, sub­machine guns, rifles,pistols, tear gas, andclubs and ax handles inarsenals all' over thestate to "oreserve lawand order") .

"It was a strugqle, an~

a hard one. So the copsmoved in. Not to protectus. Oh no! But to throwus out of the park.

Cesar Chavez andHaskell Smith

~So we had to build ahall. It's in the south­east part of town. Weqot a little niece of,i and and bui It' it our­selves. After we builtthis hall, they tried toburn it down. But we gotinsurance on it and oncethey found out, they de­cided not to try to burnus out, 'cause they knewwe'll just build a newand biqger one.

"We never did get nocontract, but s~me ofthem growers went up from85¢ to $1 or$1.25 a hund­red.

"There was two killedin Madera in that strike,but they never did tryto find out who did it."

Still standing, as amonument to the twokilled, the dozens jailedor injured, the braveryand courage nf those farmworkers, the old UCAPAWAUnion Hall remains a sym­bol" of the great struq­gles for justice in the1930's. Haskell Smith,Charlie Bolton, and SteveRodriguez of Madera havekept the hail in prettygood shape. Now thev aredonating it to the UnitedFarm Horkers for meetinasand an office for Madera.

"And we wish you all'the luck in the ~orld",

said Mr. Smith in closinghis talk to the Unionmembers. "Take it fromme, you're gonna needit. "

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J EL MALCRIADO. Monday, April 15, 1968/15

~1'i~;5 ,lessica Goveareads ~uotations fromMartin Luther KinQat the recent Mem6rialService.

Courtokaysgun threat

LAMONT, April 5 - The law in Kern Countyruled today that it's okay to pull a pistol on astriker, just so long as you back up the pistolthreat with a sawed - off shotgun. Judge Headruled on a case which originated last Augustwhen Miss Jessica Govea, UFWOC secretary,tried to serve a subpoena at a Giumarra laborcamp.

On an evening at the beginning of the strik~

Miss Govea, riding in a car driven oy Union or­ganizer Marcos Munoz, showed up at. the campon court business to serve a paper. Accordingto sworn testimony they were greeted by com­pany fu zz Ed Hooper, who, over the barrel ofhis pistol, ordered them to leave.

In the court testimony, Hooper spoke of thegun as his'persuader".

Miss Govea, a shy, soft-spoken brunette,tried to convince Hooper to allow her to com-

plete her business. Hooper then told her toget out and stay out, or the next time he'd havea sawed-off shotgun. '

The defense lawyer insisted that Hooper pulledthe gun on Miss Govea in "self defense." Theprosecuting D. A. failed to ask several pertin­ent. questions and did not seem too interestedin obtaining a conviction, according to court­room observers.

Jessica Govea is convinced that "this manthreatened me with a deadly weapon and thenthreatened to get a lethal crowd killer for us.He could never have gotten away with that ifnotfor the law's prejudice against the Union," shetold EL MALCRIADO.

According to the Kern County pattern, Hooperwas acquitted. The law may just as well bewrittenona pedorated roll for all its effective­ness in protecting a striker.

Filipino-American Political,

Association backs huelgaDE LAN O. March 30 -- Saturday is the day

caravans of farm worker supporters arrive inDelano bearing the supplies which keep thestrike and the strikers a I i v e. The FllfpinoAmerican Political Association (F A P A) paidits first visit to the strike area. They havesent us support sin c e 1965 but this was thefirst organized caravan which arrived. Theybrought food, clothing and money and spent theafternoon talking with strikers and visiting thestrike area.

Emile Haradia, FAPA president, lives in SanFrancisco where the organization is based ..

He says "Our group is already mQre than twoyears old, and our growing membership isworking for political representation so thatwe will have some voice in the way our goverrr­ment bperates. Right now we are working tosee that all Am e I.' i can citizens of Philippineorigin are I.' e g i s t ere d to vote. We are verymuch in t e re s ted in seeing Mr. Johnson re-

placed by Senator Kennedy, but we are also in­terested in local politics w her eve I.' we havemembers. "

The 35 member delegation also included Mr.Alex'E s c la mad 0, publisher of the PhilippineNews, who took numerous pictures and prom­ises to "try my best to rally Filipinos to thecause of the farmworker anq UFWOC. "

The strikers gave the group a warm welcomeand look forward to continuing the relationshipof cooperation, Only recently a FAPA chap­ter was formed by the Filipino workers in De­lano.

Named president was Phillip Veracruz; vicepresident, Willie Barrientos; secretary, Lum.ing Imutan; treasurer, Lourdes Dahilig.

Veracruz, also a director of UFWOC, statedthe first activity of the local FAPA chapter isto "work in full cooperation with the Union 0 nvoter registration for Kennedy."

16/ EL MALCRIADO, Monday, April 15, 1968

The voice of discontent

KENNETH J. LEAP

General Insurance

discriminates completelyagainst low-income workers."

The message is to go toGeneral Hershey, head of thedraft; the Internal RevenueService; the President; allcongressmen, and distributedthroughout the community.

~~\t~

FIRELIFECAR

was sounded with unanimousagreement, "that if the gov­ernment continues to violatethe rights of agriculturalworkers, neither agricultur­a 1 w 0 r k e r s nor their sonsshould be forced into thearmed services to fight forthe so - called freedom which

VISALIA, March 27-Threehundred farm workers voteda resounding NO to continuedsecond c las s citizenship to­day. The Legislative Com­mittee of Farm Wor ke r s of

T u 1are Co u n t y , mostlyUFWOC members, called ameeting to discuss unemploy­ment insurance and NLRAcoverage for agriculturalworkers. By the time theme e tin g was over they hadshown their active concern,anger and re~olve to makesome immediate changes.

THREE LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU IN KERN COUNTY

Mr. Leap will be in the UFWOC Service Center (105 AstiDelano) every Wednesday to serve Union members:

WASCO1000 "F" St.

758-5774

We Have a Lapge Selea­t~on of Spanish Maga­z~nes, Books, and Rea­opds.

3222 .East Mayfaip Blvd.MaYfaip Shopping CentepFpesno, Calif. 93703

DELANO407-11th Ave.1

725-9178

lA MlXICA~ABakeries

BAKERSFIELD630 Baker St.

323-4294

PHONES:Offiae, 585-0650Residenae; 266-1349

Egg Bpead and PastpiesAll Kinds of DonutsCakes fop All Oaaasions

Fpenah Bpead

NOW AVAILABLE: "EL CORRIDO DE CESAR CHAVEi"New 45 p m peaopd b Lato Gueppepo

When discussion turned tothe income tax, several w ork­ers gave the opinion that thetax laws, too, hurt farmworkers by excluding deduc ­tions for transportation, rent,and work clothes.

The final note of the meeting

Eddie Cuellar, partially re­tired farm worker, playedthe most important part indeveloping a resolution whichwas agreed upon by the meet­ing. His resolution pointedout that the "1937 lawmakerswho established unemploymentinsurance promised coveragefor farm workers within oneyear," and that the "NLRAdiscriminates by excludingfarm workers." This situa­tion of inequality for people inagriculture has continued for30 years, "thus condemningall agricultural workers to thestigma of second class citi­zenship. "

UNITED FARM WORKERSORGANIZING COMMITTEEP.O. BOX 130DELANO, CALIFORNIA 93215

Non-Ppofit (irg.U.S. Postage Paid.

Permit # 124Delano, Ca. 93215

t.~]ree sfe~de 57Eh34.) ontford iW

I.ill Valley, CallI. 94941