The official Doice of the United Farmworkers,

vor.v No.3

the humlliating positi<special Agricultural

ird (appointed by R..,k Williams) for K g(election to detetmine

. ."..

© 1972. EI Malcriado ';.~..;. June 9 '972

.. EDITORIAL

RECALL GOV. WILLIAMSiSI SE PUEDEI

© 1972, El Malcriado

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La Paz. P.O. Box 62Keene, California 93531

UNITED FARM WORKERS

AFL-GIO

•

•Published every two weeks as

the

Official voice of the:

Voice of the Farmworker

We do not need more studies. We donot need more data. We do not need morerhetoric. The actions of jack Williamsand those who voted for H. B. 2134 aresubversive and un-American. Williams isgoing out. We will use our constitutionalrights to carry out our own "Law andOrder" program. Others who break thelaw at the expense of the poor are warnedthat they too can be removed. WilliamsOUT! IT CAN BE DONE! SI SE PUEDE!

EL M1LCI11DO

Thousands Qf people are signing the petitions to recall Governor jack Williams.

ernor of Arizona and the Goldwater machinehave placed themselves on WELFARE. Butit is not the miserable dole arrogantlyl!:iven to the destitute. It is WELFARE.The rule is, the wealthier you are, the more,WELFARE you receive. seven membersof the Arizona State Farm Bureau received$431,844 in WELF ARE payments last year.Lynn Anderson, a state director and Pres­ident of the Maricopa County Farm Bureaureceived $91,856. These people have re­ceived money for doing less than nothing.They are dregs on the hard working peopleof the United States who have paid theirtaxes only to have them ripped off bya greedy "non-profit" Farm Bureau.

We refer to House Majority Whip, StanAkeJ;"s (R-Phoenix) who received $94,101in farm subsidies las year. Also worthyof mention is Representative james $os­aman (R-Higley), Chairman of the Agri­culture Committee of the State of Arizona,who as a Farm Bureau Member collected$55,732 in farm subsidies in 1971.

The law of the State of Arizona hasa lot to do with what we have stated.Arizona Revised Statute 41-1291 says insubstance:

No member of the Arizona Legislatureshall have any interests financial or other­wise, direct or indirect, or engage in anybusiness, or transaction, or professionalactivities, or incur any obligation of anynature which corruptly conflicts with theproper discharge of his duties in the publicinterest of his responsibilities as pre­scribed in the laws of the State. The pen­alty for violating this is imprisonmentfor not more than ten years and a finenot exceeding $10,000.

We think that the men responsible forArizona H. B. 2134 were aware of theaforementioned law. Were this not so,Rober Stumpt, the only legislator/growerwho abstained from voting on H. B. 2134,would not have seen fit to disqualify him­self from participation in this lawless"legislation". What were the others think­ing of?

Farm Bureau had no trouble in stoppinglegislation designed to improve labor campconditions. They stopped workmen's com­pensation for farmworkers. They are re­sponsible for the lack of child labor legis­lation in the State of Arizona. The sameopulent clique has seen to it that there isno unemployment insurance for farmwork­ers, that the employer's liability act doesnot apply to agriculture and that there isno occupational disease compensation

Last year in Arizona, glutted and fat­tened interests represented by Williamsand the Farm Bureau received more thanthe entire budget for public welfare. Ari­zona continues as the political domain of theGoldwater machine, a grower based pro­duct of a Republican Party- john Birch So­ciety merger. The Goldwaters are as deepinto agriculture as they are into politics.

Barry's brother Bob is a partner withthe Martori family in the Arrowhead ran­ches. This group produces lettuce, citrusand grapes and is a cornerstone of theanti-union movement among growers. Ar­rowhead is notorious as one of the lar­gest importers of illegals in Arizona. Dur­ing the past winter the local press pickedup a story reporting ISO to 200 illegalsliVing in the orange groves. Picturesof tarps and mattresses gave witness tothe fetid conditions. Nothing was or isbeing done about it.

The callous indifference of Barry Gold­water was expressed in a recent speech.During the question and answer period, afarmworker stood up and asked, "senator,why does your brother Bob hire so manyillegals when so many local people can'tfind work?" Goldwater exploded, "Mybrother is over twenty-one and can makehis own decisions. If you people wouldget off your butts and go to work, we would­n't have to hire nationals."

Four Goldwater goons immediately threwthe farmworker out of the meeting.

While the human exploitation continuesand deepens the Farm Bureau, the Gov-

The people of Arizona are recallingtheir governor. Governor jack Williamsis an obstacle to the well-being of peopleand the people are using strong and Non­violent means to put him out of publicoffice. Williams acts in the interest ofthe few. He not only causes the poor tosuffer but he ridicules them in their suf­fering saying, "As far as I am concernedTHOSE people do not exist". Peopleare looking for moral leadership. Theyare offered moral bankruptcy.

Why are FARMWORKERS so interestedin Arizona? Arizona is an agr-iculturalstate. Lettuce, melons, grapes, onions,mixed vegetables, citrus and cotton leadto an annual production nearing a billiondollars. Vast profits are made becauseof "cheap labor". Cheap labor is us. We,as the poorest citizens in the U.S. areforced into competition with the destitutepeople from Mexico. The state of Ari­zona falsely claims to have a labor forceof 40,000 earning an average of $1.58 anhour. The state does not admit that 100,000illegal aliens enter each year to slave inthe fields, live in squallor and be thrownout of the country penniless when the cropsare harvested.

Working for as little as 60¢ an hour,the illegal underbids domestic farmworkersWhat limited work remains for the localpeople falls below the federal minimumof $1.30 an hour.

When 70% of the labor force lives infear of being deported, there are n;> criesto end child labor, no demands for drink­ing water, no petitions for toilets, no pro­tests against the foul condition of the la­bor camps.

In contrast to the hell-on-earth that hasbeen Willfully created for our brothers whowork the soil, we have the Farm Bureau.

Together with their "boy" jack Williams,the Farm Bureau had little difficulty ob­taining legislative support for the recentlypassed farm labor bill, Arizona H. B. 2134.The multi-billion dollar TAX EXEMPT

2 • Tllnp 9 1972 • EI. MALCRIADO

CESAR CHAVEZ FASTS IN ARIZONA• Arhola passes Far. Blreau-spolsored altl-far.worker law

• Cesar fasts to create spirit of sodal ilstice il ArllOla

the workers in the fields or camps beforethe election; only secret ballot electionsare allowed; and the procedures are solengthy and compiicated that workers arelikely to be gone before any election couldpossibly take place.

PHOENIX, Arizona -- Union DirectorCesar Chavez announced he had begun afast May 12, the day after Arizona passedone of the most restrictive and repressiveanti-farmworker laws in the history of theUnited States.

The farm labor law,HouseBill 2134, waspassed and signed into law immediately onMay II by Republican Governor Jack Will­iams. Cesar announced his fast at a rallyof farmworkers and their supporters at theState Capitol the next day.

Cesar arrived in Phoenix on May llattheinvitation of Gus Gutierrez, director ofUnion organizing in the state, and otherUnion leadership, to try to help persuadeGovernor Williams not to sign the bill. TheUnion had been told that the Governor wouldmeet with Cesar before making a decision,but he secretly signed the bill within hoursof its passage and refused to meet withCesar or any other Union representatives.His quick Signing of the bill was improper,since most legislation goes to'the AttorneyGeneral's office first for his opinion on itsconstitutionality. Since this bill inparticu­lar has many elements which are probablyunconstitutional, his surprisingly rapidaction gives some idea of the kind ofspecial-interest pressure behind the anti­farmworker bill.

The Union rally on Friday was ori­ginally planned to support Cesar in hisdiscussion with Williams, but by that timethe bill was long-signed and the Governorwas in Tucson addressing the t-rizonaBroadcasters' Association. When the Unionhad learned of his action and plannedspeech, the Governor found himself pic­keted by 125 Union supporters--farmwor­kers, students, clergymen of all faiths,and Yaqui Native Americans--as he madehis speech. Asked by a local newsmanto comment on the pickets, he responded:"For me, those people don't even exist."

Cesar announced his fast at the rally onthe steps of the Capitol. He said that hewas fasting against fear--the fear ofthe Union which drove the Farm Bureauand growers to seek this legislation; thefear of the Arizona legislature and theGovernor in the face of the massive eco­nomic and political power of the FarmBureau which led them to pass and signthe bill; and the fear that Arizona farm­workers have of the power which othershold over their lives. He said that growersshould not fear the Union, that it is not outto destroy them, but only to gain for wor­kers the rightful fruits of their labors. Inan exclusive interview with EL MAL-.CRIADO, Cesar said: "The fast was startedto create the spirit of social justice inArizona and to try by our efforts throughthe fast and our sacrifices to erase thefears that the growers and the Republicanlegislators and the Republican Governorhave of the Union. The fast is to try toreach the hearts of those men, so that theywill understand that we too have rights andwe're not here to destroy, because weare not destroyers, we're builders."

He felt strongly that the Union shouldnot turn back on workers in Arizona at this

time, that "it would be cowardlyfor us toleave our brothers here. I saw it as ourduty to sacrifice ourselves for our bro­thers."

He attributed the bill's passage to the dis­proportionate power of the Farm Bureau andGoldwater forces.

Cesar said the fast is not a hunger Strike,that he is not fasting until the law is re­pealed. He said he is not fasting out ofanger or hate, but out of love and in anattempt to overcome the fears of the. agri­cultural and political powers of the Stateof Arizona(Complete text of interview withCesar on page 8).

The new law was originally introduced asHB 207 in 1971 by Rep. Stan Akers, a growerand owner of the Hogue Farm. It had littlesupport and did not pass. It was re-intro­duced in 1972 as HB 2134 and assigned bythe House leadership to three committees:Agriculture; Economic Affairs; and Appro­priations and Rules. Such a multiple assign­ment is usually a sign that the leadershipwould just as soon see the bill die in commit­tee, but they may not have reckoned onthe power of the Farm Bureau and a fewstron~ growers.

The bill had no trouble getting out of theAgriculture Committee, where four out ofthe nine members are growers, nor theEconomic Affairs Committee, chaired byRep. Akers.

When it stalled for five weeks in theAppropriations Committee, ten powerfulgrowers in the House threatened the leader­ship that all other bills would be stalledif HB 2134 wasn't reported out. It soonwas.

The local Union leadership hoped thatassignment to some decent Senate commit­tees would enable the bill's stoppage, but itwas only assigned to the Agriculture andLivestock Committee, chaired by LeroyPalmer, an Arizona cattleman.

The bill was never assigned to the La­bor Committee of either the House or theSenate.

The primary force behind the bill was theArizona Farm Bureau, even more so thanthe growers. Jim Rutkowski of the Union'sArizona legal staff pointed out that only onegrower testified before five different com:mittee hearings, but the Farm Bureau wasactive throughout. They were undisgUised intheir effort to cripple the Union, and evengot a screening of their infamous "Roadto Delano" film, which maligns the Unionwith distortions and untruths. Bath Jimand Gus Gutierrez' said the primary aim ofthe law is to hurt the Union and to preventit from organizing in Arizona. Jim notedthat it is "the same bill the Farm Bureauhas introduced in several states."

The new law has the follOWing parti­CUlarly repressive features:

It outlaws secondary Boycotts.

It severely restrains primary Boycotts.One must identify Boycotted productsdirectly and specificly by label, rather thanasking a Boycott of "non-Union" produceand thus encouraging the grower to signa Contract. The law accomplishes this byoutlaWing "misleading" speeches aboutBoycotted products. Jim notes: "Cons­titutionally, this is very unsound, becausethe First Amendment doesn't protect justtrue ~peeth--youdon't ha¥ to be preparedto prove in court everything you say beforeyou can say it."

The iaw grants growers an automaticand mandatory ten-day injunction against aStrike upon presentation to a jUdge of anaffidavit stating that over $5,000 worth ofcrop damage or loss will result in the eventof a Strike.

It sets up elections procedures underwhich the grower provides a list of eli­gible voters: the Union has no access to

It allows a new election to be called by amajority of workers three months after theoriginal election. Thus an unscrupulousgrower could wait until the off-season whenhis labor force is reduced to a few main­tenance employees friendly to him, and~et them to vote the Union out of its rightful bargaining place. When the workersreturned for the next harvest season theywould have to go through through the tediousprocedure all over again in order to berepresented.

The law requires a majority vote of themembership before a Strike can be called.Jim notes that farmworkers thus becomethe only work force in the state to berequired to hold an election before Stri­king.

Gus and Jim are in agreement that theseprovisions make it clear that the bill isaimed at the destruction of the Union,'and that the Farm Bureau has skillfullyhidden its true intentions behind measureswhich seem equitable. For example, aten-day temporary restraining order a­gainst a Strike as provided by the law isnot a critical factor in industrial labor­management relations, where both produc­tion and work-force are relatively stable andon-gOing. In such a situation a Striketwo weeks from now is likely to be aseffective as an immediate one. But inagriculture the harvest season is rela­tively short, often a matter of a few weeks.By the end of the injunction period the cropswill be in and the workers will have nothingleft to bargain with.

Similarly the kinds of complicatedelection procedures required by the lawmight be irritating but would not be de­cisive in an industrial situation, becausethe work force is on-gOing and can see itthrough. But farmworkers in Arizona arerarely in one place more than a few weeks,and an election process that takes two tofour months--as this one does--effectivelyprevents any. elections. Furthermore,should an election somehow take place,the law allows the grower to invalidateit after three months by waiting until theworkers are gone and haVing a few friendlyemployees vote the UIlion out.

As Jim says, Arizona "has lifted stufffrom the NLRA which was designed forindustrial settings where the workers stayedyear after year, and they're saying that is isgoing to be fair for agriculture too, butit's not." All this is especially ironiCwhen one recalls that agribusiness keptfarmworkers out of NLRA coverage by ar­guing that agriculture was different fromindustry and thus shouldn't be covered.

Now when faced with a growing UnitedFarm Workers they want to turn the tablesand use only the NLRA features which limitunion activity in order to stop us.

Gus Gutierrez feels that that is precise­ly what the new law does in Arizona-­stops Union organiZing. The Union is infor a longand hard struggle, and only dlekind of dedication and sacrifice typifiedby Cesar's fast can triumph. VIVA LACAUSA.

The law provides for union representationelections but establishes so many steps and

Dear Brothers and Sisters: procedures that seasonal and migrantworkers would never have a chance to vote.

Our people have been poor for more Growers can not only frustrate an electionyears than we can remember. We have for two-three months, they can actuallymade· only a small amount of progress avoid elections by a minor change in hir­these past ten years of work and struggle. ing practices. Even if workers shouldOur women and children still die too often vote for the Union, an employer can seekand too young. There is too much hunger a decertification election after only a threeand disease among us. Not even five per- month waiting period. The bill is dis­cent of America's migrant farmworkers are criminatory. It is aimed only at farm­protected by Union Contracts. Yet there is workers who are mostly Black, Brown anda great fear of our Union -- a fear that I Indian. No other labor force is asked todo not fully understand, but that I know is live with these repressive measures. Thispresent w~th most growers and especially is what the Farm Bureau means when theyamong the lettuce growers in their current advocate "free elections" and "responsibleresistance to the rights of their workers. legislation."Growers through the Farm Bureau are Farmworkers in Arizona tried to tell theirseeking to bring the whole machinery of legislators about the unfairness of this law.government against us. Why are they so They collected letters and petitions andafraid of a Union for migrant farmworkers? brought them to their representatives. TheyIs it so much to ask that the poorest people were met with cold indifference. Theywereof the land -'have fl measure of justice? patient but could not get appointments. In

In Arizona - one of two major lettuce many cases, their letters were thrown intoprodUCing states - the growers and the pol- . trash cans in front of their eyes. Afteriticians have just passed a law that destroys the bill passed, it was brought to the Gov­the right of farmworkers to have a Union. ernor by the Highway Patrol. He signedFarmworkers under this law cannot engage it immediately. The next day the Governorin consumer Boycotts. Supporters of our was asked by a reporter to comment on theUnion could be arrested for telling their farmw~rkerswho wanted to meet with him.friends not to buy lettuce. Farmworkers He responded: "As far as I'm concerned,are put in the humiliating poSition of having these people do not exist."to go to a special Agricultural Labor Re- What is it that causes sane men to actlations Board (appointed by RtNlublican Gov- so hastily and so cruelly? It cannot beernor Jack Williams) for r government- that we are so powerful. In the contextconducted election to detetmine their right of the great corporations, we are like ato Strike. -' mosquito on an elephant's back.

This attack on our Union in Arizona andin every major state is also an attack onthe spirit of justice in America. Whyshouldn't farmworkers finally have a chanceto hold their heads high in their own or­ganization? Why shouldn't poor people beallowed to struggle Non-violently for jus­tice? The answers seem so obvious but theFarm Bureau, the lettuce growers, and thepoliticians are deaf to our pleas.

My major concern is not this particularArizona law and the fast is not out of angeragainst the growers. My ;::oncern is thespirit of fear that lies behind such laws inthe hearts of growers and legislators acrossthe country. Somehow these powerful menand women must be helped to realize thatthere is nothing to fear from treating theirworkers as fellow human beings. We donot seek to destroy the growers. We onlywish an opportunity to organize our Unionand to work Non-violently to bring a newday of hope and justice to the farmworkersof our country. It is long overdue.and surelyit is not too much to ask. Justice for farm­workers is our only goal; it is the goal ofour Non-violent Lettuce Boycott. Will youhelp us by making a commitment not to eator buy lettuce? This is a small sacrificethat can bring a great change for migrantfarmworkers. I ask for your prayers andyour continued help in our struggle.

Your brother,

6.--~4Cesar E. Chavez

Ranch Committees

. Support Cesar's Fast

PHOENIX,Arizona -- Union Ranch Com­mitte delegations from allover Californiavisited Cesar Chavez here May 21 to showSolidarity with him in his fast for socialjustice.

Delegations included eight from Delano.including Juan Ramirez, President of dlePerelli-Menetti Ranch Committee. Sevencame from Lamont.

Poplar sent nine, including Adan Baldwin,President of the Roberts Farms Ranch Com­mittee, Jose Palomo, President of the Ca­meron Bros. Ranch Committee, and EuserioCampos.

Twenty-one came from Calexico, inclu­ding Vice-President Patricio Ortega Her­mosillo of Freshpict Foods, Inc. and MiguLopez, President ofthe Inter-Harvest RancllCommittee in the Imperial Valley.

Eleven came from Coachella, and 12 fromHollister, led by Tony Ortega, President ofthe Almaden Ranch Committee. Fourcame from Selma, and 7 from Soledad,led by Gonzalo Cantu, Vice President ofthe Paul Masson Ranch Committee.

Wilcox sent a delegation of 15 led byJose GarcIa of one of the Mel FinermanRanch Committees; Oxnard sent four.

A group of three came all the way fromthe Napa Valley; it included Jamie Velas­quez, President of the Christian BrodlersRanch Committee, and Gilberto Carrillo,Vice President of the Vinifera Ranch Com­mittee.

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ABOR NEWSIII

Byron Schulz, a survivor of the Sunshine Silver Mine disaster, is overcomewith &rief as he tries to narrate how 91 of his fellow miners died in the flashfire that struck the mine.

,-

ExcessivePay Increases

For Top ExecutivesWhile the Pay Board has been doing its

best to keep down the wage increases ofrank-and-file workers to 5.5 percent orless, a different set of rules for the topexecutives of large Corporations I allowsthem to receive salary increases of near­ly 200 percent.

According to a private financial news­letter, the Gallagher Presidents' Report,the pay hikes of top officers of 47 lead­ing U. S. manufacturers averaged 14.4 per­cent.

The Gallagher Report shows that the fol­lOWing executives received the highest payincreases: Dow Chemical PresidentCharles Branch, 196.2 percent to $305,089a year; bendix Chairman A.P. Fontaine,130.4 percent to $280,664; and GeneralMotors President Ed Cole, 121.1 percentto $497,534.

And while unions have made futile ef­forts to defend wage increases beforethe Pay Board on the basis of increasedproductivity, some executives have beenallowed large increases in salaries despitedrastic drops in company profits.

For example, an executive of BoiseCascade received a salary increase of13,2 percent in 1971 even though the com­pany suffered a loss of $85 million inpre-tax profits. .

Other executives didn't do quite as well.Ford Motor Company Chairman HenryFord 11 collected $689,000 in salary andbonuses last year--up $189,000 or 37.8percent from the previous year. CompanyPresident Lee A. lacocca was paid $ 675,­000, a 48.3 percent increase.

At Chrysler Corporation, Board Chair­man Lynn Townsend received an increasein his yearly salary from $200,000 to$225,000 and the company president, JohnRiccardo, went from $175,000 to $200,000.

The highest paid executive in the nationduring 1971 was Harold S. Geneen, .:hair­man and president of International Tele­phone and Telegraph, who received $812,­494, an increase of 6 percent over theprevious year.

Yet the Pay Board's crackdown on work­ers continued. The latest report from theboard showed that the combined averageincrease for 6.6 million workers in largeplants had been held to 4.2 percent.

During April, the inCreases for nearly2 million rank-and-file workers in plantsemploying 5,000 or more workers, washeld to 2.5 percent by the Pay Board,including new contracts, deferred raisesand retroactive pay boosts.

What Is A"Modest" Income?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has re­ported that a "typical" American urbanfamily needs $10,971 in income per year tolive "mOdestly"

A typical farmworker family has an in­come of $1,900 per year, since most farm­workers are still struggling for the rightto have our own Union. Even a budget des­cribed by the Bureau as "austere" came to$7,214 per year, still far above the averagefarmworker's earnings.

And these figures are for last autumn,failing to take into accout rises in prices-­especially food prices--since then.

All of the budgets are for a family of four-­a 38-year-old husband working full time, anon-working wife, a son of 13 and a daughterof 8.

These assumptions make the discrepencybetween farmworker income and that of the"average" family even more dramatic,since farmworkers' families are oftenlarger than four and their meager incomethe product of the labor of several membersof the family. Moreover, it is especiallydifficult for farmworkers to find employ­ment year-round.

For a worker receiving the federal mini­mum wage of$1.60 an hour, there is an ever­widening gap between his annual full-timeearnings of $3,328 per year and the "aus­tere" family budget.

The difference was under $2,700 whenthe $1.,60 wage floor went into effect, $3,215in the spring of 1969, and $3,385 under themost recently announced figures.

Prices Up AgainThe Bureau of Labor Statistics report

for March showed that the Consumer PriceIndex rose to 124.0, meaning that con­sumers were paying $12.40 for the samegoods and services that cost them $10 in1967. It now takes $14.43 to bUy goods andservices that cost $10 in 1957-59. Foodprices especially have continued to rise.

WorkersCheated Out of Wages

According to statistics released by theU.s. Department of Labor's EmploymentStandards Administration (ESA), employersacross the nation have illegally underpaidworkers more than $74 million during thenine months ending with March 20.

The underpayments, reflected in the pay­checks of 371,255 workers were mainly theresult of employer violations of the mini­mum wage and overtime provisions of theFair Labor Standards Act. The ESA in­vestigators found 45,525 employers in vio­lation of the various federal laws on wageand hour standards.

But the ESA has been able to recoverillegally withheld wages from only abouthalf of the employers found short-changingtheir workers. And the total amount re­covered from employers, the statisticsshow, is slightly over $23 million--Iessthan one-third of the $74.2 million lost towage chiseling. So far, the government hastaken no action against those employerswho refuse to pay the wages they owe theirworkers.

u.s. CorporationsEscape Taxes

A study of Internal Revenue Service sta­tistics by SCripps-Howard reporter RobertDietsch revealed that more than 40 percentof U. S. corporations pay no federal incometax and some of the biggest pay only tokenamounts.

Tax loopholes such as deductions, taxcredits, depletion allowances and depreci­ation make this possible.

Dietsch's findings bolster charges madeby Representative Charles A. Vakin(0- Ohio) that corporations are becoming"freeloaders" in the U. S. economy whilethe tax burden' is increasingly shifted to thewage-earner who "pays on every dollar ofincome."

'The average taxpayer, Yanik noted, "hasno depreciation gimmicks, no tax-freebonds, no capital gains."

Court Test onAccess to Workers

A company parking lot can't be put offlimits to union organizers when there is noother practical method of reaching all theworkers, the AFL-CIO asserted in a briefto the Supreme Court.

The pOSition of the AFL-CIO has thebacking of the Retail Clerks Union, theNational Labor Relations Board, and afederal appellate court which held thatCentral Hardware Company of Indianapolisillegally interferred with the right of itsworkers to organize by barring union rep­resentatives from the parking lot.

The case is important to La Causa be­cause two of our organizers were recent­ly thrown off company property afterparking their car in the workers' company­owned lot. Additionally, the grower inquestion did approximately $300 worth ofdamage to their car in the process. (See1'.4)

Dept. of labor AdmitsAnti-farmworker Bias

The U. s. Department of Labor acknowl­edges its Rural Manpower Service is gearedto the interests and prejudices of employersand growers and often fails in its obligations-to migrants and other farmworkers.

An investigation revealing Widespreadabuses was touched off by formal chargesmade last year by the Migrant Legal ActionProgram in behalf of 16 organizations and398 individual farmworkers who documented1,500 pages of complaints.

For example, inspection teams notedWidespread failure of migrant crew leadersand growers to pay the social security pay­roll tax, even when the money had beendeducted from the workers' pay. An in­vestigation of 692 agricultural employers-­a mere 3 percent of the total--revealedthat 6,236 farmworkers had been cheatedof $914,000 in wages during the 1971 fiscalyear alone.

The report found that some states withlarge numbers of Spanish-speaking workershad employment offices with no bi-lingualstaff.

It !llso conceded the legitimacy of com­plaints about poor housing, dangerous pes-'ticides in the fields, lack of toilet facil­ities and unsafe transportation.

Wages Frozen,Prices Climb

Charging that prices have risen just asfast as before the so-called controls wereapplied, AFL-CIO President George Meanycalled upon Congress to take over controlof the nation's economy from an Adminis­tration that "has proven its incompetence:'George called for "an excess profits taxas an integral part of a fair and effectivestabilization effort:'

As part of "Phase Two" of his economicprogram to "combat inflation" Nixon lastyear set up a Price Board to regulate priceincreases and a Pay Board to do the samefor wages. But George charged that whilethe Pay Board has been vigorous in denyinglabor excessive pay increases, the PriceBoard has continued to allow prices to riseas before. The result is that the workingman has to pick up the tab for the Admin­istration's misgUided economic policy,while big business continues to turn bigprofits.

George was originally one of the membersof the Pay Board, but recently quit, chargingthatthe Board has been stacked against laborfrom the beginning. There were originallyfifteen members, five from labor, five frombusiness and five drawn from the public andgovernment. But George has charged thatthe five from the public and governmentwere chosen to support business' pOSition,and Cited the virtually consistent 10-5 voteagainst labor as proof and as reason forquitting the Board.

Record Profits ForBig Business

Despite strict economic controls on labor,the Nixon Administration has allowed bigbusiness to make money at a record pace.In fact, American corporations earned moremoney in the first quarter of 1972 than inany previous three-month period in thenation's history, according to a survey byBusiness Week magaZine.

First-quarter profits were up 13 percentat General Electric, 22 percent at IBM,27 percent at Westinghouse and 29 percentat International Paper, JUSt to name a few.

The magaZine listed Chrysler's first­quarter profits as $36 million on recordsales of $2.2 biIlion--a "smashing 321percent increase in profits over the firstthree months of 1971,"

Two other surveys also confirm that thefirst quarter of 1972 may well be a recordprofit- making period for American busi­ness. The First National City Bank ofNew York reported that after-tax profitsof 1,561 leading corporations totaled $8.8billion in the first three months of theyear - - 13 percent above the first quarterof 1971.

The Wall Street Journal conducted a sur­vey of 599 companies which showed thatprofits rose 11.7 percent over the likeperiod of last year.

Business Week magaZine concludes thatwhen all the figures are in, they probab­ly would show American business earningmoney at an annual rate of better than$52 million, far. ahead of the record paceof 1966.

All this when the Nixon Administrationhas a policy of limiting pay increasesto around 5 percent for the workers whosweat to produce those fat profits.

New Attack on labor

The Nixon Administration has launched anew attack on labor--this time on the es­sential rights of striking and collective bar­gaining.

Bills prepared by the Administration andSenator Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) would lJer·mit the President to halt a major strikeagainst railroads, airlines, maritime, long­shore or trucking firms by requiring unionsand employers to submit a "final offer" andan "alternative final offer" to an arbitra­tion panel. The panel would then chooseone of the offers without change or modi­fication.

Arbitration is usually entered into whenlabor and management are unable to cometo terms and both voluntarily agree to submittheir suggestions to a third party. However,both parties must agree to arbitration be­fore the step is taken. The proposed billswould enable the President to force arbi­tration in certain cases.

George Meany, Presidentofthe AFL-CIO,hit the proposals hard in testimony beforea Senate Labor subcommittee. The dif­ference between voluntary and compulsoryarbitration "should be discernible to anyfree man," he declared. "If a man doesn'thave the legal right to stop working," 'Meany insisted, "then he has no rights."

If made into law, the Administration'sproposals could become an effective strike­breaking tool. Management could simplyrefuse to negotiate in good faith, knOWingthat the disagreement would be settled bycompulsory arbitration and his employesforced back to w6rk. Thus the Adminis­istration's bills are a direct threat to thecollective bargaining process.

"The right to negotiate with managementis an empty promise without the right tostrike," Meany charged. Employers "arenot philanthropists" and rarely, if ever,comply with their employeesdemands sim-'ply because they are just. "By and large,employers pay no more than their employees ,bargaining power requires them to."

Flash FireKill s ·91 Min ers

The United Steel Workers of Americabitterly charged the Sunshine Mining Co.with wholesale violations of safety stan­dards and the Bureau of Mines with fai­ling to enforce them prior to the flashfire on May 2 that took the lives of 91workers at the cOlJlpany's silver minein Kellogg, Idaho.

Byron SChultz, the last worker to leavethe Sunshine mine alive when the firestruck, testified before a House LaborCommittee that his fellow workers diedbecause respirator masks were either notavailable or not working or the minersdidn't know how to operate them in theonrush of the odorless, but deadly, car­bon monoxide gas generated by the fire.

In two years of employment at the mine,Byron said, he had never received safetyinstructions and had never seen a firedrill.

Meanwhile, word was received in Idahothat the Nixon Administration refused todeclare the mining district a disaster areaso that the stricken families could receiveemergency aid. Instead, Nixon sent hi~

"sympathy and concern:'

............ 11 ..1.11 .. 1111 II. II I. "" II I 111111 .'''111111.'' 111111 ...111 11111 II ....III .... I II

LETTUCE 'BOYCOTT RESUMED• Victory over M1RB and Rep.blieal Pa rty• Art Torres endorsed for Assembly.an, 40t. Assembly District, Los Angeles

.... " " ••,.'__..'..111" ".." '1 111 .' ,.,_"III"''''_711 '""", , __,.,

SENATOR GEO'RGE McGOVERNVISITS CESAR IN ARIZONA

<r-

it into law immediately after its passageby the State Legislature. refusing even todiscuss the bill with Cesar or other Unionrepresentatives beforehand.

With cries of "Si Se Puede ", the crowdenthusiastically endorsed the Union's de­cision to recall Governor Williams and mostpicked up petitions before leaVing.

McGovern spoke again after the mass andsaid of Cesar's fast that the "Cause of jus­tice is one that is worth any sacrifice thatwe're called on to make," He said thatCesar's efforts and those of the UnitedFarm Workers should instill fear in none,for they are for the good of the entire coun­try."

• Condems Arizona's anti-farmworker law• Supports our Lettuce Boycott

Union Vice-President Dolores Huerta introduces Senator George McGovern, whohas been endorsed bv the Union for U. S. President. to 2000 farmworkers and supporters.

PHOENIX, Arizona -- . The ExecutiveBoard of the United' Farm Workersendorsed Senator George McGovern forPresident May 19 after polling the membersof the Union. Union Director Cesar Chavezissued the following statement:

..Senator McGovern has consistentlystood with us on issues most vital to ourpeople. He has picketed with us at theTalisman Sugar Plant in Florida. He hasendorsed our Lettuce Boycott as he did theGrape Boycott. He has spoken out againstrepressive legislation such as that whichhas been passed here in Arizona and whichif allowed to stand would deprive farm­workers of their right to organize. He hasspoken out against the Farm Bureau's at­tacks on farmworkers and small farmers.

"Senator McGovern has always opposedthe war in Viet Nam which has taken thelives of so many poor people. especial~y

from the minorities. We urge our friendsand supporters, especially in California,to support him in the California primaryonjune 6."

OUR UNION ENDORSESGEORGE McGOVERN

FOR PRESIDENT

PHOENIX. Arizona -- Senator GeorgeMcGovern, a presidentaial candidate, en­dorsed Union Director Cesar Chavez'sfast May 20 and publicly declared his sup­port for our Union's struggle against therepressive legislation passed by Arizona.

Dolores Huerta, Union Vice- President,introduced George at a press conferenceheld at Santa Rita Hall, site of Cesar's fastfor social justice. and noted that, unlikemost other politicians, Senator George Mc­Govern does not stand with the Union' 'onlywhen the cactus is bearing fruit." Shesaid she first met George on a Union pic­ketline in New York. when without news­men or any other fanfare, he quietly lenthis support to the Grape Boycott.

George flew here from Fresno, Californiawhere a large airport crowd, including manyfarmworkers. demonstrated their supportfor his effort in the California primary.Our Union's Executive Board has endorsedGeorge McGovern's presidential candidacy.

After meeting with Cesar. George calledhim "one of the greatest liVing Americans""He quoted the Bible in saying that Cesarhad been "annointed to bring good news tothe poor,"

George said he joined with the Union in"opposing regressive and unjust legislationthat hampers the collective bargaining pro­cess and the rights of organized labor."

George also endorsed the Lettuce Boy­COtt and said that "since Cesar is fastingtotally. the least I can do is give up eatingletnlce, and I urge my supporters to do thesame thing. ,. He said he intended to sup­port the rights of farmworkers before theDemocratic Platform Committee and theDemocratic Convention in july.

Noting that his home state of South Da­kota is one of the largest farm states in of the Union's Boycott activities, introducedthe nation, Senator McGovern said to "far- delegations and Ranch Committees that hadmers and growers in Arizona, farmers and come from California to show their Soli­growers all across this country. you have darity with Cesar.nothing to fear from this man of peace and jim Drake. director of Organizing andjustice, Cesar Chavez--he fights the good Research for the Union. then explained tofight for all those who covet a better fu- the crowd that the Union had decided toture for this country," respond to Arizona's repressive legislation

The press conference was followed by by demanding a recall of the Governor.a candlelight processional to a nearby hall He explained that petitions bearing thefor the nightly mass that has become such signatures of 103,000 registered votersan important part of Cesar's fast. The would be needed in order to call a newhall where the mass was held was filled election and remove the Governor from

,to overflowing by the more than 2.000 office.people who attended. Republican Governor jack Williams sup-

After the mass, Marshall Ganz. director ported anti-farmworker HB 2134 and signed

McGovern

June 6

FOR

PRESIDENT

LOS ANGELES, California -- Union Di­rector Cesar Chavez announced La Causa' svictory over the National Labor RelationsBoard and resumption of the LettuCe Boy­cott at a press conference May 2.

The press conference was held at thecampaign headquarters of Art Torres. acandidate for Assemblyman from the 40thAssembly District in Los Angeles, who hasbeen endorsed by the Union.

In a brief statement to the press, Cesardeclared:

..We're here to announce a victory settle­ment. We have through negotiations come toan agreement with -the General Counsel ofthe National Labor Relations Board. Theagreement reaffirms the right of migrantfarmworkers to Boycott. Therefore weare exercising this right by starting a full­scale Boycott of Letnlce,"

The victory came after the Union organ­ized a massive letter-writing campaignin which over one million farmworkers andsupporters throughout the country wrote toSenator Robert Dole. Chairman of the Re­publican National Committee, protesting theParty's attempt to use the National LaborRelations Board to destroy our right toBoycott.

The NLRB General Counsel, Peter Nash,appointed by President Nixon last August,SUddenly tried to reverse the NLRB'slong­standing pOSition that farmworkers are notcovered by the National Labor RelationsAct, which prohibits secondary Boycotts.

During the press conference, Union Gen­eral Counsel jerry Cohen told reporters theUnion had resolved "way back in 1967"to organize only farmworkers. and as such,was not covered by the restrictions of theN LRA it was on the basis of a reaffir­mation of the resolution that the NLRBsusplflded its action against the Union'sright to Boycott.

In response to questions by the press,Cesar called on the American public tohelp make the Lettuce Boycott successfulas it had with the Grape Boycott. He notedthat the Union was under a no-picketinginjunction in the Salinas Valley, wherefarmworkers struck in 1970. He said ifpicketing and Strikes were not possible theBoycottwas the only "method of convincingthe growers to sign Contracts and recognizethe workers."

Cesar noted the Lettuce Boycott had begunlate in 1970, and was at one point volun­tarily suspended by the Union when thegrowers indicated a Willingness to sign con­tracts. The fact that those contracts neverdeveloped necessitated a resumption of theBoycott. Asked why negotiations with thegrowers had broken down. he replied that"the lettuce growers got commitments fromthe Farm Bureau to, dump a lot of moneyand to help them specifically with intro­dUCing coercive legislation against ourUnion." He declared: "We blame the FarmBureau as much as we blame the lettucegrowers for wrecking the negotiations."

Cesar was asked if the Lkttuce Boycottwouldn't be more difficult than the GrapeBoycott, since grapes were somewhat of aluxury item for most American families andlettuce more of a staple. He replied that"all we're saying is make a small sacri­fice so that your brothers who raised thatlettuce and other foods that come to yourtable can have just a slightly better way oflife. And we find the American public, byand large, is sympathetic to the underdog,is sympathetic to the whole question ofgiving the underprivileged a break, and wefind that what we're asking is relativelyvery small in comparison to the sacrificesthe workers have to make to get the lettuceto their table."

He said thing,s now were very bad for thelettuce workers. that the work was so hardthat productive work expectancy was only10-12 years. Improvement of working con­ditions would thus be first on the list inUnion Contract demands.

Cesar noted that four growers had signedContracts with the Union. and their letnlceis exempt from the Boycott. Those growers

" are Inter Harvest. 0' Arrigo, Freshpict andMel Finerman. Their lettuce will carrythe Union black eagle on the package orbox in the grocer's bin.

))

I J

A Fresno County Farm Bureau brochureadvertises Farm Bureau "services", aterm used loosely to describe its businessenterprises of "Group Health Insurance,Group Compensation Insurance, PetroleumProgram, Auto, Fire, Liability, and LifeInsurance, farm supplies, SafeMark Tires,and a Credit Union."

This business enterprise, disguised asa farm organization with its tax-exemptstatus and politically active lobbyists great­ly departs from its original purpose tobetter "the conditions of those engaged inagriculture and the improvement of theirproducts and their occupational efficiency."

Improving the "conditions of those en­gaged in agriculture" does not apply tofarmworkers. Since the early days of theGrape Strike, Farm Bureau members andleaders in every state have emerged asthe bitterest oppopent to the Union and allfarmworkers. Union Director Cesar Chavezemphasizes the Farm Bureau's efforts to"cripple Unionization with restrictivelegislation." Cesar explains, "It hasfought every attempt to improve the con­ditions of farmworkers by opposing legis­lation to give us such minimum protectionsas Social Security unemployment insuranceand minimum wage and hour legislation."

The Farm Bureau is truly an enemy ofLa Causa. In the following editions of ELMALCRIADO we will learn even more aboutthe Farm Bureau so we will have all theinformation we need to struggle confidentlyagainst this anti-farmworker organizaton.Now, more than ever. we will unite ourselvesin complete Solidarity with the sacrificesCesar is making on his fast. And we willgo forward with our banner," ~I SEPUEDE! " ("Yes, it can be done! ") inArizona and throughout the country.

, I

• a Farm Bureau Mutual Funds with netassets of $10 million owned by the Amer­ican Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).

• Seven large shopping centers owned bythe Alabama Farm Bureau.

• a network of many cooperatives withassets of over $200 million which rangup $500 million in sales in 1968.

• a network of 55 insurance companieswith over $1.5 billion in total assets.

the Farm Bureau. It was a thinly-dis­guised "endorsement" article!

In November, 1971, Farm Bureau direc­tors sent telegrams of endorsement to allSenators asking them to confirm PresidentNixon's Republican nominee for agriculturesecretary. Earl L. Butz. This blatantpublic endorsement last year was the firsttime the AFBF broke its "traditionallyneutral stance on Cabinet nominees, "ac­cording to a UPI news article. It isobvious that the Farm Bureau liked Butz'santi-farmworker views. Recently Butz tolda gathering of citrus industry officials inFlorida that ·Boycotts of crops by farmlabor unions (meaning our Union] areun-American, vicious and we've got tostop it."

Surely, it won't be the last endorse­ment as the "non-partisan" organizationturns more and more conspicuously parti­san.

The Farm Bureau prefers to ignore theeconomic problems in rural America. Onthe contrary, it is developing a businessempire including insurance, oil, fertilizer,finance companies. mutual funds, shoppingcenter~ and a travel agency, all of whichmake money off the farmers and other FarmBureau members.

Some examples of the Farm Bureau'sbusiness operations include:

\JHY OOE~~'J lHEFARM BURtA~?

I

It IS our nanon' s largest, most power­ful and most affluent farm organizationin 49 states (Alaska is the only statethat does not have one) and Puerto Rico.

The American Farm Bureau Federationas large as corporate giants Chrysler,DuPont or Shell Oil, retains its tax-exemptstatus under the auspices of being a non­profit farm group organized for the mu­tual benefit of its members. The first$1,000 in income received each year bya tax-exempt organization is tax-free, re­gardless 'of its source. This amounts toover $285.000 each year in tax- shelteredincome, $1,000 for each state organizationand $1,000 for each county organizationin the AFBF.

One advantage of the financial privilegeof tax exemption is the extra funds theFarm Bureau has for lobbying purposes.Farm Bureau leaders and lobbyists havea tremendously powerful impact on govern­ment legislation, both agricultural and non­agricultural. Witness the Farm Bureau'sdestruction of the Farm Security Adminis­tration in the mid-1940s.

Farm Bureau lobbyists testified beforeCongress to support the oil depletion al­lowance which permits oil producers todeduct 22 percent from their gross income.For example, United Coops. an oil blendingplant originally financed by the Farm Bureaucooperatives of Ohio. Michigan and Indiana40 years ago, has greatly expanded to includeother regional Farm Bureau Coops and sellsabout $50 million worth of oil productsannuallY.

The Farm Bureau's membership listscontain names of more than two millionfamilies (over six million people), largerthan all the other farm organizations com­bined. Claiming to speak for the Americanfarmer, the organization bills its reputationand influence as the "voice of agriculture."Yet a large percentage of their membersare doctors, lawyers, bankers, barbers,garage owners and grocers, all of whomgreatly benefit from the Farm Bureau'sproducts and services at discount prices.

Associate memberships without votingprivileges are reserved for the non­farmers. Farmworkers are certainly notencouraged to join, and would fall into thisnebulous "associate" category, even though~hey spend all their lives in agriculture-­as opposed to the absentee landlord andbig growers engaged in numerous businessventures.

The Kentucky Farm Bureau admits thatover one-third of its members are "as­sociate" members. Usually. Farm Bu­reaus do not reveal the non-farmers in theirmemberships, instead they lump all mem­bers together in impressive statistics ofrural America's farm families. Four ofthe most active state Farm Bureaus - Ala­bama, Florida, Illinois. and Indiana - admitto more family memberships than there arefarms in their respective states.

Farm Bureaus everywhere loudly pro­claim their non-partisanship. Yet theyare politically active forces leaning towardthe Right-Wing of the political spectrum,especially in the Republican Party. TheFarm Bureau promotes recommended read­ing lists of Right-Wing propaganda andsuch speakers as john Noble. a favoritejohn Birch Society speaker and the 1968chairman of the George Wallace for Pres­ident Committee in Pennsylvania.

An article in the November. 1964 issueof the Farm Bureau's magazine, "NationsAgriculture" reiterated that the "FarmBureau does not endorse candidates," yetthe same article went on to state that Re­publican .. Senator Goldwater has voted inaccordance with Farm Bureau's policyrecommendations most of the time."

The same article mentioned other po­litical candidates who were not favored by

1950s - In 1952, with the appOintment ofEzra Taft Benson as Secretary of Agri­culture, the Farm Bureau gained its closestally in Benson in addition to regaining tre­mendous influence over farm policy. ThisBenson- Farm Bureau alliance campaignedto end government intervention in limitingthe number of acres planted by farmers anddetermining prices to sell their produce.They argued that farmers would adjust theiragriculture production to meet the needs ofthe market. Instead, enormous surplusesdeveloped and the government stoppedbuying surplus commodities with the re­sult that thousands of farmers went out ofbusiness. This is another example of theFarm Bureau and its misgUided attemptsto help the small farmers.

1940s - Continuing its attack on the USDA,the Farm Bureau singled out its Farm Se­curity Administration (FSA) program whichwas developed to give tenants and share­croppers farm ownership through long­term. low-interest loans, to improve mi­grant conditions, and to organiz~"resettle­ment projects," as cooperative agriculturaloperations for the poor. The Farm Bureau,fearful of this emerging rival organization,especially of its attempts to aid the farm­worker to settle on his own farm. launchedincessent criticism of FSA' s "socialistschemes" and the worthlessness of tryingto help small farmers who "do not havethe land, facilities, or labor to producelarge quantities of food" for marketingpurposes. Farm Bureau lobbyists in Con­gress finally destroyed the FSA in the mid­1940s.

Over 30 years ago, the Farm Bureaubegan opposing any attempts to help thesmall' farmer and the farmworkers, buttoday its attacks on the small farmer, thefarm workers, Union members and sup­porters is an all-out campaign through lob­bying efforts to pass anti-farmworker legis­lation and through distorted informationsent out on its vast propaganda networksof television and radio programs, films.newspapers and leaflets.

1960s - According to Berger, "Duringthe Kennedy-johnson Administrations, theFarm Bureau's role shifted back to that ofthe vocal opposition, as Secretary of Agri­culture Orville Freeman attempted to in­crease price supports and production con­trols in order to cut the increasing sur­pluses. Sliding further to the right, theFarm Bureau began to blast the govern­ment programs as 'socialist' schemes.Freeman himself came under a constantbarrage of bitter and often personal attacksfrom the Farm Bureau."

From humble educational purposes, theFarm Bureau today, 58 years later, spreadslike an octopus into tax-exempt businessenterprises totalinl1; nearly $4 billion.

1930s - This decade saw the split be­tween the Farm Bureau and the Departrttentof Agriculture (USDA) over the Depart­ment's desire to deemphasize the ExtensionService and to deal directly with the far­mers, all of which decreased the Farm B!J­reau's influence in rural America. TheFarm Bureau has never been willing toshare or even lessen its bureaucratic con­trol over America's farmers and ruralAmerica in general.

those with the time and money to initiatesuch new techniques.

1920s - During this time the Farm Bu­reau concentrated on developing cooperativebuying and selling for farmers since busi­ness enterprises hesitated from going intothe rural areas because of distributionproblems and the high credit risk of thefarmer.

Special EL MALCRIADO Series- Part 1

THE FARM BUREAU, ENEMY OF LA CAUSA_- A wealthy, tax'-exempt business empire disguised as a farm organization-Its anti-small farmer and anti-farmworker history-Its Right-Wing political activities

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), a long-time supporter ofgrowers and other big businesses, continues in its tradition of ignoring the smallfarmer and leading the opposition against the farmworker in his struggle to gainCnionization, unemployment compensation, higher wages. and over-all betterliVlOg condi tions.

Cnion Director Cesar Chavez. during his recent East Los Angeles press con­ference to announce the victory against the Republican Party's efforts to use theNational Labor Relations Board to ban secondary Boycotts, warned that the FarmBureau will again be one of the most active opponents of the Lettuce Strike andBoycott.

Farmworkers and our supporters on May 2 picketed Farm Bureau offices in105 Cities and 39 states across the nation protesting the Farm Bureau's intentionsof destroying our Union through anti-farmworker legislation.

On May 11, Cesar's prediction came true when a Farm Bureau-sponsored anti­Union bill ',vas passed by the Arizona State Legislature and signed by the governor.

EL .\1ALCRIADO wishes to expose the true nature of the powerful, wealthy, tax­exempt Farm Bureau, beginning with this first article to be published in a serieson America's largest farm organization and its concentrated efforts to promoteand expand its numerous business enterprises, its Right-Wingaffiliations and otherpolitical involvements, and its anti- Union, anti· farmworkel activities.

Information for this series of articles is based upon Dollar Harvest by SamuelR, Berger, and various resource materials collected by different departments inthe Union.

Historically. farmers have always beenplagued with a chronic problem of Americanagriculture . - surplus production. TheGrange, established in 1867 by discontentfarmers became the first grassroots move­ment protesting the outrageous pricescharged by the railroads to haul agriculturalproduce. The Grange members created thefirst agricultural cooperatives in the coun­try in an effort to help each other throughthe mutual buying and selling of their pro­duce to coop members.

Continuing in an even stronger protest,the Populist movement of the late 1800sresulted from the bitterness of the ruralpeople against the dominate power of busi­ness industrialization squeezing out the lit­tle farmer. They demanded the rights ofreferendum (the right of the people to votedirectly on laws), recall (the right to re­move an official from office by popular vote).income tax. and direct election of senators.Berger chronicles its history: "The Popu­list wrath exploded in 1892 with the angrycampaign of William jennings Bryan for thePresidency. Bryan's defeats in 1892 andagain in 1896 contributed to the decline ofthe Populist movement. but not before muchof its program had gained wide popularacceptance. "

In another effort to relieve the povertyin agricultural America, the Farmer'sEducational and Cooperative Union of Amer­ica (later known as the Farmer's Union).founded in 1902. began to establish a systemof warehouses in the cotton states and co­operative stores outside the South to aidthe farmers in their cooperative buying andselling enterprises.

For two brief decades in the beginningof the 20th Century. the farm populationenjoyed some prosperity unknown before orsince. This time the expanding industri­alization and growing population in the citiescreated an increasing demand for agricul­tural products; momentarily, surplus wasnot a problem.

The government's agricultural policyduring this period was primarily to educatefarmers in the techniques of scientific farm­ing. The Department of Agriculture, createdin 1862, also emphasized its educationalrole. That same year, the Morrill Actgranted land to the states for the develop­ment of "land grant" colleges to teach agri­cultural arts. In 1887, the Hatch Act pro­vided government aid to these colleges toestablish and maintain experimental sta­tions for agricultural research. By theearly 19OOs. agricultural agents were hiredto spread the new scientific knOWledge tothe farmers as an "extension" of the landgrant colleges. Later their jobs becameknown as the agricultural "Extension Ser­vice" which now operates in nearly everycounty in the nation.

The Farm Bureau began innocently enoughin 1914 by an overworked agriculture countyagent who appointed willing farmers to aidhim in his duties of teaching farmers thelatest farming techniques.

The "Broome County Farm Bureau",composed of these farmers, took overthe duties of the agriculture committeeformed in 1911 by Broome County Chamberof Commerce, based in Binghamton, NewYork.

Other county agents helped form FarmBureaus in their areas. Soon the countyF arm Bureaus organized into statewidefederations, and eventually on the nationallevel as the American Farm Bureau Feder­ation in 1919.

Highlights of the Farm Bureau's activ­ities of the preceding decades follows:

!m. Early 1900s - Since its beginning: theFarm Bureau concentrated on the wealthyfarmers because the Extension agents onlybothered with shOWing the more prosperousfarmers the new agricultural developments,

"Golden Rule: He who has the gold .alles t~e rules ... " --Arizola Far. Bureau News February 19726 • June 9,1972 • ELI....hM1iAIJLC..QIR~I',},AJ;DO~~ ----l..

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• He has declared his support of Pres­ident Nixon's recent escalation of the warin Viet Nam.

• He declared" john Birch Day" in Ari­zona last year at the request of that or­ganization.

The Union plans to couple the recalleffort with a voter registration drive,since many people in the Chicano andBlack communities of Phoenix and the restof the state are not registered. It isexpected that many diverse groups willbe involved--unions, students, consumers,conservationists, church groups, and peacegroups in addition to the minority farm­worker, Chicano, Black and In~an commu­nities.

• Whoever gets the most votes wins theelection--a majority is not required.

Williams is a Republican who is inlis third term as Governor. His records an extremely bad one that favors the"ich over the poor. Apart from his anti­armworker position, Arizona voters have'ther grievances against him:

• He initially vetoed legal aid funds thisyear, later granting approval only after im­posing severe restrictions on their use.

• Other candidates must run against theGovernor for him to be successfullyrecalled--if he is running alone, he cannotbe voted out of office.

• In 1969 when the state's Navajo Res­ervation suffered a severe drought Williamsrefused to declare it a disaster area: as aresult no governmental relief funds wereforthcoming and the Navajos lost manycattle.

• He regularly attacks environmentalistswho oppose pollution of the air by thestate's large and powerful copper industry. ,

• He has recently shown contempt forprisoners by refusing to sen~ a mediatorto the State Penitentiary in Florence whereprisoners are currently .engaged in a sit­down strike over grievances.

!he plunder of their reservations. Studentsand teachers fear to exercise their con- .stitutional rights. The quality of educationalIexcellence has deteriorated through the gov­ernor's inadequate response to our child­ren's needs. Working men and women havebeen taxed beyond endurance,while the gov­ernor has disregarded their needs as con­sumers. He has failed to act to preservethe quality of our environment. Black andbrown citizens face deprivation of legalaid and economic protections while the gov­ernor offers pious advice. Our state, indesperate need of moral leadership, facesa bankruptcy of conscience. Wecannotcon­tinue in the present direction. A change isimperative.

The petition then goes through thefollOWing procedures:

Petitions asking for the Governor's re­call and signed by eligible voters must begathered. The number of signatures mustbe 25% of the number that voted for thegovernor in the last election in Arizona,so over 102,500 signatures are needed.

• The petitions must be submitted tothe Secretary of State for his certificationagainst lists of registered voters.

• Upon certification, the Secretary callsfor a special election, which is to be heldtwenty to thirty days after his call.

Bureau Members Get Richfarm

PHOENIX, Arizona -- The Union is ask­ing Arizona voters to recall Governor jackWilliams because of his support of the FarmBureau's attempt to cripple the United Farmworkers in the state.

Recall is a procedure by which voterscan require a public official to stand forelection again at any time during his termof office. If defeated by an opponent, theremainder of the official's term is filledby the victor.

Williams signed HB 2134 into law onMay 11, the same day it was passed by thelegislature, and the Union is asking hisrecall because of this act.

Recall has been seldom used in Arizona'shistory except in the case of school boardmembers. The petition for recall mustbear a statement of 200 words or less statinggrounds for recall. The following is thetext of La Causa's petition for recall ofGovernor jack Williams:

informed about Cesar's fast and the recall

• Fayors t~e Ric~ Oyer t~e Poor• Silled AIIi-Far.worker Bill

-Exploitation and Fearin the Fields of Arizona

Gus GUitierrez, who is in charge of the Union's organizing activities inArizona, places the first signature on the petition to recall Governor Jack Williams.

school. He wanted to get back in, but itwas onions for now.

It'S not just wages. We visited four orfive fields; each one had 100 to 300 work­ers and only one toilet and one common,unsanitary drinking can. The fields arefull of illegals, and growers, politiciansand police alike brag about their cooper-ation in making an exploited, illegal and PHOENIX, Arizona -- The Arizona Farm are accurate."dirt cheap work force readily available. Bureau Federation is advocating repressive Gus Gutierrez also charged that the Ari-The illegals were afraid to look us in the state labor legislation while its members zona Farm Bureau uses funds from' itseye, much less talk with us about wages live high off federal subsidies, charged auxiliary business enterprises to help fi-and working conditions. The contractors Gus Gutierrez, Director of Organizing for nance the organizations' lobbying efforts.and growers alike were upset by our pres- the Union in Arizona, after House Bill "The Farm Bureau Service Company,"ence, and we' were eventual~y asked to 2134 was passed by the state legislature' Gus said, "which sells tires and batteriesleave every field we visited. But we told and signed by the governor. channeled $36,000 to the Farm Bureau,as many as we could about Cesar's fast, Gus pointed out that grower-rancher a tax-exempt, non-profit organization."the repressive bill the legislature had just members of the Farm Bureau received Miller said this money represented apassed against them, and invited them to most of the $42 million in cash subsi- repayment of the money "loaned to thethe nightly masses. died paid to Arizona farm operations last service company by the Farm Bureau

This is what we're fighting in Arizona-- year. in order to establish the firm in businessthe typical starvation wages, long hard "This program," Gus charged, "amounts "No profits are funneled back inw thehours under poor working conditions, and to welfare for the well-to-do. As a rule Bureau," Miller said. "FUFthermore, wethe worker's complete vulnerability befor:e of thumb, the wealthier the grower, the more have no paid lobbyists. I happen' to be thethe will of his employer. When the wor1c- he receives in subsidies." In contrast lobbyist."ers on the Ellsworth Ranch near Queen Gus said, $36 million in federal funds But Gus explained that the Farm BureaqCreek had the audacity to file a wage and were spent on the state's public welfare has a "built-in" lobby in. the legislature,hour complaint they found themselves programs last year. which consists of legislators themselves.thrown out of company housing the next Seven members of the Arizona State Farm "House Majority Whip, Stan Akers (R-day. So many are afraid of Union talk. It's Bureau's Board of Directors, Gus added, Phoenix), who received $94,101 in farmthese kinds of conditions that the Union is received a Wtal of $431,844 in federal subsidies last Year," Gus said, "is vicefighting, and this kind of fear Cesar is . subsidies last year.' Lynn' Anderson, a state chairman of the House Economic Affairs'

h d i . Committee, which 'introduced HB 2134."struggling to end in is fast, an t 1S director and president of the Maricopathese conditions and this fear that Arizona's County chapter, received $91,856. Gus also noted that Representative jarriesnew farm labor law seeks to perpetUate. Cecil Miller, jr., state, president of the Sosaman (R-Higley), chairman of the Agrl

Farm Bureau admitted, "The figures on culture Committee is a Farm Bureau•••lIl1l1i1J.II•••IIII11I1i1I1i1••III•••••••••••••••L_~thb<eg..~s~sii!i,gy,-.Illa'Lme:ntli-ar.1!.-ll.-maLt:lle!r.-.o,f--In.eml:leI:~i1hI::l-c-oJl ss.:z'.32_iJ'--.lEA.r.ID... ~_~__

PHOENIX, Arizona -- Onions are aboute only crop in which you can get work

round Phoenix now. Most back roads andorne highways have signs up- -"Onionorkers wanted", followed by directions

ilnd the contractor's name. The work islong and hard: the plants grow very closetogether, they must be uprooted, clippedilnd tied together. It takes a lot of stoop­Ing and kneeling, and the sun's hot--up -to100 degrees.

The going rate is 25 cents a bag. Aast, hard worker can make fifteen dol-ar r day killing himself; less than tens ,er to average. We talked W one

art---=and wife- -they made eleven togethere day before. One family of four-­other and kids 16, 17 and 19--were aver-

ging 25 dollars a day _all together. Aser son said, "That barely covers food

'or us." We asked Why the kids weren'tschool; her 19 year old daughter is mar-

ied, and they can't afford the clothes and,ooks for the other two--so they must

oJ;k along with their parents. They knewbout Cesar and the fast, and said they'de there for mass.

One farmworker was pUlling in 15 or 16,ollars a day--for himself, wife and fivehildren; He felt 40 or 50 cents a bagould be a fair wage.Another worker nearby also felt that

is wages needed doubling to be fair. Hisiend was also 14, and had recently quit

We, the people of Arizona, petition therecall of Governor jack Williams. He hasfailed to protect the God-given rights of thepeople of our state. He has acted in theinterest of the few to the detriment of themany. Migrant farmworkers and otherpoor have borne the burden of his scorn.

~ ~ ~Heh~ri~~kdth~r~pesWbuiWa~~

ter life for their children. He has des­troyed their right to free association. In­dians, whose rights have been denied forso long, encounter a governor who permits

v,'ers IlI,e ." R,call Ariz,na G"ern,r

Exclusive to EL ~ALCRIADO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Interview With Cesar Chavez In Arizona

I

• Creating the spirit of social justice • Fasting as a part of Non-violence

• Disciplining ourselves to love • !SI SE PUEDE!

pression of love towards the growers andthe legislators! Would you explain that kindof a response in the situation where thosepeople have just cut farmworkers deeplywith this legislation?C~SAR: You see, the growers, the FarmBureau, the Republican legislators and thegovernor, apart from everything else, arehuman beings. Anyone of us could committhe errors that they're committing, and sowe cannot -- however hurt we are and how­ever wounded we are bywhatthey'vedone-­lose sight of that fact. In other words, ifwe want dignity for our people, then we haveto protest with dignity. But that should notbe misunderstood to mean that we shouldbe meek or that we have to be violent butI mean that we have to protest and stillkeep in sight their worth as human bpings,however wrong they may be. And if 'regoing to do that, then you have to dd·__plineyourself to love them. We have to lovethem so that when we struggle against themthere is always a possibility of having jus­tice done, because we'll be ready to acceptit. We don't wa'nt to be so mad at them wecannot accept their giving to us.

And that comes because our firm con­viction is that they are going to come some­day and want to understand that things haveto change. Therefore, we have to be readyto accept that offer of justice for what itreally is: repentance. But if we're somad at them, so full of hate against them,as has happened in the case of other move­ments and as we see it happen to peoplealmost every day, we would be losing theopportunity to make progress for theworlt­ers. Without love, we wouldn't be able toaccept the repentance of the growers. theFarm Bureau. the RepubUcans and thegov­ernor.

Non-violent campaign that we have to under­take: But there are several things that wouldmake me very happy. And that would be ifthe governor were to call a special sessionof the legislature and repeal the law. Butwe're not asking him to do that, becauseit's not a hunger Strike. And if the workersunderstood the full impact and the meaningof thi~ law on their lives and on theirchances of correcting their situation, itwould make me very happy.E L MALCRIADO: That seems to indicatethat the fast is a spiritual expression anda personal expression. Would you care tosay anything to the farmworkers acrossth~ c0UI!try about that?C~SAR: The farmworkers who have aMexican or Filipino background or Arabbackground understand the fast because it'sreally a part of their culture. And I can'treally say too much to them except thatfasting happens to be a part of our cul­ture, but also it happens to be a veryimportant part of our lives in this Non­violent struggle. So all I can say to themis that each and everyone of us has to dohis part as well as he can.

To the other workers who are not famil­iar with the fast, the fast is a very person­al spiritual thing and it's not done- out ofrecklessness. It's not done out of a de­sire to destroy myself but it's done outof, in my case, personal experience, anda deep conviction that we can communicateto people either those who are for us or'against us faster and more effectivelyspiritually than we can in any other way.The fast is a spiritual way of communi-.

,cation. .' -EL MALCRIAl)(Y. One of thestrikinithillisyou said when you began the fast was thatt is not done out of anger. but as an ~- .

ing conditions of, the workers.EL MALCRIADO: Why do you think thepowers in the state, the Farm Bureau, theRepublicans, the Conservative Republicans,some of the big growers fear the Union?C~SAR: They fear the Union because a­mong other things, you know, it's going'to give the workers the right to free ex­pression and it's going to cost the growersa little bit more money; but basically and'more important, they're going to have toshare their power with the workers. That'seven more important than money, and theother things.EL MALCRIADO: On the other side of thequestion of fear, is the fast also an ex­pression of your desire that the workersshouldn't fear the powers that 'are againstthem in this state?C~SAR: You see, a lot of the commentsthat I heard as I came into Arizona onThursday and Friday was that people weresaying it can'tbedone--"nosepuede"--andI began to understand that the expression."it can't be done," really meant, ''I'm a­fraid to do it". And so we've got to showour brothers and sisters that it can bedone, but we have to rid ourselves of thatfear. And the fast I'm sure is going to ­not the fast alone, - but the fast throughthe communications we're sending out tothe workers daily is going to - make themat least recognize that they can't sit backand say it can't be done.EL MALCRIADO: Is there any set of cir­cumstances or anything that would convinceyou to stop the fast?C~SAR: No, there's nothing that wouldstop me from the fast because as I saidbefore. this is just paFt and parcel of the

Union Director Cesar Chavez announcedthe beginning of a fast on Friday, May 12,the day after the Arizona State Legislaturepassed the most repressive anti-farm­worker bill in the history of the UnitedStates. The following is an interview withCesar during which he outlines the role offasting in Non-violent struggle and his ownconvictions which impelled him to fast.

EL MALCRIADO: Cesar, why did you startyour fast?C~SAR: The fast was started to create thespirit of social justice in Arizona and to tryby our efforts through the fast and our sac­rifices to erase the fear.s that the growersand the Republican legislators and theRepublican governor have of the Union andof us generally in the State of Arizona. Thisis really a fast for social justice, and totry to reach the hearts of those men sothat they will understand that we do haverights, and that we are not here to des­troy because we are not destroyers, weare builders.

It would have been cowardly for us toleave our sisters and brothers here, al­though we have very few members in Ari­zona. A lot of farmworkers and I saw thepassage of HB 2134 as a very dangerous anddifficult pOSition for the Union to be in.I began to feel even before the law waspassed that if the Farm Bureau succeededin Arizona, as it has in Kansas and Idaho,it might continue until it had gotten anti­farmworker legislation passed throughoutthe entire country.

And so I saw it as our duty to sacrificeourselves for our farmworker sisters andbrothers: to do less would have been toeither run away or to be cowards.EL MALCRIADO: Why do you think a billlike this could pass in this state?C~SAR: Well, the obvious reason, ofcourse,is the unbalance of power in Arizona, theRepublicans are controlled by the Farm Bu­reau which has excessive power and thefarmworkers' only real direct supporter isthe Union. Farmworkers are weak and thisis the obvious reason the law passed. Butalso it passed because the Goldwater forcesare drunk with power in Arizona. Theyhave excessive power and power tends tocorrupt and it's the kind of corruption thatmakes it possible for a special interestgroup to run over the sacred rights of the ­workers and to destroy their hopes andaspirations.EL MALCRIADO: Why do you feel a fastwhich is essentially an expression of makingoneself willfully, physically weakened is anappropriate response to forces of excessivepower?C~SAR: Because fasting is a part of Non­violence and Non-violence is a very power­ful method of restoring justice. And so thefast is only a part of the whole that we havedecided is the only and the best course forus to follow in trying to win justice forfarmworkers and trying to build the Union.And so fasting in that context is a verypowerful expression. I'll be fasting forseveral days and if I were to do nothingbut fast and then go and crawl in mylittle hole it would be different, but assoon as the fast is over and I regain mystrength I plan to continue working as hardas ever. Also, 1think that the Farm Bureau-,and the employers and, the governor aregoing to have to understand that we areserious about correcting the injusticesagainst farmworkers. They'll have tounderstand we're so serious we're willingto gladly accept any sacrifices that we musthave to make to change the liVing and work-

Afiier Miss,-farmworkers and S~8 hear the latest DeWS about the recall \campaign against Governor WllUams and the mounting support for the ~ttUCe Boycott ;\ . .

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I Across the Nation:

As EL MALCRIAOO goes to press, UnionDirector Cesar Chavez enters the 22ndday of his fast in Arizona. The news ofCesar's sacrifice is spreading through-out the world touching many souls and in­spiring. them to take the Boycott Lettucepledge. Since the beginning of the fast,telegrams and letters supporting our In­ternational Lettuce Boycott and our strugglefor justice in Arizona have been pouring

~ in by the thousands. OUr sisters and broth­I ers, both farmworkers and supporters, areparticipating in vigils, picketlines and fastsall over the nation, offering "palanca"(spiritual Solidarity) in support of Cesar'sfast.ATLANTA, GEORGIA-.;. CHICAGO, ILLI­NOIS-- PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA--­ST. LOUIS and KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI­Boycotters and supporters in these citiesgathered letters and telegrams of supportfor Cesar's fast and pledges to Boycottlettuce to send to Arizona.BALTIMORE, MAR YLAND-- Supportersmarched 12 miles to the Farm Bureauoffice where they held a rally and begana vigil proclaiming: "For everyone headof lettuce you sell in Arizona, we're goingto stop 50 in Baltimore."BOISE, IDAHO-- Thirty demonstrators pic­keted and distributed over 1,000 leaflets infront of the Farm Bureau office, located inthe j.R. Simplot Building, named after oneof the biggest potato growers in the state.The Idaho demonstrators fasted for the dayin solidarity with Cesar's fast.BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- Two hun­dred and fifty people participated in anEcumenical service in support of Cesar'sfast. Representatives from the Massa­chusetts CounCil of Churches blessed wa­ter, served it to the people who had fastedfor the day, explaining: "just as waterdoes not satisfy our needs, neither doessympathy without action satisfy the needsof migrant farmworkers. "

CALIFORNIA'

Vigils, Picketlines and Fasts-SUPPORT FOR CESAR'S FAST GROWS

THOUSANDS SIGN LETTUCE BOYCOTT PLEDGE

Cesar's fast has inspired candlelight vigils like this one, along with plcltetllnes and fasts, across the country.

BAKERSFIELD -- Over 1,500 farmworkersfrom throughout the Southern san JoaquinValley marched two miles, May 24, fromthe city's center to the auditorium where300 members of the Kern County FarmBureau were stuffing themselves at theirannual dinner.

The demonstration, organized by the Delano Union office, maintained an exuberantspirit that peaked when Dolores Mendoza,a notorious strikebreaker and enemy of LaCausa, once again crossed a farmworkerpicketline toattend·the Farm Bureau dinneras a guest speaker.

The picketline was preceded by a rallyin front of the auditorium where UnionVice-President Dolores Huerta and Gen­eral Counsel jerry Cohen brought theworkers the latest news about Cesar's fastand the organiZing drive in Arizona. Theyalso urged farmworker participation inSenator McGovern's primary campaign inCalifornia.BERKELEY -- San Francisco Boycottersand supporters held 'a vigil in front of theAlameda County Farm Bureau where theyheard Father Bill O'Donnell, of the UnitedClergy for Far:mworkers, speak about thefast and "the strength that comes fromthe Willingness to sacrifice, while the FarmBureau relies on material strength."LAMONT-- For the first time, the localCatholic church made their facilities avail­able to the farmworkers who held a massfor Cesar's health.LOS ANGELE5-- Farmworkers fromCoa­chella, santa Maria and Guadalupe, La paz

.volunteers Los Angeles Boycotters andsupporters spend busy weekends on theArt Torres campaign, going door-to-door,distributing campaign literature, bumperstrips, and signs in the 40th AssemblyDistrict.PARLIER--Five hundred people, including afew ealifornia lawmakers, attendeda massfor Cesar's health and the purposes of hisfast. Local 1V cameras covered the event,organized by the Selma Union Office.POPLAR -- Over two hundred farmworkerspicketed the election meeting of the TulareCounty Farm Bureau officials.

DENVER, COLORAOO-- About 80 individ­uals from community organizations repre­senting all parts of Denver, participated ina weekend Solidarity fast in honor of Ce­sar's own fast. They broke thier fast onMonday with a Mass at the local Farm Bu­reau office.LANSING, MICHIGAN-- Picketers greetedSecretary of Agriculture Earl Butz duringhis speech to the "Independent Farmersfor the Reelection of our President". Butz,enraged' shouted: "Why !ire you attackingus good people at the Farm Bureau?"MIAMI, FLORIDA -- A clergy delegationattempted to see Doyle Conner, Com­missioner of Agriculture, who is pushingfor a Florida anti-farmworker law, simi­lar to Arizona's , while Boycotters pic-keted outside. During the May 19, Jewishreligious day of Shebuoth, Feast of theFirst Fruits, many Rabbis preached on the

Lettuce Boycott, the farmworker's struggle,and Cesar's fast.

NEW JERSEYNEWARK-- During a dinner with guestspeaker Jack Anderson, Washington col­umnist, Boycotters discovered scab lettucebeing served. They explained the Union'sLettuce Boycott and proceeded from tableto table with buckets for guests to dumptheir lettuce. In addition, they collected$100 for La Causa.TRENTON -- New Jersey and Philadelphiasupporters received lots of press coveragewhen they joined forces to picket the

Farm Bureau. Picketers carried a casketfull of letters and pledges to Cesar, witha sign: "Farm Bureau kills farmworkers.Migrant children lie in this box."NEW YORK CITY-- Sympathetic politicansand officials of the New York CentralLabor Council attended Ecumenical ser­vices during a 24-hour vigil outside St.Patrick's Cathedral. Over 20,000- leafletswith pledges to Boycott lettuce were pass­ed out and $100 in donations collected.

OHIOCINCINNATI-- Boycotters and supportersgathered at Fountain Square in centralCincinnati for a weekend Vigil.CLEVELAND-- Union people spoke to thecongregations of six churches about Ce­sarli fast. After services, the listeners

responded with letters, telegrams, 'donations.DAYTON-- Supporters picketed a $125plate Republican fund-raising dinner \\'guest speaker Senator Robert Dole, GChairman. They demanded: "Why do Fpublicans feast while Cesar fasts for farworkers who are starving? Why are Fpublicans trying to crush our Union \\'leg;islation like the Arizona law?"PITTSBURGH,. 'PENNSYLVANIA -- BishLeonard of the Diocese of Pittsburgh offted a special Memorial Day Mass in Sl

port of Cesar's fast and the : farworkers in Arizona. On Sunday, May.sixty churches included the Arizona eve.in their services.PORTLAND, OREGON-- Willamette Vatfarmworkers joined Boycotters and SL

porters during an all-day Vigil at the FtBureau office.TEXAS -- Press conferences in DALLSAN ANTONIO, and HOUSTON annoUJ1(May 20 as a day of fasting in Solidarwith Cesar for farmworker supporttthroughout the state. That evening, E'menical services celebrated the endthe fast while people presented the mOlthey would have spent on food to the farworkers' cause.WASHINGTON, D.C. --Boycotters repothat Farm Bureau people watched Llistened when they spoke of Cesar's fand gathered pledges signed for the Ltuce Boycott during a recent Vigil houtside the Farm Bureau office.

Richard Chavez, DIrector of UUoo offices. distributes Informadon about the nightly Mas. celebratedduring Cesar's fast and about our recall campaign against Governor Jack Williams of Arizona.

Help La Causa

Dear Cesar:

I support your Non- violent efforts to bring justice to America',migrant farmworkers. I stand with you in your fast for the "Spiriof justice."

I pledge not to eat or buy lettuce until grower agree to negotiate Contracts with the United Farm Workers.

I pledge to tell my friends about the Lettuce Boycott.

I pledge to raise the issue of the Lettuce Boycott whereveI see lettuce (e.g. , conventions, fund-raising dinners, airplane~

restaurants, church dinners, dinner parties, etc.).

VIV A LA CAUSA,

Name _

Address _

City_-'-- State Zip _

Mail to:

"':'~~:;~'~M'~~~~:>''''':'>;>'~'~ ,'y ','" ;" ~"."""~: J,,~»,; ,,> i~~'~/4» '~\'t ' "

------------ ,~

"PARLIER:Farmworkers

Oust IncumbentsP ARLlER, California -- Parlier farm­

workers, who are mostly Chicanos andcomprise about 80 percent of the town'spopulation, recently united with the rest ofthe community at the polls to oust theincumbent mayor, two councilmen and Cityclerk.

The long struggle was led by the Par-lier F:act -Finding Committee which wasorganIzed at an open community meetingJanuary 1971 in response to City Council'shiring of Patrick Carnahan as Chief ofPolice. Carnahan is known to be a racistby the community. Another member ofthe Police force, John Martinez, who rank­ed far above Carnahan in years of ser­vice. was by-passed for the appointment.

The ten-member Fact-Finding Commit­tee, including six farmworkers, was con­tinually rebuffed by Mayor Weldon Byramand CounCilmen Norman Krum, LutherBalakian, Richard Mangrum and ScheichiTsuboi. The Committee organized a pe­tition drive for an election to recall theCity Council. More than 25% of the com­munity, both Chicanos and Whites, signedthe petitions, but the petitions were re­jected by the City Council on the groundsof a minor technicality.

The Committee then organized a Boy­COtt of Byram's Market and Tsuboi's Mar­ket. On September 2, 1971, Byram's Mar­ket, along with three neighboring business­es, was destroyed by arson. Councilmenimmediately blamed the Chicano communi­ty, but Byram himself was later arrestedby the Fresno County Sheriff's Departmenton charges of arson.

Although Byram was recently acquittedby the local courts, Councilman BaldazaTovar related in a recent interview thatthe case against Byram will probably befurther prosecuted by the insurance com­pany.

Within the next month, the last two in­cumbent councilmen, Tsuboi and Mangrumwill be challenged by Rudolfo Zapata andMike Avila, who are both supported by theFact-Finding Committee.

As for recently-elected Mayor AndrewBenites, 24, his first action in office wasto accept the immediate resignation of theParlier's entire six-man police force. HeappOinted John Martinez chief of police andhas begun to build, a police force trulysensitive to the needs of the community.

Although none of the new councilmen arefarmworkers, they are aware of farm­worker needs and have the complete sup­port 01 the Parlier farmworkercommunity.

Jesus Sanchez, member of the Union andthe Fact Finding Committee, said the Com­mittee will remain intact as a politicalorgan of the community, a constant re­minder to the new City Council of its re­sponSibility to progressively serve theParlier community.

CONFIDENTIAL

Secret Telegram RevealsFarm Bureau Worried

But St illAnti-Farmworker

:,f1l1...M.........IIUlIIH.....ItI....IIllIItI..fltltl1l.III'"" ..I'..IIIIt.lltttlIItltlut"I'I'I'IIIIIIII'IIIIIItI1'~

Harold B. Steele, President ~Illinois Agricultural Association ~1701 Towanda Avenue =Bloomington, Illinois 61701

A committee from the United FarmWorkers N;nionaI Union met with me andstaff members "" ednesday without priornotice to advise that unless Farm Bureauceases its activities in seeking farm laborlegislation and in discouraging farmersfrom signing union shop agreements with •UFW, it intends to carry out massiveinformational and Boycott campaignsagainst Farm Bureau and its affiliates.Beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 8,in 40 cities--throughout the country and alsoIn Europe--they hope to stir up publicresentment to the tax-exempt status ofFarm Bureau and affiliated cooperatives.They will seek unionization of wage andhour employees of Farm Bureau and af­filiates, using strikes and Boycotts whennecessary. They plan to infiltrate FarmBureaus by having farm workers seek vot­ing membership in Farm Bureaus. Ourresponse was to review Farm Bureau =policies on farm labor relations and tell gthem in no uncertain terms that we were §

going to carry out these policies to thebest of our ability. Your staff should bealerted to a situation which might becomeactive. We will keep in close touch withthose state Farm Bureaus where statefarm labor bills are under considerationsince it is obvious that this is a verysensitive area for UFW. For the present,

;; would recommend that you do not issuei any news releases on this meeting.

IWilliam J. Kuhfuss, President~ American Farm Bureau FederationSIIIIIIII.IIIII.,IIII."IIIIIIIII'"IIIIIIIIIII....IIIII........III•• , ...1IItIlllllllllllllll'''IIII'''''11II11111111

The Guadalupe TenStand Firm

The "Guadalupe Ten", ;including fourof our Union members, are: Agustina Gu­tierrez, Andel G. Fierro, Carmen MaganaJesus Ord'z, Sammy Gonsalez, juana Es­torga, Margarito Cabello, Marla Vaca, Man­uel EchavarrIa and Fermin Sepulveda. Theyare accused of breaking up the meetingand not permitting O'Campo to speak. Butour Union and the Chicano community isconvinced that the Guadalupe Ten havebeen singled out for harassment becausethey are either Union members or havebeen active in trying to reform Guada­lupe schools.

According to Union member Juana Es­torga, more than 400 persons attended themeeting and O'Campo was permitted tospeak. She said, "But then he started toprovoke the people by telling lies about ourUnion and the Chicano movement, so webegan answering him. When he said 'Ce­sar Chavez', we shouted 'Viva Chavez!',and when he said 'Chicano', we added'Powed' That was alL"

Juana explained that O'Campo deliber­ately provoked the people by shouting atthem and the people answered him. Sbebelieves the Guadalupe Ten have beenSingled out from the 400 people who at­tended the meeting because the PTCBoardof Directors wants to make an example ofthem and silence the rest of the commu­ity through fear.

Margarito Cabello, another of the Guada­lupe Ten and a Union member, noted theywere not notified about the charges againstthem until two or three weeks after themeeting. He said, "It is obvious thatthe Board is out to get us because therewere no police at the meeting, except forthe 35 to 45 policemen outside, and thereis no way we could have been identifiedwithout the Board's involvement.""If Melchor O'Campo came around againto say those lies about La Causa, I wouldanswer hi m because we have the rightto protest, especially when we are beingshouted at and insulted. If O'Campo thinkswe are going to receive him with open armsas he is when he goes to the growers,he is mistaken."

"O'Campo is not qualified to speak aboutfarmworkers," Margarito explained, "heis a former radio broadcaster who wouldn'tknow how to drive a tractor nor use ahoe. I don't care if I go to jail for de·fending La Causa because it is for the goodClf my children and our community. of

eur brothers and sisters of the Guada­lu"e Ten and their supporters ask that asmany people as possible be present to joinin the struggle at their next court appear­a~e which is scheduled for June 7 at.:_ a.m. in the Guadalupe Courthouse.

OREGON:Sentor Hatfield

Anti-FarmworkerMT. ANGEL, Oregon - - Senator Mark

Hatfield (R-Oregon) was confronted by 25farmworker women when he spoke at Mt.Angel College April 27. Hatfield wasquestioned about his refusal to meet withfarmworkers to discuss his anti-far'mwork·er attitudes.

Hatfield stated he "did not support theBoycott, but supported anyone's right toorganize", which to farmworkers is acontradictory and hypocritical position tohold. Many of the farmworkers wantedto ask questions, but Hatfield left thecollege 45 minutes early, saying he hadan important meeting at the Valley Mi­grant League headquarters.

So the farmworker women followed himthere, where VML Director Frank Mar­tinez finally let them attend the meeting.At the end of the meeting the women askedHatfield why he met with federal employees,but refused to meet with farmworkers.

Pointing his finger at the farmworkers,Hatfield accused them of breaking up everymeeting he had attended. But after manymore embarrassing questions from our sis­ter farmworkers, he finally said he wouldsoon meet with farmworkers. According toUmon orgamzer Graciela Cisneros, "Se­nator Hatfield said his assistant would letus know when he would be in town again.We are still waiting."

GUADALUPE, California .- The entireChicano community is mobilizing to fightan attempt by the Santa Barbara CountySheriff's Department to prosecute ten per­sons for "disturbing the peace" duringan appearance of Melchor O'Campo March16.

Melchor O'Campo, a member of the JohnBirch Society whose expenses are paid byRight-Wing and. anti-farmworker groupswho sponsor his speaking engagements,was invited to speak at Obispo StreetSchool by the Board of Directors of theGuadalupe Parent-Teacher's Club. ThePresident of the Board, Fausto Regusci isforeman at a local dairy and most of theother Board members are growers or knownto be anti-Union.

were in the forefront in supporting ourUnion's attempts to organize farmworkersin the grape industry in 1.65.

"Without their recocnition, our Unionwould have never been. recognized by thegrowers," said Cesar as he urged theUAW to continue he su"port of La Causa.

KINGSBURG, California -- Farmwork­ers walked off their jobs at the AshlanPacking Company May 15 after they wereinformed that company-owner Harry Ash­Ian was pushing a petition for the anti­farm worker initiative currently being spon­sored by the California Farm Bureau Fed­eration and other grower groups. In push­ing the petition, Ashlan was violating theContract he signed with our Union in 1970,stipulating the employer cannot engage inanti-Union activity.

Selma Union Office Director Gilbert Pa­dilla and Union Organizer Pablo Espinozadiscovered the petition on Ashlan's deskwhile visiting him on other routine Unionbusiness. They demanded he immediatelydestroy the petition. He refused. Gilbertand Pablo then went directly to his fieldsand informed the workers of Ashlan'santi-Union, anti-farmworker activity.

Led by Ranch Committee President Por­firio Reyes, forty-four workers refused tocontinue workin~ and set up a picketline infront of Ashlan, s office. The picketlinecontinued into the afternoon until Ashlanfinally burned the petion himself in frontof the workers.

Ashlan, a grower with SOO acres, had re­ceived the petition in the mail from Kerman,California. He' had persuaded people tosign it by saying "it promised farmworkerselections 14 days after they request it.", But Ashlan neglected to inform the sign­ers that the Farm Bureau initiative's pro­posed elections for farmworkers would bein the hands of the California Departmentof Industrial Relations, whose Board isappointed by anti-farmworker GovernorReagan. The initiative would also takeaway our Union's right. to Boycott forsocial justice and would leave intact thecorrupt labor contractor system that haskept us in misery for so many years.

Throughout California, many people arebeing fooled into signing the petition be­cause the initiative is cleverly presentedas the "Farm Worker Petition." "Helpthe farmworkers,': they are told, "andsupport the Farm Worker Initiative." Weare asking all of our supporters not tofall for this phoney and vicious attemptto kill our Union.

KINGS BU RG:Farm Bureau Initiative

Ha Ited

Oppressive OrdinanceFought

GREENFIELD, California·· Union mem­bers, comprising nearly 75% of Greenfield'sChicano community, joined the rest of theChicano community in Boycotting localstores in retaliation for the passing ofan oppressive anti-loitering ordinance byGreenfield's grower-dominated city coun­cil.

Farmworkers as well as the total Chi­cano community feel Ordinance 121 will beused primarily against their community.The ordinance makes "unreasonably an­noying" behavior punishable by a $500.00fine or six months in jail.

juan Huerta, Director of the King CityOnion office, has been actively opposing

• Ordinance 121, originally initiated by localmarket owners. According to juan, it iscustomary for Chicano youth to socializeoutside the three local markets.

A petition protesting the measure wassigned by 445 persons and presented to thecity council, but the council refused to reoscind the action. The council's fears wereexpressed by local resident Robert Reit­zel, who said "it's the council's job tostand firm and maintain this ordinance.I think outside agitation has stirred up ourMexican-American people. If you backdown, there will be trouble in King Cityand Soledad."

The Boycott of Greenfield's markets isputting a lot of pressure on local mer­chants to help in rescinding the ordinance,but it is a hard struggle. The Greenfieldmayor is one of the largest independentgrowers in the area and many growersnear Greenfield are Farm Bureau mem­bers.

Tempers are running high. On May 7six pellets were shot through the frontwindows of the King City Union office,while juan Huerta marched in Boycottpicketlines in Greenfield. The King Citylaw enforcement officers and the mayor,who is a field supervisor for the UnionSugar Company, are still "investigating."

~TLANTlC CITY, New jersey -- Lausa was honored when Union Directorsar Chavez received the United AutoIrkers Social justice award April 25. being the "spokesman for the wretchedthe American earth."Cesar told delegates to the UAW's 23rli:1stitutional convention that the late UAW'esident Walter Reuther and former UAW~stern Regional Director, Paul SChrade,

JAW Honors La Causa

ALINAS:Defense Dept.... SCABS AGAIN

I

I3ALINAS, California -- More than 300'mworkers and supporters picketed the

I ;inas Grower-Shipper Association officeSalinas May 5 to expose the DepartmentDefense's (DOD) attempts to undermine

l LettuCe Strike and Boycott by arrangingpurchase non- Union lettuce.The DOD officials, Mr. Ward, Carlot Co­iinator and field supervisor for the West-1 Region of the Defense Supply Agency, ­i Lieutenant Colonel Callaghan. Chief of, Fruit and Vegetable Branch of theWest-1 Region of the Defense Supply Agency,j hoped to have a quiet meeting with 35)wers in the Salinas Grower Shipper As­~iation office.Norkers came from Freshpict, Pic 'nc, 0'Arrigo, Inter Harvest and PaulUlSOn. At the same time, TV cameramen,Nspaper reporters and policemen di­~ting traffip arrived, swelling the crowd:side. Hundre?s of picket signs spelled: the protests: "Department of Defenseploits Farmworkers", "ITT and GOP­partment of Defense and Growers" , "To­y's Army Wants to join You, if You'reRich Grower" and .. Boycott Lettuce."A farm worker delegation walked into theice and demanded a meeting with the DOD'icials. Ward and Callaghan came out of! meeting to be confronted with the accu­don that "only four days ago Cesar Chavez'Jounced the Lettuce Boycott and alreadyl DOD is in Salinas making plans to bail• growers out! " The delegation members'Jounced them as strikebreakers and de­'nded that if they wanted to buy lettuce,~y should buy only Union lettuce.Vard, a veteran of the DOD Grape Boy­,t-busting and Bud Antle Lettuce Boycott­;ting activities, claimed the grower'seting was a routine meeting held everylr at the beginning of the harvest to in­m the growers "how to bid for DOD sales~ive everyone a fair chance." Apparently

DOD is more concerned ibout giving alir chance" to the growers, rather thanfarmworkers whose hundreds of sonsre literally given their lives fighting theD's wars in Viet Nam and Korea!The DOD officials claimed its organi­

a- ion is "neutral and buys according toth ce and quality", based on the rules.

DP : this i~ the same tactic employed bye- DOD when it used taxpayers' money to

_ rease its purchases of scab grapes fore- service men and women throughout theth rid at the peak of the Grape Strike and

ycon.The farmworker delegation returned to

picketline while Ward, Callaghan andir grower friends disappeared through

back door. Meanwhile, Union Directorsar Chavez sent thefollowing telegram tolator Robert Dole, Chairman of the Re­llican National Committee:

ey The United Farm Workers protests thep- ~ of the Department of Defense by therm publican Administration to break our

ike and Boycott of Lettuce.S, roday, May 5, despite the protests anded keting by more than 300 Salinas Valleyity tuce workers, Lieutenant Colonel Calla­'rs ln, Chief of the Fruit and Vegetableu- anch and Mr. Ward, Carlot Coordinatorof j field supervisor, both from the U. S.Y partment of Defense, defied our picket­- e to meet secretly with 35 Salinas

lley lettuce growers to conspire to breakted- International Boycott of Lettuce.d The Republican Administration guar­st :eed these Salinas Valley growers at- ,rket for their non-Union lettuce at theId )ense of the tax-payers of this country.

ese same growers refuse to grant theirgrant farmworkers even the most basic,nan rights of dignity and freedom.5enator Dole, citizens of our country who~ve in the Armed Forces are young meni women themselves from the poor andnority groups. They do not want to feastlettuce or even see it in their mess hallsen they know that thousands of farm­rkers and their families are preventedrich growers from receiving a just wage

1 decent working conditions.Ne know that the poor do not have easy:ess to the doors of the White Housei we will have to plead our Cause to thelerican People. We demand that thepartment of Defense stop its interference:h the rights of migrant workers to or­uze and to bargain collectively. Wenand that the DOD stop buying non­'on lettuce.

.'

RIGOBERTO GARNICA: .....The police didnot take the gun away from Krupp......

But even the school controversy dldnot unite and galvanize the Chicano commu­nity as ,did the killing of Mario Barreras.Many who before were afraid to speak outnow have done so. Hank Ramirez quotesAugustine Soria, an eyewitness to the shoot­ing, as saying: "Generally I don't get in­volved in government affairs. I'm fromMexico, and I don't have the rights mostcitizens do, because I'm not a citizen. I'vebeen here for a long time, and I've stayedout of trouble, However, this time I amgoing to get involved. Because the officer,when he got off the car, knew what he wasgoing to do, and he went directly to thevictim's car, and shot him like a dog. Itis for that reason--because it might happento my own son--that I'm going to get in­volved'"

The killing of our brother Mario Barreras'comes only three months after anotherUnion member, Romulo Dominguez Avalos,21, was shot down in cold blood February 11by U.S. Border Patrolman Edward Nelson, •at the Cal-Mission Ranch in Livingston,California.

The school is directed by Michael Zim­merman, who has his secondary teachingcredentials from the University of Cali­fornia at Riverside and a bachelor's de­gree in sociology fromlCal State Fuller­ton. Zimmerman works closely with andhas the cooperation of the United FarmWorkers Union Office in Blythe.

ches, they were superb--I have nothing butpraise for the Brown Berets. They werethe ones that conducted all the vigils, see­ing that none of the hot-heads, local drunksor anybody got out of hand'" The localchapter and the chapter from San Diegoformed an honor guard at Mario's funeral.

The organized demonstrations on Fridayand Saturday were completely Non-violent.Alfredo called them "the most successfuldemonstrations I have ever been in. Ihave never felt the support of the peopleso strongly in any issue like this issue-­because it was obvious that the man waskilled in cold blood. There have neverbeen so many people marching under thebanner of the United Farmworkers beforein the history of Blythe. •

Alfredo says that while police officershave been indicted by grand juries in Ca­lifornia in similar incidents in the past,never before has an officer been arrested,jailed and charged with murdell' in thiskind of a case before.

But the arrest and charges were notbrought immediately. The demonstrationson Friday and Saturday were held becausethe Blythe Police Department had broughtno charges against Krupp and apparentlyhadn't even arrested him. So Alfredo con­tact«! the Riverside County Sheriff's De­partment, and they took over the investi­gation. It was the Sheriff's Departmentand the County district Attorney's officewhich finally brought murder chargesagainst Krupp and had him arrested andjailed without bail on Sunday, May 21.

Krupp was secretly arraigned the nextday, and the preliminary hearing was setfor June 2. He pleaded not gUilty.

Mario's killing is not the first issueto divide this small community, locatedon the Colorado River just across theArizona Border. For the past severalweeks a school controversy has been ragingin Blythe, precipi tated by the "manhand­ling" of Alfredo Figueroa's 14-year olddal\ghter Patricia by junior high schoolprincipal Earl Trout.

That incident brought scores of Chicanosto the next meeting of the Board of Edu­cation, where Alfredo presented a list ofdemands which included the firing of Trout,the inclusion of Chicano and Black cul­tural education in the schools, and the in­itiation of bi-lingual education in all grades.~ When Alfredo began to translate his re­marks into Spanish for those in the au­dience who did not speak English, BoardPresident Warren Miller threatened to endthe meeting. Only after intervention byother Board members was Alfredo per­mitted to translate into Spanish.

The controversey resulted in the estab­lishment of the Escuela de la Raza Unida,or Freedom SChool, intended to fight theeducational stagnation and racism that manyfeel pervades the public schools.

Mario Reyes Barrera s~ot wit~o.t Ilsti.ieatiol

Oily a'ter .nitalt NOI-ylolelt de.olstratiols by La CalsaIs/ t II i kIlle r arr est ed aIde ~ ar,ed wit II • I rder

Un10n .cnapwn Father J~ MellOn (center) ana ~iythe UlUon Office uu..co:v. Allred.'> ••i-OW "4 _~)

lead a Brown Beret honor guard-in the singing-of ''Nosotros Venceremos" at the funeral of Mario Barreras.

Union Member Killed ByPoliceman

ALFREOO FIGUEROA:".•.it was obviousthat the man was killed In cold blood..... .-

By this time the police station was sur­rounded by angry Chicanos. Zimmermanand Alfredo Figueroa, United Farm Workersorganizer for the area and Director ot theBlythe Union Office, tried to calm peopledown and prevent further violence.

Alfredo suggested to Blythe Mayor Rich­ard Farrage that he take a delegation intothe station to make sure that Krupp hadbeen arrested and was being held, so thatsuch information could be transmitted tothe people. Farrage took Alfredo, Mikeand two others into the station, where theywere stalled for two and one-half hours andwere given no information. Organizers out­side used this time to take depositions fromsix people which were presented to thepolice, but still no arrest was made.

Two days of demonstrations followed onFriday and Saturday, organized by Alfredo

____________________________~ JU_.AA

BLYTHE, California -- Mario ReyesBarreras, 22, husband of Adela, 23 andfather of Rosie, 3, and Mario, Jr., 1, andmember of the United Farm Workers, waskilled needlessly by a police officer onThursday, May 18 in Blythe. Mario wasburied here May 23, two days after hiskiller, Detective Sargeant Richard Kruppwas charged with murder.

The incident took place after Mario hada slight accident with a motorcyclist, Rich­ard Lee Bailey, 35, of Phoenix, Arizona,on a highway near Blythe. Krupp apparentlysaw the accident. The mishap was soslight that, according to a report by Enrique"Hank" Ramirez, a law student who hasbeen taking testimony from many peoplein the area, Bailey refused to press chargeseven after urging by Krupp. Bailey wasnot seriously injured and apparently wishedto continue on his way,

Krupp nonetheless decided to pursueMario, who had left the scene of the acci­dent. Mario fled from Krupp, who was offduty, on vacation, and driving his own per­sonal vehicle, a Datsun pick-up with acamper attached. He was, according toRamirez, out of uniform, dressed in a "T­shirt and light blue-jeans,"

Dariel Perez, a cousin of Mario, was"standing in back of Danny Figueroa'shouse, which is 318 North Carlton, talkinlwith some friends" at the time. It wasabout 6:15 p.m. "As we were sitting theretalking, we heard a loud, skidding noise.What came into my mind was that therewas a wreck. So we ran around the sideof the house and toward the street, Carl­ton, and we saw Mario's car, which hadrun into the sidewalk."

Mario had been traveling west on BernardStreet, and had unsuccessfully tried totake the corner at North Carlton at a highrate of speed. His car had spun around andslammed into the curb.

Dariel Perez and his friends were about60 yards away, and all saw what happenednext. Krupp parked his car about five

yards away from Mario's car, according toDariel, and he saw "Krupp get right offof his car and run towards Mario's car, andhe opened the passenger door. As he open­ed it I saw his arm extend with an objectin his hand, and I heard a shot.

"I saw Mario make no resistance or anymoves--he was just there, he didn't move."There is speculation that Mario may havebeen injured or dazed by the swerving ofhis car and its slamming into the curb--asDariel says, "I would have tried to getaway." All witnesses agree that Mariooffered no resistance at all and was de­fenseless.

"At that time", continued Dariel, "oneof my friends yelled 'He shot him!', andthen we ran towards the incident whereMario was shot, and Krupp got off Mario'scar and ran qUickly towards the WestsideMarket, which is a nearby store. We rantowards Mario's car, and we saw Mariolying in there and he was bleeding, and itlooked as if he shot him in the head.

"We ran towards the Westside Marketafter Krupp. I didn't know it was Kruppat the time--I didn't know it was a policeofficer or who it was--I just saw somebodyshoot Mario. I ran towards the WestsideMarket with the rest of my friends, andwe were going to go in, but Mr. Soto, theowner of the store, said 'Don't go in'.

"So we waited outside and he came out.As he walked by us, we all saw the gun-­the gun was full of blood and the muzzlehad a lot of hair on it. Soon two otherofficers cameo-within about five minutes-­and we started yelling at them 'Take thegun away from him, take the gun awayfrom him--it's evidence!' because: youcould see all the blood and hair on' it'"But the gun wasn't taken away from uppand Rigoberto Garnica, another eyewi esswho arrived ahortly after the shooting aidthat Krupp "went to his pick-up, he 0 nedthe door and got a rag and started in~

the gun and wiping the hairs and the bl d.'The police did not take the gun away omhim, Rigoberto said, rather Krupp"j t put\t in his holster,""More offIcer:; came", said Dariel, "theyjust started protecting Krupp, that'l all.Again we asked them to take the gun Jway,but they wouldn't listen.

"It happened real fast, you know", con­cluded Dariel, "but from my point of view,Krupp's intention was to make sure thatMario was dead. I don't know why, butfrom the whole incident, that's what I'vepictured."

When Mike Zimmerman, director of theEscuela de la Raza Unida (Freedom SChool)in Blythe, got there a few minutes later,the ambulance had arrived. The scene waschaotic: women were crying and screaming, Figueroa. According to Alfredo, about"lying ,on the ground, hitting their fists on 600 people participated on Friday and al­the sidewalk", children "not more than most 1,000 on Saturday. Additionally, all­four or five years old were running around night Vigils we:re held at the police depart­crying, screaming", and a young girl, ment ea,?h mght by 50 to 100 people.Mario's sister, was "hanging on to a Members of a local Brown Beret chapter,telephone pole, sobbing'" along with a chapter from San Diego and

Zimmerman immediately went to the members of a national Brown Beret cara­hospital. He said that "no doctor reached van traveling the ~uthwest, policed thethe hospital for at least 30 minutes" after marches, conducted the vigils, and madeMario's body arrived. He was pronounced certain that the demonstrations remaineddead on arrival. Non-violent. Alfredo said that "in the mar-

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if UFWCX:: at some time in the distantfuture is taken over by gangsters?" Al­exander and Gannon had to be repeatedlyreminded that the workers had voted by theoverwhelming margin of 105-4 to have theUnion represent their interests in bargain­ing with Yakima Chief Ranch, and that suc­cessful negotiations were hardly possible ifGannon and Alexander persisted in second­guessing the workers and mistrusting theirelected representatives.

The issue of a hiring hall. Alexanderflatly refused to accept the hiring hall, re­serving to himself complete control overhiring, firing and disciplining personnel.

The negotiations at La paz in June endedunsuccessfully, with the parties Widelyapart. Cesar noted that it is a commonpractice of growers to call for electionsand, after the Union has been overwhelm- ;/ingly endorsed by the workers, to refuseto bargain in good faith. They blame theUnion for the delay, meanwhile blacklist-ing Union members. Th~s was exactlythe tack taken by Gannon in a series offive articles published in the Tri-CityHerald in Washington in August of 1971.In them he attacked Cesar personally, paint-ing a picture of him as unreasonable, vio­lent and foul-mouthed, and unwilling tonegotiate. He even implied a comparisonbetween Cesar and Hitler. Nowhere isthere any mention of Cesar's many yearsof work and sacrifice for farmworkers,of his strict practice of Non·violence, norof Gannon's own employees' overWhelmingendorsement of Cesar and the Union astheir representatives in dealing with Ya­kima Chief Ranch.

Gannon was even successful in gettingthe most vicious parts of these articlesreprinted in the New York Times. In thelast issue of EL MALCRIADO, ReverendChris Hartmire, Director of the NationalFarm Workers Ministry, exposed the ar­ticles for what they are, a dishonest at­tempt to attack Cesar's reputation. and todisguise Gannon's anti-Union and anti­farmworker position.

With the recent physical attack on Rob­ert Trevino and the damaging of his carby Dan Alexander, Yakima Chief Ranchseems to have begun a new phase in itsattempt to thwart the will of its employeesand deny them representation by the UnitedFarm Workers. Yakima Chief Ranch isthe largest single hops ranch in the world,and is well aware that any settlement itmakes with the Union will be seen as abreakthrough for farmworkers in Wash­ington and a moqel for future contractswith hops growers in the Yakima Valleyand other agriculture businessmen in thestate.

Gannon and Alexander seem determinedto resist the Union and to try to undermineit through personal attacks on its leaderthrough the press. A hard and possiblylong struggle is ahead--but we are usedto that, and we will win.

SizeOrder No.

iHUELGAI A 45 rpm record with two famous songs of thehistoric Delano Grape Strike: "Huelga en General" (GeneralStrike) and "El Esquirol" (The Scab).

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iVIVA LA CAUSA! A long-playingrecord documenting our long Non­violent struggle to win Union Con­tracts in the grape industry: "Soundsof the Strikers"; "El Plande Delano"; and ten Huelga songs.

for recognition of the Union as the workers'representative and for the beginninjl; ofnegotiations around the first of January,1971.

Informal discussions began in February,1971, at a meeting in Delano betweenDolores Huerta, director of the LegislationDepartment of the Union, and Gannon.Dolores proposed the Inter Harvest agree­ment, the contract the Union has with theUnited Fruit subsidiary in California, as abasis for negotiation. Gannon was recep­tive to that proposal; Alexander was notpresent.

Alexander, a strong backer of the FarmBureau and its anti-Union views, later re­jected many sections of the Inter Harvestagreement, implied often and repeatedlythat the Union was or might become det­rimental to the interests of the workersand that he, as representative of manage­ment, was at least equally equipped to dealwith workers' needs. The Union felt tharthis did not reflect a reasonable or ob­jective view of the relationship betweenmanagement, workers and Union.

On June 26, 1971, Gannon and Alexandercame to the Union headquarters at La pazfor further discussion. Representing theUnion were Cesar Chavez, Union Director,Jim Drake, Director of Organizing, andRobert Trevino and Lupe Gamboa, Unionorganizers from Washington. Among theareas covered in the negotiations were:

Rehiring of strikers. The Union de­manded that workers who went out on theoriginal strike be reinstated; Alexanderrefused.

Representation of workers. Alexanderwas constantly pressing the issue of hisinterest in the welfare of the workers andhis desire to "protect" them from thepossibility of future Union corruption. Ina January 1971 reply to the proposal ofthe Inter Harvest contract as a basisfor negotiation, Alexander ased, •'What

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CESAR I~I"

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CHAVEZ pamphlet:two articles byPeter Mathiesentogether give a tho­rough biographicalsketch of CesarChavez.

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BASTA: A compelling pictorialhistory of the great moments ofthe grape strike, including thefamous march from Delano toSacramento.Order No. BAS $2.00

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Compaly Violelce 'g'ailst Uliol Orgalizers

Two Maior COlrt Victories Over CompalY

History of Orgalizilg i. Yakima Valley

The court hearings lasted for three andone-half days during which Yakima ChiefRanch lawyer Donald Bond tried to provethat Yakima Chief Ranch farmworkers didnot want the Union organizers to see themand presented the petitions as evidence.

But the growers' case fell through whenthe farmworker "plaintiffs" refused to tes­tify against the Union. The only personto attack the Union was Alejo Guerrero, whounion organizers say is a "super-scab"used by Yakima Chief Ranch to fight theUnion. When Guerrero was cross-examinedby Union attorney Harold Greene, Alex­ander's anti-Union plans were completelyexposed.

The ensuing court decision was a victoryfor La Causa, except for a few restric­tions placed on Union organizers: (1) or­ganizers must park on the west side of theYakima Chief's labor camp; (2) only one'organizer may knock at one door and (3)organizers must leave the ranch by 9:00 p.m.But the right of farmworkers to receiveUnion organizers at the camp was affirmed.

Not only did Alexander and Gannon failto keep our organizers from Yakima ChiefRanch, but also, the decision cost them$15,000 in legal fees.

The present struggle of the Union withthe owners of the Yakima Chief Ranch beganon September 7, 1970, when a picketlinewas set up at the ranch and 80 out of 110workers responded by going out on Strike.The chief issues were low wages, $1.65­$1.75 per hour, and poor housing conditions.•

On September 12,1970, an election was heldat the Yakima Chief Ranch to determinewhether the workers wanted the UnitedFarm Workers to represent them. Theelection was held with the consent andparticipation of ranch ownership. The re­sults were 105 favoring the Union, 4 against.In response wages were raised to $2.00an hour and an agreement signed calling

--------Was~I•• to.:

STRUGGLE WITHYAKIMA CHIEF RANCH

CONTINUES

A beautiful color poster shOWing.Cesar Chavez with farmworkersin a vineyard outside Delano•."The time has come for the lib­eration of the farmworker••••"Order No. CIG $1.50

at ~'~l VIVA LA: ... I REVOLUCION This poster features a

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• ASSORTED FARM WORKER STICKERS Order No. FWST -125/$1.00

On Friday, April 21 Alexander was suc­cessful in getting a temporary restrainingorder against the Union from Judge WalterStaUffacher in Yakima Superior Court. Hefiled the suit through two Yakima ChiefRanch employees who are known to be·'scabs". One, Union organizers say, is"a known company stoolie" and the other"a John Bircher, and member of thecompany union."

The temporary restraining order pre­vented Union representatives from enteringthe ranch by car; they were allowed to goin only on foot and by invitation from aworker; they were required to proceeddirectly to the residence of the invitor andto leave when the visit was completed; andthey' were prohibited from knocking ondoors.

Because the order was clearly contraryto many court decisions, some from thestate of Washington, establishing the rightto access to workers on company pro'perty,the Union representatives fought it. Thefollowing Monday, April 24, they weresuccessful in getting the court order over­turned.

In discontinuing the restraining order,Judge Ross Rakow of the Yakima SuperiorCourt ruled that it had been "improvidentlyentered ". Such an order should never beentered so easily, he said, especially incases involVing free speech. The companyplaintiffs were ordered to pay the courtcosts of the Union defendents, amountingto. $200.

During the week of May IS, Dan Alex­ander again took the Union to court seek­ing a prelimil)ary court injunction to keepUnion organizers from talking to our sistersand brothers at the Yakima Chief Ranch.According to Union Organizer RobertTrevino, .,Alexander tried to coerce 70of his workers to be plaintiffs against theUnion. He held meetings with the workersand sent his lawyers door-to-doorat the ranch's labor camp in an effort tointimidate the workers into signing anti­Union petitions."

SUNNYSIDE, Washington --Use of heavyequipment to physically threaten Union. or­ganizers in the Yakima Valley is the latesttwist in a long series of conflicts betweenthe United Farm Workers and George H.Gannon and Dan Alexal)der, co-owners ofthe Yakima Chief Ranch, where the Unionwon a recognition election in 1970.

In the last issue of EL MALCRIADO wereported that Alexander had chased RobertTrevino, a Union organizer, around theYakima Chief Ranch with a forklift and atractor in an effort to get names of workersto whom he had talked; that Alexander hadseriously damaged Robert's car with acaterpillar while he was meeting with work­'ers; and that a complaint had been filedwith the U.s. Civil Rights Commission overthese incidents by the Union. This pastmonth saw the follOWing developments:

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Coca-Cola Contract GoesBefore Pay Board

• STUDY SHOWS 107 YEARS 'OF EXPLOITATIONOF FARMWORKERS

• UNION CONTRACTS NOT INFLATIONARY

SARASOTA, Florida -- The United Farm Workers has petitioned the FederalPay Board in Washington, D.C., for approval of the recently-won Contract withthe Coca-Cola Company here in Florida.

, Under Phase Two of President Nixon's economic program, negotiated contractsinvolving pay increases are subject to review by the Board.

The request is in the form of a lengthy'document written by Dr. MarshallBarry, Assistant Professor of Economics at New College in Sarasota. It wasforwarded to the Board early last month. •

In a long preface to the request itself, Marshall paints a vivid picture of farm­worker living and working conditions against which the contract itself must beunderstood.

Housing conditions are especially bad in Florida. With an average family sizeof five, the average farmworker home has two rooms. And even what poor housingthere is is rapidly disappearing--in the twelve counties in which Coca-Cola haslaborers, there was a 62% decline in housing for farmworkers in the ten year per­iod of 1960-70.

Health and safety: The death rate from the age of one month to one year forfarmworker children is three times the national average, and six times the av­erage for non-farmworker children. Life expectancy for farmworkers is only49 years versus 70 for the country. And farmworkers have an accident ratethree times the national average for all occupations.

Child labor, supposedly a thing of the nineteenth century, is still prevalent amongfarmworkers due to low wages. A 1969 U. S. Senate report found 800,000 paidfarmworkers under 16, and nearly half--375,OOO--between 10 and 13. Many otherchildren who worked on the nation's farms probably don't appear in such statistics,since they are often working with an older relative under whose name all wagesearned and other statistics appear.

.Vlarshall also documents the dismal failure of federal programs to alleviatethese conditions. Programs which are effective are usually politically contro­versial and as a result often terminated. Moreover, it is not surprising to findas much as 70% of the budget of such programs being alloted to administrationand overhead. This is just another example of how federal programs supposedlydesigned to aid the poor are really welfare for the middle-class, creating jobsand business for that sector of the economy.

Federal aid to agribusiness alone equals the total welfare budget for the nation.Farm price support comes to $5 billion a year, and consumers pay an additional$4-5 billion in higher food prices. This compares to a total welfare budget forthe nation, including federal, state and local programs, of $10 billion.

In the face of all this, consider the Florida farmworker. Marshall puts theaverage yearly wage for farmworkers in Florida in 1970 for a family of five at$I,930--when "poverty level" for a family of four is officially $4,000.

Even the figure of $1,930 is high, Marshall argues, for the following reasons:--Only $1,202 of the total is income from farm work, earned over an 88

day period; the remaining $727 comes from 45 days. of non-farm work.--The figure really represents family income, as opposed to that earned by

one breadwinner, since farm wages are so low as to force women and childrento join men in the fields.

--Food and travel expenses are considerably higher for farmworkers thanthe average, because they must migrate from job to job and often buy suppliesat the "company store" at inflated prices.

--A farmworker's total income is often reduced by the "bonus" systempracticed by many growers, under which part of his pay is withheld to be re­turned as a "bonus" only if he remains the full season. Since the farmworkermust often move on before the season ends, and is often subject to arbitrarydismissal, his "bonus" is often not forthcoming.

Even though the average farmworker is able to find only 88 days of farm work,and only 45 days of non-farm work, unemployment compensation is rarely avail­able to supplement his meager income. With such low income figures, it is hardlya surprise that the cost of harvesting food is a very small percentage of the totalretail cost. Marshall Barry gives these figures for the following hand-harvestedfoods:

product store cost per unit field cost per unit percent

lettuce $.21jhead $.01-.013jhead 6%lemons $.24/dozen $.OO6-.01/dozen 3%oranges $.50-72/dozen $.012/dozen 2%grapefruit $.08-.10/each $.002-.004/each 2.5%

With these kinds of figures it is easy to unaerstand how little contracts likethe one won with Coca-Cola will contribute to inflationary pressure. MarshallBarry found that the contract will increase the total costs to Minute Maid, Coke'sfrozen orange juice subsidiary, by less than 0.64%. Minute Maid will retain over$16 million in profits, so should have no substantive reason to raise prices--thus I

the contract would be completely non-inflationary.Furthermore, the Coca-Cola Contract will merely bring the Florida farmworker

back up to his 1960 earning power. Marshall points out that while the farmworker'sincome has not increased in the past ten years, inflation has reduced his realincome substantially--so that the increases won under the Coke Contract willsimply raise him to his 1960 level in real terms.

Marshall Barry also emphasizes that the federal regulations limiting payincreases exempt "any individual whose earnings are substandard or who is amember of the working poor" .••until such time as his earnings are no longersubstandard or he is no longer a member of the working poor." The Floridafarmworker clearly qualifies.

IJAs documented earlier in this paper," says Marshall, "the United FarmWorkers (AFL-CIO) through the collective bargaining agreement with Coca-Colais attempting to remedy some of these historical disadvantages and extremehardships of the farmworkers. Of course, the first contract for farmworkers inFlorida cannot compensate for the 107 years of exploitation which have existedsince the official end of slavery in our country. It is, however, a beginning. Thispetition to the Pay Board should be viewed as a request by the most exploitedsegment of our work force to permit them the opportunity to solve their own prob­lems...•through organization and collective bargaining with their employers."

Union job there is, because if he can solveproblems without hurting the picker andwithout making the company so mad thatthey want to 'fire everybody, then he canaccomplish something, and the whole crewdoes good."

Walter reports complete unity andstrength among the various crews workingfor Coca-Cola. Without this unity and theWillingness to take the risks necessary toenforce the contracts, "the contractsthroughout the state of Florida would havebeen worthless, because nothing would haveever worked right." .

Walter and his family were on their wayfrom Florida to the Northwest for thecherry-picking season. And as they travelthey 'vill be bringing the message of LaCausa wherever they go. If all of usstrive to follow the example set by ourbrother Walter and OUl sister Mattie, ourUnion movement cannot help but continuegrowing in numbers and strength so thatsomeday all of us will be liberated from thepoverty and misery that has enslaved us forso long. Viva La Causa!

Walter Williams, his wife Mattie, and .children travel the migrant trail all over the country._ Walter, a UnionCrew Steward, was a key figure ac..tive, in enforcing our Contract with Coca-Cola Company. The Williamsfamily looks forward to the day when our Union has Union Contracts covering all farmworkers . so they canenjoy a better life for themselves and their children.

privileges more than what they are now."Walter says the injunction which the

National Labor Relations Board had soughtagainst the Union had slowed organizing inFlorida, but now that the Union has re­affirmed its rights, organizing would nodoubt piCK up again. Everybody in Floridatook a deep interest in the campaign, Wal­ter reported, and many signed letters insupport of the Union's position.

Walter's wife Mattie feels the gainsmade by the Union "will be a great help toour children as they grow older if they chooseto follow this line of work--because they'llhave advantages we didn't have."

In the past when Walter has complainedabout the lo.w wages associated with farmwork, he was often asked why he doesn'tdo something else. He sees that kindof response as no solution at all. Heenjoys his work, takes pride in it, and feelsthat it ought to pay a liVing wage. "Idon't say make everything just exactly theway you want it--but make it livable."

Walter feels the job of crew stewardcarrip-s a responSibility If as great as any

Report from Florida

INTERVIEW WITH UNION CREW STEWARD

LA PAZ, California -- EL MALCRIADOwas recently honored by an intervie"N withWalter Williams, Union Crew Steward fromArburndale, Florida where our Union haswon contracts with Coca-Cola (Minute Maid)and H. P. Hood. .

We reported in the April 28 issue of ELMALCRIADO how Walter, along with Al­ternate Steward, Arthur Pounds, were suc­cessful in enforcing the piece-rate adjust­ment provisions of the Union Contract withCoca-Cola.

Walter reports, "Generally speaking,everybody s really pleased with what theUnion's done. Everybody can see a bigchange. Everything is going well with Coca­Cola and working very smoothly."

Walter has been working in the fieldssince he was four years old. He has workedin California, Oregon, Washington, Montana,Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Florida, andcovers abour 35,000 miles a year with hisfamily.

Walter explains that before Union con­tracts, "the picker went to the field andworked and he took whatever the situationwas and either liked it or quit--you know,he didn't have any voice in whether or nothe accepted the thing as it was." By con­trast, once the Union won the contracts inFlorida and &rievances arose, the workerstook them all the way from the local fore­mand right up to the President of the com­pany. "I've never seen it where the worker-­just a picker--could go into the field andhave a problem and it be taken care of atthis level. Most of the time he'd justdiscuss it with the foreman in the fieldand--well, he'd go on down the road. Youknow, he'd always be told, 'Ifyou don't likeIt, well go somewhere else.'

"The people are beginning to get thenotion that these jobs belong to them,and that they have a right to work out what­ever problems there are. I see that dig­nity and the self-respect of the people arenot only being preserved, but enhanced. Ithink it'll not only be good for the worker,but for the whole industry-- 'cause if thepicker in the field is happy, the whole com­pany runs better."

When asked about his hopes for the future,Walter replies they are ,. pretty broad. Ihope to see a day when the Union can haveits hospitals and clinics set up all over theUnited States, wherever there's farm work,so that the farmworker can take advantage ofthe insurance without it costing so much, andbe assured of quality work.

"To me, the dignity of the people is whatreally matters. It's not so much the moneyor the insurance, but it's the rights thatpeople gain. In the future the peqple can!begin to take advantage of tnese rights and

Ray emphasizes that"it is very importantfor all farmworkers to understand that 'theRanch Committee would not have succeededin the struggle with the company withoutthe support of the workers it represents.Without the backing of all of the crews,the Committee would not have had the powerto force the company to the negotiatingtable. But the workers united behind theirRanch Committee and the grievances wereresolved."

'Yes, it is very important to alwaysremembel', • concludes Ray, "that Unionmembers should always support their RanchCommittees. It is farmworkers united inSolidarity with their Ranch Committees thatcan take necessary action against a com­pany that violates the Contract. Withoutpressure, nothing will happen. ..

pany did not recognize the Ranch Committee.When it approached the foremen and thesupervisors . with a grievance, it wasignored. Yet, the Ranch Committee had beenelected by the workers and charged withthe responSibility of enforcing the UnionContract. Thus, grievances were neversolved and they continued to pile up."

"After attempts at talking with the com­pany failed," explains Ray, "it was time totake some action. so we picketed the com­pany's main offices in Oxnard. We alsotook a large delegation of workers, togetherwith the Ranch Committee, into the offices.The company refused to talk with us, sowe decided to wait. Some of us werearrested. During the entire struggle, wereceived a lot of help from farmworkerswho work for other companies. When thecompany finally decided to negotaite, theRanch Committee was able to resolve allfourteen of its grievances with the help ofCesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and RichardChavez. "

do with transportation required by the Con­tract. The Contract requires the companyto provide transporation for workers fromits main offices to the fields, which arequite extensive. The workers. in turn. havethe responSibility of getting to the mainoffices. Also. the company has to pay upto four hours reporting and standby timewhen workers come to work and there isnone.

The company was refusing to provide therequired transportation so the workers metto discuss what measures they should take.So, Eliseo tells us, "We all decided not totake our cars to work in order to get thecompany to take us from the main officesto the fields. This particular companyhas no camps. We all live in town and weuse our autos to get to the company offices.But this time we walked to the offices.We told Billy Newman, one of the companysupervisors, we were demanding that thecompany live up to its Contract obligations.He answered with a bunch of excuses sayingthere were no buses available on such shortnotice, even though we had been asking forthem a long time before. We waited fivehours before the buses arrived. We werethree crews and we wanted one bus for eachone."

Afterwards, the company refused to paythe five hours in reporting and standbytime, a grievance that was finally resolved.Eliseo concludes: "It looks as if the thingsare going to go well with the-company {romnow on. I want to repeat our thanlcs to allwho struggled by our side on the picketlines,especially our sisters and brothers fromInter Harvest, Freshpict and Cline Farms! •

Ray Ortiz, Director of the Union officein Oxnard, was one of the persons arrestedon April 17. He says: /I Relations with thecompany had been deterioratina; since jan­uary. The main problem was that thecom-

Farmworkers delead their Udoa. Here. our bro..... who work far Mel p........ 1JIc.. picket the company with the 8UPI*'t fromfarmworkers who work for other companies,' students from Ventura College, the community of~ and Brown Berets from diffeent parts of California. The campaign ended in victory. Photos:' jose Guadalupe Varela

"This was an attempt to divide the workersand discredit oiJr Union. But the peopleresisted. The Ranch Committee and theGrievance Committee struggled against thatsupervisor. And we are very happy withthe results,"

Salvador Cordoza relates to us about how15 farmworkers were arrested-during thestruggle with the company: ''We wanted totalk with the company, but the company re­fused. So we stayed in the company'soffices tryina; to convince the company towork with us in resolVing the grievanceswe had. Instead of negotiating with us, thecompany had us arrested."

We ask Eliseo C. Rincon Why he thinlcsthe company had our people arrested. Heanswers: "Some of the company super­visors are very difficult to get along with.As one brother already said, some of themare racists. That is why they want tokeep us down. And the conflicts with thecompany started when we were no longerwilling to put up with all of that. Wefarmworkers united in the defense cf ourrights and our own lives. Too many liveshave been wasted by ruthless exploitation.But the company supervisors hate seeingfarmworkers unite and struggle for what isright. ,.

"The company supervisors were not com­plying with the norms and standards set downby our Union Contract," says Eliseo, "andit was the responSibility of the Ranch Com­mittee and the Grievance Committee to forcethem to comply."

And Eliseo explains that on the day thearrests took place--he was one of the per­sons arrested--the workers learned not tofear being arrested because they were fight,ing a just Cause in defending their UnionContract.

He says that one of the disagreementsbetween the Union and the company had to

[n April of 1971, Mel Finerman, Inc., the world's largest independent packerof lettuCe, signed a Union Contract with our Union. This year, our farmworkersisters and brothers who work for Finerman celebrated the first anniversary ofthe signing of the Contract by picketing the main offices of the company in Oxnardand by winning a great victory over the supervisors of the company. '

Many conflicts have emerged between the company and the Union since theContract was signed because the company's supervisors have resisted recognizingthe Ranch Committee, which is elected by the workers. The violations of the Con­tract by the company and the unjust and oppressive treatment of workers by com­pany supervisors reached an intolerable level.

The company thought it could qUickly subdue the Ranch Committee and continueto ignore the workers' demands. But the company did not expect the Ranch Com­mittee to be backed with the Solidarity and determination of the workers it repre­sents. The company also did not realize its workers were not struggling alone.Farmworker sisters and brothers from Inter Harvest, Freshpict and Cline Farms,plus our supporters from the communities of Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula andSanta Barbara joined in the struggle.

The battle between the company and the Ranch Committee was short but rough.Several farmworkers were arrested on April 17 when they did a sit-down insidethe company's main offices in Oxnard. The struggle continued. The companycould not withstand the pressure. It quickly decided to negotiate with the RanchCommittee and on April 25 an agreement was reached. It was a complete victoryfor La Causa.

After the victory, EL MALCRIADO talked with the members of the Ranch Com­mittee: Francisco Cortes R., Jose Guadalupe Varela, Filimon Ramirez, SalvadorCardoza and Eliseo C. Rincon. We also interviewed Ray Ortiz, director of theUnion Office in Oxnard, and Union Organizer Pablo Izquierdo. The brothers gaveus a detailed report on the grievances they had against the company, the strugglethey had with the company and the victory they were able to win.

Francisco Cortes begins his explana­tion of what happened during the strugglewith the c.ompany by saying: "We had notrealized the importance of the Ranch Com­mittee began to file grievances againstsome of the supervisors and foremen de­manding that they abide by the Union Con­tract." Francisco says the company did notrespect the Union Contract, refused to givethe workers the tools necessary to do thework they were assigned and tried to hiremore people than it needed for the workavailable. The company was trying to dividethe workers by trying to make them fight tosettle who would work and who wouldn't.

"Our demands on the company werejust," explains Jose Guadalupe Varelo."One of the many ways in which the com­pany violated the Contract was by settingup arbitrary work standards, rather thanthose agreed upon in the Contract. Wewent to the company on April 6 with theintention of settling the grievances thathad been accumulating. Three times wetried to negotiate with the company, butcompany officials refused to talk to us.The only grievances we settled were two thatany clown could have resolved. One was ourdemand that the company keep clean theportable toilets it is required to take tothe fields by the Union Contract. Theother had to do with the right of Unionrepresentatives to visit Union members inthe fields," (On Satuday, April IS, RayOrtiz and his wife, Barbara, were arres­ted as they tried to talk with one of theFinerman crews.)

"But all of the other grievances haVing todo with reporting and stand-by time, trans­portation and the unjustified discharge'of oneof our brothers and the attempts by the com­pany to' use one crew against the other werenot resolved at the time," says jose. ''Wehad no choice but to protest these injus­tices by picketing the company. Manypeople came to help. us: Mecha studentsfrom Ventura College-people from SantaPaula and Santa Barbara. In fact, sistersand brothers came from as far away as50 miles to help us 'in our struggle. ,.

The demonstrations against the companystarted on Thursday, April 18 andanagree­ment with the company was reached sevendays later. Jose explains: "We put a lotof pressure on the company and finally itdecided to negotiate. We were tired ofplaying games, so we told the company, 'Ifyou want to negotiate, you'll have to nego­tiate at La Paz,' And the pressure con­tinued until today, April 25, when we hada meeting with the vice-president of thecompany."'Filled with enthusiasm, our brother josegoes on to tell us what was accomplishedat the meeting: "During the meeting morethan 14 grievances were resolved- -all in ourfavor. It was a great victory for the RanchCommittee and the Grievance Committee.It was a great step forward for the sistersand brothers who work for Mel Finerman.And this great victory was made possibleonly through the efforts of all of those whocame to our aid,"

Filimon Ramirez gIves other details con­cerning their struule with the company andsays "we had to picket the company be­cause die company superivsors were takingadvantage of the workers and were tryingto ignore the Union Contract. But thanks toour brother, Cesar Chavez, who has helpedus learn how to fight for our rights, we havebeen successful so far,"

Filim~n says that one of the most seriousproblems between the Union and the com­pany was the racist and anti-farmworkerattitudes of some of the company super­visors. "One of the supervisors. for ex­ample; would play one crew against anotherby giving more work to one crew. whilegiving less work to the other,'· He says,

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FOR AN INDEPENDENT AND FREE FARMWORKER PRESS:

OF INFORMATION

START A COMMITTEE

I • 1 111.1111 11 ••

IN YOUR COMMUNITY!

Buy I sell and read EL MALCRIADO !We ask that your orders be prepaid so we can pay for the printing.

James Drake, Union Director of OrganiZing and Research, is in charge ofdistributing EL MALCRIADO. Here, he and Nancy Elliot discuss her new assign­ment: distributing EL MALCRIADO in Fresno County.

Help La Causa Grow

• Committes of Information.The Eyes and Ears of El MAlCRIADO

• A 0 istribution System for El MAlCIADOIn Selma we have already begun a pilot

program which we hope to extend to citiesthroughout the state and~nation. Nine vol­unteers have started the firSt Committeeof Information for La Causa. These mem­bers know that La Causa is liberation forthe Farmworkers. They know that ourmovement cannot advance without well in­formed and politiCally aware Farmworkers_

When he was asked why he was interest­ed in the paper ,I Juan Contreras answer­ed, "Because it is the paper of La Causa,and I believe it is the only newspaper tell­ing the Farmworker the truth and reflectinghis feelings. WhenwereadELMALCRIADOwe know the news is correct. It is not likereading the Fresno Bee which does notprint news of interest to us, but on the con­trary, prints news that is in direct oppoSi­tion to us."

Concerning the sale of E L MALCRIADO,brother Contreras said, "It is a matterof putting your mind to it. I bought 50papers, wallced through the Selma areaand sold them all."

Hijinio Rangel, an organizer of the Unionin Dinuba gave his support to the paper,saying, •'I am taking 100 to sell at RanchCommittee meetings. I don't see why anymember cannot sell 50 EL MALCRIADOS.They were always saying, 'Where is ELMALCRIAD07', now we are bringing thepaper to them and they have the oppor­tunity to be informed." The same broth­er continued, "In any movement the Com­mittee of Information is needed, a move­ment cannot grow if it does not have amethod of teaching."

The Farmworkers in Selma and in thecounty of Fresno have given an exampleof Union solidarity which will result in astronger and more united movement. Ev­ery day our brothers and sisters organ­izing La Causa in other valleys, smallcommunities and counties will continuethe example of Selma. In Delano, SantaMaria, Salinas, Lamont, Poplar, Dinuba,Tolleson, Coachella, CalexiCO and whereverFarmworkers are to be found, Committeesof Information will grow as the vanguard ofLa Causa,

ONE MILLIONEL MALeRIADOS

Union volunteers Freddy Chavez (with hat) and Fidel Huerta (right) move ascaffold as they work on the EL MALCRIADO building.

"EVERY FARMWORKER, WHETHER HE ISA MEMBER OF THE UNION OR NOT,OUGHT TO SUPPORT EL MALCRIADO.WE WANT EVERY FARMWORKER TOAPPRECIATE EL MALCRIADO AND TOUSE IT AS AN INSTRUMENT OF STRUG-'GLE. IN ORDER FOR IT TO BE A GOODPAPER THE PEOPLE MUST RESPECT IT.BUT TO BE A GREAT PAPER EL MAL­CRIADO MUST BE A WEAPON FOR LACAUSA..., With these words our Director, CesarChavez, defines the function of EL MAL­CRIADO as a newspaper of struggle. Anarm for the victory of La Caus-a,-EL MAL­CRIADO is an instrument of social aware­ness in the Unionization of Farmworkers.One of our most difficult tasks, however,is the distribution of EL MALCRIADO.Bringing the paper to all of our brotherFarmworkers is in itself- a step towardthe liberation of Farmworkers.

We have not accepted commercial andimpersonal methods of distribution likesending the paper through the mails orselling it in stores. The mails are tooexpensive and we Farmworkers are forcedto move so often that the paper wouldhave a hard time keeping up with us. Sell­ing the paper in stores means proprietorswould make a profit and we would have nocontrol over who buys it.

We looked for a method that would notincrease production costs and which wouldleave the control of distribution in our hands.The cost of production is 5 Cents per copy-­2 cents for printing--2 cents for adminis­trative and personnel expenses and 1 centfor distribution. Selling the paper for 10cents gives the Union 5 cents profit percopy.

We are building our own printing andeditorial building. This will gi ve us com­plete control over our publications. Thecost of the building is $25,000. The presseswill be another $25,000. This means wemust sell one million EL MALCRIADOs.

For this objective the matter of distri­bution is urgent; to teach and to build.In discussions with brothers we have de­veloped a method of distribution we callCommittees of Information. These are notsimply distributors but personal represen­tatives of the Union in constant contact withthe readers. They are the eyes and theears of EL MALCRIADO. Through theCommittees of Information the editors arein direct contact with the readers, theirproblems, their necessities and their hopes.Committees of information are formed withfive or more members. In each City, coun­ty or valley there is one person in chargeof distribution. The committee head gives50 papers to each member. The money thatis earned from the sale of newspapers isused to purchase the following edition.

Address _

Name _

3 nlli 11111111 .

Zip _

93531

Jill ""I III I 1...... 11

______________ State _

Enclosed is my check for $ _

and bundles of EL MALCRIADO in English

($5.00 pre-paid for each bundle of 50 papers)

City

Please sendme bundles of EL MALCRIADO in Spanish

J

:Mail to:

EL MALCRIADO

P.O. Box 62Keene, California

(' Telephone _

• 1111111 •• £ I II

Erasmo Anzaldua learns construction techniques from Mike Kratkow as theyand other volunteers put up the bulding that will house EL MALCRIADO and ourUnion's print shop.

The Robert F. Kennedy Farm Workers Medical Plan: -A FARMWORKER-ADMINISTERED PLAN

FOR MEDICAL CARE

For most unions in the state of California, the employer contribution is35 cents per man-hour for medical benefits. Thus growers pay less than- one­third when compared to other medical programs.

Of course, other unions have been established for 30 or 40 years, and havebuilt up to their present position. It must also be remembered that farmworkershad no medical benefits at all before the RFK plan was started.

We investigated over 50 union health and welfare plans, not only in Califor­nia, but as far away as New York. And we found out that ten cents per hour wouldnot purchase very many medical benefits.

Therefore, the workers who were under Union contract at the time had tomake a choice betWeen two kinds of benefits. The first kind is called "in-patientcare" or "hospitalization benefits", which cover grave illness requiring hos­pitilization and major surgery. The second is called' 'out-patient care", whichcovers day-to-day needs--doctor visits, medicine, haVing a baby, etc.

The Ranch Committees met in March and April of 1969 and voted to rec­ommend to the membership that the Plan cover "out-patient care", in the hopesthat by covering day-to-day medical needs, and treating illness early, that manyof the serious medical problems could be avoided. The membership voted over­whelmingly in favor of the Ranch Committees' recommendation, and that's whythe Kennedy Plan emphasis is on doctor visits, X-ray tests, laboratory tests,medicine and maternity. _

In addition we have a small surgical benefit of $200 and a hospitalizationbenefit of $400, knOWing that such benefits are very helpful for more commonmedical needs, like haVing your tonsils or appendix removed, or the commonchildhood illness that often require a few days of hospitalization. But the mainemphasis of the Plan remains on out-patient care, because of the limited resourcesof the Plan.

Yes, by June 1 there will be a Clinic in Calexico, and workers in that areawill have a prepaid plan available. The Union has made special arrangementswith the Immigration Department that any Union member or member of hisfamily can come across the border to receive medical care.

The Clinic will be located right next to the Calexico hospital. We'll havetwo Union doctors there, and two nurses, a lab technician, a receptionist andanadministrator.

We have also received requests for Clinics in the Fresno area, the SalinasValley area and in Florida. Workers who are interested in forming Clinics intheir area should write to Cesar.

But before there can be a Union Clinic, there must be a strong organizedmembership, because many of the town doctors and the hospitals in the area donot like the idea of the Union having its own clinic and its own doctors.

The Baiza family of Lamont (left) receives Kennedy Plan benefit check from MarCa Saludado (right),an administrator of the Kennedy Plan, and Robert Garcra (middle), Lamont Union Office Director, TheBaiza family is one of the thousands of farmworker families who have benefited from the Kennedy Plan.The Kennedy Plan has paid out over $1,000,000 in benefits since it began in september of 1969. More than22,000 individual claims have been processed.

Yes. Every worker should make sure that his employer pays that ten centsper hour, and every Ranch Committee should Vigorously enforce this part of theContract.

We have found some growers that do not report all the hours of their workers.Every such case reduces the amount of money in the plan available for benefits,and limits the possibility of adding new benefits in the future.

We have named our Medical Planinmemory of Senator Robert F.Kennedy because he gave ourCause his unfailing support andgave his life in the defense ofthe poor.

The ten cents an hour is so small that we wanted to make sure that as muchas possible went into benefits. Most insurance companies would use about threecents of that ten cents for their own costs of administration, salaries, overhead,and profits and dividends to stockholders.

By haVing a self-insured plan, in which no dividends are paid to stockholders,and in which overhead costs are kept to a minimum and- no salaries paid to theadministrative staff (they are all volunteers), we are able to keep our costs toa minimum and make sure that most of that ten cents goes directly into medicalbenefits. In fact, our administrative costs require less than one-half cent outof that ten cents, as compared to the three cents of traditional insurance com­panies--which is more than six times as mUCh.

However, because we are self-insured, the Union membership has a greaterresponsibility than under conventional plans. Because any claims in excess ofwhat is justified hurts other Union members and their families, since it reducesthe amount of money in the plan available for benefits.

We hope to be able to expand the benefits available in the future. lf we canget a contribution of twelve or thirteen cents per man-hour from growers in fu­ture Contracts, we would like to enlarge our hospitalization benefit.s and add anambulance benefit, since most of our members live in rural areas and requirean ambulance in an emergency. We would also like to add coverage of emergen­cy room treatment, since this service is often required by our members, especiallytheir children.

We also want to add an emergency dental care benefit. This would notcover normal dental needs, like periodic check-ups, but emergency needs, likegetting a tooth pUlled.

We'd also like to prOVide some type of benefit for glasses, especially forour older members. -

But all these plans for the future depend upon the RFK Plan continuing towork well, and upon our ability to raise the contribution of the growers in futureContracts.

The Robert F. Kennedy Farm Workers Medical Plan is financed by the tencents an hour that growers are required to contribute into the Plan whenthey sign Union contracts. The Kenney Plan is completely administered by farm­workes and benefits go to Union members who have accumulated the necessaryhours worked under Union Contracts. This interview with the Director of theKennedy Plan, Leroy Chatfield, is conducted so that we may know more about thePlan, its progress and what is being planned for the future.

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93531Keene, Ca.

ForThe Union wants to make sure that, after the ten cents per hour has beenstretch~d as far as possible by the Plan, the quality of medical care receivedas a result is the best possible. We want doctors, nurses and technicians whobelieve in La Causa. That's why we have a Union Clinic in the Delano area.

Workers in that area voted to have the Clinic and voted to use it. Foreach Union member working in the Delano area the Kennedy Plan pays six dol­lars a month to the Clinic to cover all visits, laboratory tests, medicine, emergencyand specialist care. This means that these Union members and their familiesmust use the Delano Clinic, as they voted to do. Even if they're going to have ababy, or require surgery, they must report to the Union doctors, so that we canmake sure they get to the best care available and are not being overcharged fortheir needs.-1

Or contact your local Union office