New Ways to Control Frost Clearing "Minor" Pesticides~-JI.."..I_a: 's GJdn_ on·n e la nO'---?"'-.II__~ti clde R0 U ndUD fo r '69

WHAT'S GOING ON IN DELANO?And What Does It Mean to You?

Concerned about the grape boycott's portent for othergrowers, AMERICAN VEGETABLE GROWER has been study­ing the situation and attempting to assess the develop­ments. Here is the picture as we see it

DELANO is an inconspicuous townof about 12,000 people, located in

an area of vineyards and cotton fieldson the flat floor of California's SanJoaquin Valley, about 30 miles northof Bakersfield. It resembles hundredsof country towns all over the nation­towns where activity is geared to farmoperations and nothing much else everhappens. But Delano is different be­cause within the past four years it hasbecome a national symbol of unionefforts to organize farm workers.

The story of the campaign of theUnited Farm Workers OrganizingCommittee (AFL-CIO), led by CesarChavez, has been frequently told. Forreview, we need go back only to thefall of 1967. UFWOC then had con­tracts with several firms that were

24

mostly or entirely wine producers, butthey represented only a small portionof vineyard employment. The unionhad chosen as its next target, GiumarraVineyards, the state's largest growerand shipper of fresh table grapes. Theboycott-or the threat of boycott-hadbeen the union's most effective weaponagainst the vintners, so Chavez calledfor a national consumer boycott ofGiumarra grapes.

There is an obvious disadvantage inboycotting an individual grower.Grapes, unlike wine bottles, do notusually carry a label on the displaycounter. Chavez got a lot of publicityand caused some problems, but theGiumarras still got their grapes pickedand sold.

As the 1968 harvest approached,

UFWOC took a more drastic step-aboycott of all California table grapes­and plunged into the campaign withenergy and a flood of publicity. Otherunions and a variety of organizationsconcerned with social causes rallied tothe boycott. Union workers were dis­patched to major markets to organizechain-store picket lines, manned pri­marily by students, clergy, and othersympathizers. Other harassing tacticswere used, like "shop-ins," wherepeople loaded shopping carts with per­ishables and left them in the aisles.

Mayors of a number of cities, underheavy union pressure, halted purchasesof grapes by city institutions. Vice­president Hubert Humphrey and thelate Sen. Robert Kennedy supportedthe boycott, as did many other public

AMERICAN VEGETABLE GROWER

figures. Church publications and col­lege newspapers gave it featured treat­ment. A volunteer even carried thecampaign to Sweden, a major exportmarket. Anyone who didn't hear of thegrape boycott could only have beenhiding in a hole.

The frequently-stated purpose of theboycott was to force growers to signunion contracts, but UFWOC's earlierstrike call had revealed that Chavezcannot command the active support ofmore than a small minority of workers.Although the union has claimed asmany as 17,000 members, an officialstatement of dues income, requiredunder federal law, provides basis foran estimate of only 1500 to 2000 cur­rent members-about the number em­ployed by wine companies with unioncontracts. Peak grape harvest employ­ment in California is 50,000 to 60,000workers, and the state's total farmlabor force is about 360,000.

Union Not Succeedin~

one of the wine companies shippedany table grapes in 1968, althoughseveral had formerly done so. Growersbelieve this is because the union hasbeen unable to supply workers skilledin picking for the fresh market. Di­Giorgio, the first vintner to sign a con·tract, has sold all its vineyards. At onepoint the union had a contract with ashipping firm that was formed specifi­cally to handle grapes from the Schen­ley (Roma wine) vineyards, but thisfirm has gone out of business, reported­ly after suffering a heavy financial loss.

As of January, the union still hadno contract with any table grapegrower, and industry leaders were con­fident of maintaining a solid front.And grapes had been picked by essen­tially the same crews who have beenpicking them for years.

Grape growers are bluntly irritated-sometimes to the point of blasphemy-by the number of clergymen of allfaiths who have taken up the UFWOCcause. They have formed a sizable partof the picket lines and provided amajor source of support for the boy­cott. Acknowledging the sincerity ofthe clergy's interest, growers arguevigorously that few of them have evenattempted to inform themselves of thereal facts of the situation.

Exploding the MythsLet's examine several of the propa­

ganda myths that have been widelyspread by Chavez and his group.

Exploitation of migrants is one ac­cusation, but migrants are no longer asubstantial element in the labor supply.Payroll records of Delano growersshow that about 90% of the workerslive within 25 miles of their work. Infact, there is reason to think that thehigh percentage of local labor was an

26

attraction to UFWOC; migrants aretoo mobile to be effective union mem­bers.

UFWOC claims that growers haverecruited "green card" Mexicans as"strikebreakers." The local labor forcedoes have a high percentage of greencard workers who have been there foryears, and the few remaining migrantsinclude a number of green card holderswho come regularly from Arizona andTexas. Actually, the green card is apermanent immigration visa that per­mits the holder to work in the U. S_ Inprinciple, permanent immigrants areexpected to become naturalized citizensafter the five-year waiting period, butthey are not required to do so andmany do not. They pay taxes, can bedrafted, and enjoy all citizenship rightsexcept voting and holding public office.

Wage rates are high in Delano, com­pared to those in other places. Cali­fornia has an effective minimum wage(for women and children) of $1.65 anhour. Growers say that grape pickers,on piece rates, average better than $2an hour. Chavez claims credit for wageincreases in recent years, but mostother areas of the country have hadcomparable increases.

Growers point out that their workersare covered by workmen's compensa­tion, disability insurance, and a varietyof regulations relating to labor camps,contractors, transportation, child labor,and wage collection. Many would wel­come unemployment compensation ifa way could be found to finance it with­out imposing a crushing burden onemployers.

Grape production in the Delano dis­trict is not dominated by the large,heartless corporate farms which are sooften pictured. Of about 70 grape op­erations in the area, all but two arefamily owned and operated. Holdingsrange in size from 40 to 2500 acres,and the larger ones normally involveseveral members of a family.

P ACC Supports GrowersGrape men have not stood alone

against the attacks of the union_ Cali­fornia agricultural leaders some yearsago recognized the dangers of irre­sponsible labor activity, .and many or­ganizations were prepared to help. Anumber of groups co-operated at thestate level, but the principal channel ofaction has been the Perishable Agri­cultural Commodities Corp., whichrepresents a wide range of farm inter­ests. The P ACC board collected a siz·able amount of money and met weeklythrough the summer to direct a pro­gram that included newspaper adver­tising, radio and television appear­ances by growers, publicity releases,and legal action.

The co-ordinating group in the De­lano area has been the South Central

Farmers Committee, which was formedin 1960 to serve as an informationcenter on a variety of agriculturalmatters.

When AMERICA T VEGETABLE GROW­ER visited Delano in mid-January,everything was quiet. Heavy rains hadinterrupted pruning, but there was stillplenty of time to get the work done.Growers discussed their situation in arelaxed sort of way, without visibleevidence of irritations and pressures,and even found it possible to laugh atsome incidents of the past year or so.But they know they have been in afight, and they expect it to continue.

Growers ConcernedAmong their grave concerns has

been the peculiar character of UFWOC,which frequently displays an interest insocial reform that goes far beyond theusual economic concerns of laborunions. Chavez, undoubtedly a sincereand energetic man, often speaks interms of social revolution.

His staff includes some types whowould be out of place in a well-estab­lished conservative union headquarters,but they are dedicated and hardwork­ing. Their homes and cars are adequatebut modest - many of the workers'homes are larger and better cared for.It seems fair to assume that immediatemonetary gain was not among the mo­tives that led Chavez' followers tomarch under his "Huelga" banner.And they seem to be digging in for along stay; new staff members are regu­larly looking for homes to rent or buyin Delano.

Chavez, himself, is seldom seen intown; apparently, most of his time isdevoted to speeches and meetings inot4er places. There is considerablespeculation that the UFWOC compaignis under the direct and active super­vision of William Kircher, national di­rector of organization for AFL·CIO,who is a frequent visitor.

Martin Zaninovich, president of theSouth Central Farmers Committee, andtwo of his board members, Louis Cara­tan and Jack Bree, confirmed theirorganization's support of the principleof collective bargaining.

"We have repeatedly stated," Zan­inovich said, "that ,ve are prepared tobargain with any responsible unionthat represents our workers. In fact,we would have no choice but to bar­gain. But our workers do not want to berepresented by the Chavez union. Theyhave shown that by picking our grapesin spite of picket lines and all sorts ofharassment and intimidation."

But there was almost no field picket­ing around Delano at harvesttime lastfall. "In fact," Caratan remarked, "anytime you saw a picket around, you

(Continued on page 29)

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Union Sympathiz~rs

Growers hav~ also been under pres­sure from the U. S. Department ofLabor. Former Secretary of LaborWillard Wirtz was frankly sympatheticto the union cause, and the departmentcertified a number of "labor disputes"against growers, some on grounds soflimsy as to appear capricious. Thereis also a widespread belief that Wirtzpressured the ] ustice Department intoharassing tactics by the Border Patrol,which became very active in checkingcamps, crews, and highway travelers.

Growers have bitter comments, too,about California Rural Legal Assist­ance, an agency financed largely bytax funds from the Office of EconomicOpportunity. CRLA has filed a numberof complaints for individual workersfor causes which, growers believe, aremostly trivial or fictitious. A currentfavorite is the charge that workers arebeing poisoned by indiscriminate useof pesticides. A former head of CRLAis now UFWOC's attorney.

One of UFWOC's most recent legalactions is a suit against several grow­

(Continued on page 47)

DELANO(Continued from page 26)

could be pretty sure the union had aV.J.P. in town."

Evidently, union personnel \\"as con­centrating on the boycott. And nowthey are moving beyond store picketlines to pressure top chain manage­ment with such tactics as sit-ins andmass delegations.

The Delano men label the consumersboycott an unfair and potentially de­structive weapon, and point out that ithas been used rarely and with cautionin industries covered by the NationalLabor Relations Act.

"It's a blackmail tactic," saidZaninovich, "designed to force us toaccept a bargaining agent which is notsupported by our workers, and to re­qui re them to join a union which willnot provide them any real benefit."

Most of the union's contracts withthe wineries were negotiated withoutan election or any other effort to de­termine whether a maj ority of workerseither belonged to the union or wantedto join the union. The few electionsactually held were under terms which,according to growers, gave the unionthe privilege of stuffing the ballot box.(Ironicqlly, one of these elections waswon by the Teamsters, who have some­times demonstrated a selective interestin farm workers but have nevermounted an active c~mpaign. Theirbargaining unit has since been con­ceded to UFWOC, under "heavy prell­sure from the churches," according toEinar Mohn, head of the Teamsters'Western Conference.)

MARCH, 1969 29

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tural Workers Orgapizing Committee) ,and has very little to show for the effortand money. The AFL-CIO leaders arepatient men, but they must be feelingthe pressure for some kind of victory.

There are good reasons why Cali­fornia grape growers are the primarytarget. AWOC's first director franklysaid, "California is the biggest; if wecan get the biggest, the rest will fall inline." Grape growers are the state'slargest employers of farm labor, nowthat tomatoes are becoming moremechanized.

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that a smaller total labor force can beemployed the year around. Ironically,union pressure is accelerating the pushtoward mechanization, and the resultwill be that many farm workers, nowemployed only part of the year, willhave no work at all unless they canmove into industrial emp-loyment.

Unions Have Patience and MoneyThe AFL-CIO has been trying to

organize California farm workers formore than a decade. Organized laborhas invested many millions in UFWOCand its predecessor, AWOC (Agricul-

DELANO(Continued from page 29)

ers, alleging that they are financingthe efforts of Jose Mendoza and GilbertRubio, a couple of one-time Chavezsupporters who are now leaders of ananti-UFWOC movement, the Agricul­tural Workers Freedom to Work Asso­ciation. Many well-publicized UFWOCcourt actions, however, are either neverfiled or are not pressed.

For their own part, the growersscored one notable legal victory. Earlyin the boycott, several union locals in­volved in distribution of grapes at­tempted to take direct action in supportof UFWOC. The NLRB, on action ofgrowers' attorneys, ruled that this wasillegal participation in a secondaryIboycott.

Legislation NeededGrowers feel considerable urgency

about getting legislation introduced inCongress which will set up desirableprocedures for collective barga"ining inagriculture. "

"Our position now-the position ofthe whole industry-is that we needlegislation to prevent coercion and re­store reasonable order to our labormarket," Zaninovich explains. "We be­lieve that federal legislation would bebetter than state legislation. But we donot want to be included under NLRB;their machinery doesn't fit the situa­tion. In particular, we must have someprotection against strikes and harass­ment at harvesttime."

This support for legislation does notarise from immediate concern over lossof markets. Actually, the boycott lastyear had only limited effects. Market­ing was done in a fairly orderly man­ner, and storage stocks now are in anormal range. Direct comparisons withprevious years are difficult because ofvariations in crop size and seasonalconditions, but final unload figures up­doubtedly will show that some marketstook less" and some more than usual.Generally, shippers say that the boycottwas clearly felt in relatively few mar­kets, and mostly for limited periods oftime.

As Zaninovich put it, "We've beenthrough tough years before, and wethink we can do better next year. You'dbe surprised how many people don'tlike union coercion, and we've sold alot of grapes to those people. But we'vespent a lot of time and effort fightingthe boycott, and we'd rather concen­trate on growing and selling grapes."

A formal, legal procedure for deal­ing with union recognition claims andother disputes would not solve the mostcrucial problem of the farm lqbor mar­ket-the high peak, season'll demandwhich results in low annual iilcp"mes formany workers. The effective s~!ution

for this is mechanization of harv"est, so

MARCH, 1969 47

dent. Delano's growers are no differentin their attitudes than any others.Workers there are better off than inmany other places. As a grape-growingcenter, Delano is no more importantthan several other towns. It's a dot onthe map that came into the spotlight ofnational interest because Chavez' wife'sfamily lived there, and it becameUFWOC's headquarters.

To be in the spotlight under suchconditions is not a position any farm­er would seek. The Delano growersmay have felt, at times, like the manbeing ridden out of town on a rail, inLincoln's famous story, who said, "Ifit weren't for the honor, I'd ratherwalk." In this position of dubioushonor, the Delano growers have shownskill and energy in defending agricul­ture's interests in the matter of farmlabor unions. THE END.

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AMERICAN VEGETABLE GROWER

American

Vegetoble Grower

Is Legislation the Answer?

We Think It Is

MANY attempts have been made, atvarious times and places, to organizefarm workers into labor unions forcollective bargaining. In the long run,what has been happening in Delano,Calif., probably will be important onlybecause of its relation to a major issuethat faces agriculture today.

The issue in Delano was a simplequestion of fact: Did UFWOC repre­sent the vineyard workers?

The growers' answer was" 0."

With great determination the grow­ers stood fast against the pressures ofa substantial segment of public opinionand the combined coercion of organ­ized labor, government officials, clergy­men, and various groups concernedwith large social causes.

Many people were misled about thereal issue; they thought the growerswere refusing to recognize a union thatthe workers supported. But the workerspicked the grapes. They "voted withtheir feet," as labor leaders are fondof saying, when they chose to work in­stead of strike.

Growers are confident that in a fairelection, conducted by an impartialbody, the workers would have rejectedUFWOC as their bar~aining agent.Such an election would have focusedattention on the real issue and lessenedthe union's public support.

But there was no machinery for anabsolutely fair election.

74

So, for agriculture, the larger ques­tion raised at Delano is: Do we needsome formal, legal procedure forsettling agricultural labor disputes?

We say the answer is "Yes."Traditionally, we in a~riculturehave

argued that it is impractical and un­necessary to have any kind of legisla­tion covering agricultural labor rela­tions. And we have said that the ma­chinery of the ational Labor Rela­tions Act, as administered by LRB, istotally unsuited to agriculture.

While we hold firmly to the secondstatement, we think the time has comefor the first to be discarded.

During the past year or so, more andmore growers and farm group leadershave been discussing ways in whichlegislation might help resolve some im­portant and long-standing problems inagricultural labor relations. It nowseems certain that a bill will be intro­duced in this Congress that will bespecifically written to cover collectivebargaining between farm workers andtheir employers.

Two general provisions must be in­cluded in any such bill if it is to main­tain a balance of bargaining power.One is some kind of machinery for pre­venting strikes at harvesttime; theother is a carefully written set of rulesabout the eligibility of workers to voteon the question of union recognition.

Many growers will undoubtedly ob­ject to legislation simply because theydo not want to deal with unions underany circumstances. And no one wantsto help build a bureaucratic structurein which labor lawyers are much moreat home than growers are likely to be.

These objections are well under­stood in Delano. But growers there, likemany others, have decided they wouldrather have some legal ground rulesthan the unrestricted warfare they havebeen fighting. And when rules are be­ing written, it is better to be on thecommittee that writes them than to tryto change them later.

Agriculture is already dealing in­directly with unions, as part of an in­tricate industrial economy in whichunions have substantial power, and amore direct relationship is inevitable.It's time now to determine the groundrules for that relationship.

The editors of AMERICAN VEGE­TABLE GROWER believe that the bestplace for these ground rules is in feder­al legislation, which would establishcommon procedures for all growersand all workers across the country.

The rules may be imperfect and evencostly, but the alternative is a strugglein which no holds are barred and noweapons outlawed.

We believe legislation will be lessexpensive, and in the long run will bet­ter serve the public interest.

AMERICAN VEGETABLE GROWER