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Ernest Rodriguez' "Impressions," 1960s-1980s

""The Year 1970"" by Ernest Rodriguez Page 7

chances for successfully organizing into unions.
	As I later found out the various Chicanos he contacted got together with Miguel and told about the Heinz Co. which was under the Meatcutters Union. They told him that there were some Chicanos working there who had a hard time explaining their problems to their stewards because they couldn’t speak English and that many of them thought that the stewards didn’t work as hard to represent them as the gabachos. They told him about a turkey processing plant in West Liberty, Iowa about 17 miles from Muscatine. Many people from Muscatine worked there and a lot of Chicanos from Texas and Mexico living there in West Liberty worked there also. There was an organization called CEO (Community Efforts Organization) which had been invited by the director of an OEO funded adult education program for the Spanish-speaking people in West Liberty to participate by showing educational films to the classes. At two of these classes held at the local high school Miguel Arias showed two films dealing with Cesar Chavez UFWO’s (United Farm Workers Organizing Committee) efforts in unionizing the grape pickers in Delano, California.
	After talking to a few people who worked at the Louis Rich Turkey Processing plant in West Liberty, Miguel met with John Terronez. The two decided to convince Alan lee to put a Chicano to work in organizing the plant since many of the Mexican people didn’t speak English. Alan Lee was reluctant to take on the organizing campaign but the persistent persuasion of John and Miguel convinced him to look into the possibilities. John immediately called me to tell me to call Alan Lee and put some pressure on him to put me on as an organizer out in West Liberty. I called Alan Lee but not being adept at pressuring I just more

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chances for successfully organizing into unions. As I later found out the various Chicanos he contacted got together with Miguel and told about the Heinz Co. which was under the Meatcutters Union. They told him that there were some Chicanos working there who had a hard time explaining their problems to their stewards because they couldn’t speak English and that many of them thought that the stewards didn’t work as hard to represent them as the gabachos. They told him about a turkey processing plant in West Liberty, Iowa about 17 miles from Muscatine. Many people from Muscatine worked there and a lot of Chicanos from Texas and Mexico living there in West Liberty worked there also. There was an organization called CEO (Community Efforts Organization) which had been invited by the director of an OEO funded adult education program for the Spanish-speaking people in West Liberty to participate by showing educational films to the classes. At two of these classes held at the local high school Miguel Arias showed two films dealing with Cesar Chavez UFWO’s (United Farm Workers Organizing Committee) efforts in unionizing the grape pickers in Delano, California. After talking to a few people who worked at the Louis Rich Turkey Processing plant in West Liberty, Miguel met with John Terronez. The two decided to convince Alan lee to put a Chicano to work in organizing the plant since many of the Mexican people didn’t speak English. Alan Lee was reluctant to take on the organizing campaign but the persistent persuasion of John and Miguel convinced him to look into the possibilities. John immediately called me to tell me to call Alan Lee and put some pressure on him to put me on as an organizer out in West Liberty. I called Alan Lee but not being adept at pressuring I just more