DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Latino-Native American Cultural Center newspaper clippings, 1972-1988 |

Transcribe
Translate

Latino-Native American Cultural Center newspaper clippings, 1972-1988

UFW strike moves north

Editor's Note: The following article is reprinted with the permission of The Guardian newspaper.

The focus of the United Farm Workers (UFW) battle against California's agri-business corporations ins shifting north to the wine grape fields.
Several hundred striking farmworkers have been picketing these fields in the Livingston-Stockton area for seven weeks but the beginning of the grape harvest itself in the past two weeks has increased the intensity of the strike. The targets are E and J Gallo Winery and Franzia Brothers Winery, respectively the largest and eighth largest wine companies in the country. The strikers are demanding that the companies repudiate contracts signed earlier this summer with the Teamsters Union and renew contracts with the UFW.
More than 60 workers were arrested Aug. 29 outside Livingston when they attempted to enter Gallo fields and talk to strike-breaking workers. Several were injured in the ensuing encounter with Gallo security guards and Merced County sheriff's deputies.
The outcome of the Gallo and Franzia strikes is crucial to the UFW because the union's contracts with other large wine companies such as Almaden, Christian Brothers and United Vinters expire late this year or early next year. These companies seem to be waiting for the outcome of the Gallo and Franzia strike before deciding on their own course of action.
Despite extensive attempts to recruit strikebreakers at higher-than-normal wages, both companies are suffering in the fields. Franzia has had a daily average of between 12 and 20 workers when it needs about 130. Gallo has had between 100-300 daily where it needs close to 500. Gallo recently requested a price hike for products from the Cost of Living Council, perhaps reflecting the pressure of the strike.
The Franzia strike began July 12, several days after the company fired 21 of the 78 year-round workers from their pre-harvesting pruning, thinning and planting work. Seventeen of those workers were women, who have since begun legal action against Franzia charging discrimination based on sex.
The company declared them "incapable" of the work despite the fact that they had been working for at least three months; some for as long as four years. Twenty men were immediately hired to take their place.
The firings according to Maria Elena Serna, union organizer in Stockton, were "part of a deliberate attempt by Franzia to harass the union by deliberately breaking the terms of the contract which explicitly prohibit firing based on sex. They wanted to provoke the union into a strike after its members had patiently waited without a contract, waiting for the company to enter good-faith negotiations." 
Seventy of the 78 year-round Franzia workers are now on strike. On the first day of the actual harvest, Aug. 20, several hundred non-unionized workers in nearby tomato fields staged a wildcat strike and joined the Franzia picket line in charging into the fields and routing nearly 35 scabs.
"We have to go into the fields," one striker said afterwards, "because it's the only chance we can get to talk to the strikebreakers and urge them not to break our strike.
"We tell them that we want them not to break the strike because we are fighting not just for ourselves but for them and all farmworkers. If we lose here, we go back 30 years to when we were almost like slaves."
The Aug. 29 incident at Gallo which resulted in the arrest of 60 workers began as strikebreaking workers on their way into the fields passed close to chanting UFW picketers. Several striker said afterwards, "because it's clubs, and one threw a snake at a picketer. At that point 50 strikers tried to rush into the field but their effort was broken up by Merced County sheriff's deputies and Gallo security guards.
About 20 strikers were arrested on trespassing charges, and another five for assault. Police then declared the picket line an illegal assembly and arrested another 40 strikers for failing to leave the area. The strikers were taken off in police vans to the county jail and local warehouse.
The 60 strikers have not yet been released. Judge Walter Lane set bail in a range of $50 to $300 and ignored arguments by union attorneys that the strikers should be released on their own recognizance.
A union attorney commented, "The local power structure is hoping that if enough people are in jail long enough, there won't be any more so-called trouble out on the picket line and Gallo will be able to get all its scabs into the field."
It seems clear that picketing will not resume in the Delano-Lamont area, where it was halted by the union leadership after two strikers were killed in mid-August. Cesar Chavez has received no response from the Justice Department to his demand for federal protection of picketers. But intense preparations are continuing to send more farmworkers to the boycott lines. 
Chavez apparently has received some kind of assurance from AFL-CIO president George Meany that Teamster president Frank Fitzsimmons is serious when he promises not to enforce contracts the Teamsters signed with the powerful Delano grape growers last Aug. 9.
The union is at a critical juncture now in the fight. The strikes which ranged from Coachella Valley to Stockton have severely damaged the quality and quantity of the grape harvest and the Teamsters have been forced into a temporary retreat. But in the coming months, it is the boycott against table grapes and Gallo and Franzia wines that may well be the final blow to the growers.

Saving...

UFW strike moves north Editor's Note: The following article is reprinted with the permission of The Guardian newspaper. The focus of the United Farm Workers (UFW) battle against California's agri-business corporations ins shifting north to the wine grape fields. Several hundred striking farmworkers have been picketing these fields in the Livingston-Stockton area for seven weeks but the beginning of the grape harvest itself in the past two weeks has increased the intensity of the strike. The targets are E and J Gallo Winery and Franzia Brothers Winery, respectively the largest and eighth largest wine companies in the country. The strikers are demanding that the companies repudiate contracts signed earlier this summer with the Teamsters Union and renew contracts with the UFW. More than 60 workers were arrested Aug. 29 outside Livingston when they attempted to enter Gallo fields and talk to strike-breaking workers. Several were injured in the ensuing encounter with Gallo security guards and Merced County sheriff's deputies. The outcome of the Gallo and Franzia strikes is crucial to the UFW because the union's contracts with other large wine companies such as Almaden, Christian Brothers and United Vinters expire late this year or early next year. These companies seem to be waiting for the outcome of the Gallo and Franzia strike before deciding on their own course of action. Despite extensive attempts to recruit strikebreakers at higher-than-normal wages, both companies are suffering in the fields. Franzia has had a daily average of between 12 and 20 workers when it needs about 130. Gallo has had between 100-300 daily where it needs close to 500. Gallo recently requested a price hike for products from the Cost of Living Council, perhaps reflecting the pressure of the strike. The Franzia strike began July 12, several days after the company fired 21 of the 78 year-round workers from their pre-harvesting pruning, thinning and planting work. Seventeen of those workers were women, who have since begun legal action against Franzia charging discrimination based on sex. The company declared them "incapable" of the work despite the fact that they had been working for at least three months; some for as long as four years. Twenty men were immediately hired to take their place. The firings according to Maria Elena Serna, union organizer in Stockton, were "part of a deliberate attempt by Franzia to harass the union by deliberately breaking the terms of the contract which explicitly prohibit firing based on sex. They wanted to provoke the union into a strike after its members had patiently waited without a contract, waiting for the company to enter good-faith negotiations." Seventy of the 78 year-round Franzia workers are now on strike. On the first day of the actual harvest, Aug. 20, several hundred non-unionized workers in nearby tomato fields staged a wildcat strike and joined the Franzia picket line in charging into the fields and routing nearly 35 scabs. "We have to go into the fields," one striker said afterwards, "because it's the only chance we can get to talk to the strikebreakers and urge them not to break our strike. "We tell them that we want them not to break the strike because we are fighting not just for ourselves but for them and all farmworkers. If we lose here, we go back 30 years to when we were almost like slaves." The Aug. 29 incident at Gallo which resulted in the arrest of 60 workers began as strikebreaking workers on their way into the fields passed close to chanting UFW picketers. Several striker said afterwards, "because it's clubs, and one threw a snake at a picketer. At that point 50 strikers tried to rush into the field but their effort was broken up by Merced County sheriff's deputies and Gallo security guards. About 20 strikers were arrested on trespassing charges, and another five for assault. Police then declared the picket line an illegal assembly and arrested another 40 strikers for failing to leave the area. The strikers were taken off in police vans to the county jail and local warehouse. The 60 strikers have not yet been released. Judge Walter Lane set bail in a range of $50 to $300 and ignored arguments by union attorneys that the strikers should be released on their own recognizance. A union attorney commented, "The local power structure is hoping that if enough people are in jail long enough, there won't be any more so-called trouble out on the picket line and Gallo will be able to get all its scabs into the field." It seems clear that picketing will not resume in the Delano-Lamont area, where it was halted by the union leadership after two strikers were killed in mid-August. Cesar Chavez has received no response from the Justice Department to his demand for federal protection of picketers. But intense preparations are continuing to send more farmworkers to the boycott lines. Chavez apparently has received some kind of assurance from AFL-CIO president George Meany that Teamster president Frank Fitzsimmons is serious when he promises not to enforce contracts the Teamsters signed with the powerful Delano grape growers last Aug. 9. The union is at a critical juncture now in the fight. The strikes which ranged from Coachella Valley to Stockton have severely damaged the quality and quantity of the grape harvest and the Teamsters have been forced into a temporary retreat. But in the coming months, it is the boycott against table grapes and Gallo and Franzia wines that may well be the final blow to the growers.