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Show j Lettuce boycott support receives opposition By VERDO THOMAS and JAMES A. NELSON Chronicle Staff Don't buy lettuce has been the plea of thousands of farm workers in America for nearly two years. The boycott on all lettuce, except that bearing a black eagle emblem, has been gaining support and received re-ceived a boost when Sen. Edward Kennedy endorsed the boycott at the Democratic National Convention Conven-tion in July, but strong opposition has come from Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. "Governor Reagan is the number one enemy of the boycott. He has been anti-farm worker from the start." said John Wade, campus minister for the University and active ac-tive participant in the boycott. A committee made up of two local steel worker unions, students from the Chicano Student Union, University local 585, Union of the Poor, Students for a Democratic Society and others have recently organized and are now conducting meetings concerning the boycott and local action to be taken. The main work of the committee is to survey the situation, and to find out whether United Farm Worker lettuce is being used in cafes, stores and other food industries indus-tries in Utah. The plight of the migrant worker has been a deeply rooted problem ever since they were implemented black eagle emblem on it but do not stock that brand. He urged people peo-ple to inquire about the lettuce they are buying. He suggests that if you are buying from a store insist on UFW lettuce. Some companies which have contracts with UFW include in-clude Freshpict, Foods Inc., Inter-harvest Inter-harvest Inc., Mel Finermanco Co. Inc., and D'Arrigo Bros. A variety of labels are used by these companies. com-panies. The Black Eagle label may actually be in purple, instead of black ink, in any event the costumer can check the lettuce crates in the produce room. The primary purpose of the boycott boy-cott is to insure the farm workers, which are basically Chicano migrant mig-rant workers, of their rights and benefits under organized labor unionization. Proposition 22, to be voted upon by the people of California on Nov. 7, if passed, could make difficult for farm workers to strike and boycotts. A similar law, recently passed in the state of Arizona, prompted pro-mpted Chavez to tour the state and speak out against it. The following quote appeared in the August issue of El Malcriade, a publication of the United Farm Workers after Chavez toured Arizona. "The bill does many things, but the most important thing it does is take away the right of workers to strike. The rights to strike and to assemble into your own groups are sacred rights in this country. The American Legion, your various church groups, the various unions, every single entity in this state and country has the right to come together to-gether and decide for itself the best course of action. Farm workers, because be-cause of this bill, will not have the right to come together and strike, and to defend their rights. "It's unconstitutional. We're going go-ing to the courts and we know we're going to win. But we want to let you know that, if it happens to us today, it will happen to you tomorrow. This is the way that the government takes away the powers of the people gradually until you wind up in a dictatorship." into jobs. The U.S. Senate Sub-Committee Sub-Committee on Migratory Labor reported re-ported in 1969 that the average life expectancy of farm workers was 49 years, death from accidents for farm workers was 300 percent higher than the national average. Other findings of the sub-committee included 95 percent of the farm workers' housing had neither bath tubs, showers or flush toilets. Lettuce workers in California and surrounding areas organized local United Farm Worker (UFW) committees com-mittees in the early 70's and waited wait-ed for the end of the Delano grape strike. In July of 1970 as the grape struggle was ending, UFW sought secret ballot union representation elections from the lettuce growers. This request was ignored and backdoor back-door contracts were signed with the Teamsters Union which is no longer a member of the AFL-CIO. The UFW, comprised mostly of migrant and semi-migrant Chicano workers, went on strike August 24, 1970 to show that they wanted to be represented by Cesar Chavez' UFW. Chavez has been actively involved in-volved in the representation of Chicanes Chi-canes in other labor struggles. To determine the will of the workers, an election supervised by the Catholic Bishops Committee was held for the 7,000 farm workers who had gone on strike. The results showed the workers had voted to be represented by Chavez' UFW. Black Eagle (Chavez' UFW) lettuce let-tuce makes up about 15 percent of lettuce on the national market. Mr. Wade was asked what is being done in Utah to persuade more stores to purchase Black Eagle lettuce: let-tuce: "We need forces to put the pressure on and to keep it on the store owners to be sure they don't pretend to be carrying Black Eaqle lettuce. Fliers, letters to the editor in local papers, use of the media, and demonstrations at food stores are planned. We'll mount a pro-paaanda pro-paaanda campaign as much as possible." pos-sible." Support for the lettuce boycott has come from minority organizations, organiza-tions, presidential candidate George McGovern, religious groups, labor organizations such as the Utah Steelworkers local 485, University local 585, National Farmworkers Ministry, migrant workers, Wasatch Coalition for Peace and Justice and others. Organizers of the boycott are faced with the problem informing the interested consumer of which lettuce should be boycotted and where Black Eagle lettuce can be found. Many large food stores display dis-play most of their fresh vegetables in open bulk areas which usually bear no brand label. If a person is concerned about which lettuce to buy, Mr. Wade suggests asking the grocer to point out what brands are available. Wade did state that some stores maintain a crate bearing a |
