Picking on the Heirs of Cesar Chavez: A Ripe Story
If imitation is the highest form of flattery then I’m feeling mighty flattered today. The L.A. Times has started running a four-part takedown on the United Farm Workers union that was directly inspired if not in great part derived from my own reporting on the subject last summer as well as from a previous, groundbreaking series on the same subject run in 2004 by the Bakersfield Californian.
One of the imperial prerogatives of the Times is to never, ever under any circumstances acknowledge that any of its work could have possibly relied on the previous reporting of other – seemingly non-existent—newspapers. So I can’t claim I was surprised by the Times pretending to have done this series all on its own. That’s the standard M.O.
That said, I was nevertheless quite pleased to see our local behemoth finally get around to an important story that should have and easily could have been told long ago. The Times, of course, did significant new and independent reporting and the picture it paints of the union that carries Cesar Chavez’ legacy is appropriately grim and depressing. Reaching the same conclusions I did in my repoting last summer, the Times found the UFW has long strayed from its original course of protecting California farm workers and that it cynically cashes in on the legacy and mystique of the Chavez name to fund a network of “movement” operations that are dominated by the Chavez family and its friends. This interwoven web of agencies builds housing (with non-union workers) for non-farm workers; it rents itself out to Democratic political campaigns; runs radio stations; merchandizes the legacy of Chavez; sells rather useless I.D. cards to undocumented workers; has served as paid lobbyists for a casino; benefits from generous federal grants; occasionally raids other union jurisdictions but most important is what the UFW doesn’t do: organize farm workers into unions.
Jigger the math anyway you want and you come to the same bottom line: though many of the hundreds of thousands of California field workers have no legal status or protection, are often paid minimum wage or less, and in some cases find themselves living in primitive camps of plastic tents and lean-tos, the UFW represents barely more than 1% of the work force. It maintains not a single contract in its traditional home base, the grape growers of the San Joaquin valley.
Principal blame for the plight of California farm workers –reduced by decades of indifference and political neglect to their current dismal status—should not be handed off to the UFW. But the union does bear a quota of responsibility. And that’s why it’s crucial that those who care about the issue the most be mature and sensible enough to not blame the messenger for such bad news. There will be some who will allege that the Times’ takedown of the UFW was a case of excessive force, selective prosecution or outright racism.
Wrong. The Times series – like its stunning coverage of Killer King hospital – was a crucial public service. This should be a wake-up call for the UFW to either change its ways – radically and immediately—or to otherwise, please step out of the way. The prodigious fund-raising, direct-mail and PR/political campaigns of the union create the damaging public impression that California field workers are “taken care of,” that just as the movement of MLK successfully tore down de jure racism, the union of Cesar Chavez has, at least, long ago won basic, humane treatment for the campesinos of the Golden State.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. California farm workers are younger, poorer, less educated and less organized than ever in recent history. The UFW, meanwhile, may have fewer members than ever in its 40 year history, but its income continues to grow. The bulk of that revenue comes not from dues but from donations – from voluntary contributions from well-meaning liberals who cannot resist a solicitation adorned with a grainy photo of Chavez and stamped with the iconic black eagle of the union banner. Nothing feels more redeeming after a pricey dinner on the Westside to send off a few bucks in an envelope to the heirs of Cesar Chavez.
Until now, the UFW has remained stone deaf to its critics – both externally and internally. The union’s leadership – and its auxiliary agencies – are completely in the grip of the Chavez family, making a mockery of even the pretense of internal diversity and democracy let alone any sort of serious accountability. Two years ago when the Bakersfield Californian first blew the cover off the operation, the UFW denounced the newspaper series as an unfair attack and undertook no reforms – not even cosmetic ones. When my article of last summer once again pinged the union for its ineffectiveness and its nepotism, its press manager did everything he could to undermine my credibility. But the institutional weight of a four-part L.A. Times series is not something that can be easily brushed off or pushed back with indignant press releases from the union headquarters.
This time around the union will have to take the public critique seriously and institute some real reform lest it flirt with extinction. Those who of us who are sympathetic to the ideals of Cesar Chavez perhaps have the greatest responsibilities to be honest with ourselves and with the UFW. We achieve absolutely nothing by apologizing for the UFW’s failure nor rationalizing the more venal aspects of the Chavez family management. The next time one of the UFW fund-raising letters comes your way, instead of writing a check, you might want to write back a note to Chavez’ son-in-law and current UFW President Arturo Rodriguez. Tell him that as soon as he can show you a concrete, strategic plan to organize unions for California farm workers you will show him the money.
January 8th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
This is chilling. Both the lack attribution and the lackluster legacy of the union. Can they organize a business made up of illegal workers? Isn’t that the key? Or no?
January 8th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
Fair comment, and I applaud your reporting.
As a conservative, it’s hilarious to see this apparently family-owned scam operation sucking in donations, year after year, from ignorant liberals and diverting them from their intended political uses! If liberals weren’t such suckers for ‘sanctified’ causes and liberal ‘saints’ they would have tumbled to this a long time ago.
It’s endlessly funny to see liberals disparage followers of organized religion as ‘rubes’ (and I’m not at all religious myself).
January 8th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
Wow,
I think ZF has to win the prize for most uses of the word “liberal” in a short post. Let’s call it the Sean Hannity award.
Beginning with the middle of that second paragraph, every eighth word or so is “liberal.” And I’m counting all the “ands” “a’s” and “the’s”
January 8th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
Good post. Reminds me of the UFCW of So. Cal grocery strike fame. The day after accepting a two-tier contract, the union’s president declared it “the most successful strike in US history.” Then he retired to his twin homes in Florida and Colorado. And this was the union charged with the task of organizing Wal-Mart. Uh huh.
At least with the split, we’ve got SEIU and others trying new things.
January 8th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
John, good points.
ZF: I certainly believe you are indeed not very religious. If u were, u might have a closer view of how many millions of CONSERVATIVES get their wallets and fortunes plucked by right-wing hucksters who promise a whole lot more than the UFW. They promise miracles. Now what kind of a fool do u have to be to try and buy one of those from the oily likes of, say, a Pat Robertson?
Lots of liberal fools out there for sure. But liberals have no monopoly on Stupid.
January 8th, 2006 at 11:21 pm
As an ex-UFW organizer who marched much of the way to Sacramento covering the drive to win Gray Davis’s signature on the barely used new law, this is depressing.
January 9th, 2006 at 12:30 am
When I ran across that article in my paper this morning I immediately thought of your work, Marc. If they can unveil some more damning evidence (I thought this morning’s installment was a tad light) this could be a very good bit. You should persuade your daughter to guest post sometime.
January 9th, 2006 at 1:25 am
Thanks Mavis. My daughter’s too smart to get mired in the muck of the blogosphere (or maybe she’s really “Woody”)!
Bill Bradley: Yup, I’d say it’s depressing. I think the Times piece is totally on the money by the way (so to speak). The only surprise is how long it took the press to get around to doing this story. The nepotism and the divergence from mission by the UFW has been stark and egregious for many years now. I can only hope this forces some change. I’d have to bet not.
January 9th, 2006 at 8:15 am
Dad, uh, I mean Marc…let’s not reveal family secrets. Yes, it’s true that no one has seen Natasha and Woody together, lending credence that they are one and the same, but people should be allowed to continue to speculate.
It sounds as if the Chavez family has something in common with the King family in Atlanta. They have achieved royal status and, until now, have remained above criticism for putting their personal fame and fortunes above their causes to help others.
Union ineffectiveness and corruption is not news. What is news and is one of the real and overlooked points about this story is that the LA Times (whose staffing changes were roundly criticzed and bemoaned in former Marc Cooper posts) is actually reporting the problems about this union and hurting its sanctity. This union problem existed for years but was given scant attention by the former editors, whose concern for left-wing causes exceeded their concerns for open and complete reporting.
Fraud, corruption, and greed by union leaders have been common place for decades, and that reflects common human failings. However, I consider greed by union leaders as worse than that by corporate executives. A corporate executive is considered greedy for maximizing company profits–but, at least he publicly admits that is his goal. A union leader is greedy for maximizing personal profits, which is not a stated goal and runs counter to the union objectives…thus, making the union leader crooked in addition to being greedy.
You can take a series about improprieties with the UFW and the Chavez family and interchange names of other unions and other union leaders, such as the mob, and still have similar conclusions, even if the facts are slightly different. It’s often the same story with different names.
Of course, Dad, I mean Marc, is going to be criticized by the left for not taking up for one of their sacred cows and an influential political arm of the Democrats–which shows that many, if not most, on the left care more about power than in really helping those in need. Should anyone be surprised by such hypocrisy?
January 9th, 2006 at 8:21 am
Wait, I forgot to use “liberal” and “Chapaquidick” in my comment. Please consider those added.
January 9th, 2006 at 9:21 am
Thanks for a blast from the blunderbuss, Woody…enlightening as hell.
(I forgot to use “drunk at the end of the bar”, “usual moronic generalizations”, “Abramoff”, “Delay”, “Ralph Reed”, “Pat Robertson” and “Enron” in my comment. Please consider those added – because I want my contribution to be equally substantive, coherent and just as reflective of my deep-seated prejudices that I’ve recycled rhetorically so many times that nobody in their right mind could possibly give a shit.)
January 9th, 2006 at 9:41 am
I definitely would watch an odd-couple style reality tv show (maybe C-SPAN) that forces Reg and Woody to live together for a few weeks. Funny enought that even if nobody learned anything it’d still be worthwhile.
January 9th, 2006 at 9:42 am
Oh…did I mention that many, if not most, on the Right are so drunk on power that they couldn’t possibly care about helping those in need. (Remember the good old days when they didn’t even try to use “helping those in need” as part of their rhetorical arsenal so we couldn’t even accuse them of hypocrisy. I don’t know about anybody else, but I miss that.)
On the actual topic at hand and for what it’s worth – I haven’t believed the UFW was functioning as an effective union – as opposed to a personality cult and tight-kint fundraising operation – for several decades. This remains an important story because the plight of the farmworkers is still so desperate, but it’s not news. The “union” had turned inward and become very weird when Chavez was still leading it. Nor, as the article itself mentions, is it “news” that former supporters would criticize it (as even Woody could have figured out if he’d read the actual story and the reference to the critique of Chavez a dozen years ago in The Nation. I’d read numerous articles in liberal publications about the degeneration and what was literally a personality cult evolving around the leadership long before Chavez died. In any event, keep on the farmworker story, Marc, because they don’t deserve to be abandoned in the public mind – whatever the status of the pathetic shell known as the UFW.)
January 9th, 2006 at 9:43 am
This time around the union will have to take the public critique seriously and institute some real reform lest it flirt with extinction.
I’d say that the UFW has worked it’s way up to buying extinction drinks and throwing room keys in its direction.
January 9th, 2006 at 10:02 am
“even if nobody learned anything it’d still be worthwhile.”
Mavis, I think that’s an idea worth pursuing – possibly even brilliant – but I’m insulted as hell that you would suggest C-Span as the venue. That’s the cheapest, most low-rent channel on cable. If we don’t get at least a contract with FX – if not HBO – the hell with it. I want a paycheck if I’m going to enter “Fear Factor” territory.
January 9th, 2006 at 11:20 am
Marc, your “Sour Grapes†story was excellent and I included parts of it in my article about the LAT series on the UFW problems (Noti Los Angeles). Obviously, the LAT series is a repetition of some previous work done by people like you and the Bakersfield Californian reporters. This is not the first time they “recycle†stories like this one.
January 9th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Marc…. I, like Mavis, opened up the Times yesterday and thought how wa-a-a-ay far ahead of the curve you were on this important story.
For whatever it’s worth, I see that, as of this morning, the UFW has sent out a mass e-mail howling in protest, accusing the Times writer of lies and “….viciously attacking the Farm Worker Movement and Cesar Chavez….”
Odd, because it didn’t appear to me that article attacked Cesar Chavez or the farmworkers movement at all, but instead accused the current UFW of having ….”…. jettisoned ….Chavez’ principles….”
January 9th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
I wonder what the farmworkers at Gallo-Sonoma who fought off years of boss-sponsored decertification attempts, professional union busters and still managed to wage an effective boycott campaign against one of the largest companies in the wine industry would have to say about this?
Sure seems like the UFW turned their back on those folks right?
It seems like a great many people posting here could care less about the failure of the UFW to organize farmworkers and are more interested in yet another inflated story about “union-corruption”, I have little to say to them.
To those among us who support workers and their unoins, let’s will find a way to provide criticism in a manner that helps the UFW be as successful as it can in organizing rather than carrying water for the bosses’ press outlets.
Let’s see where the LA Times takes this rolling hit piece and continue this discussion.
January 9th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
…congrats, Marc – once again, you’re deconstructed the BS long before the so-called Paper of Record got off its fat ass to cover the region properly.
January 9th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
Reg, how about MSNBC? Oooh, oooh, I know a guy at TV Guide Channel?
January 9th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
Woody
As far as Chappaquiddick is concerned– I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. It has been known for some time that both the UFW and the King Dynasty are enjoying the good life. It is unfortunate that the hard work and courage of both Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez have become tainted by legacies of profit rather than by good deeds. If you’re searching for an explanation, which would justify the hesitancy in criticizing unions you can look no further than our current political climate. We live in time when our government is desperately trying to dismantle all of the gains workers and labor unions have made over the last 75 years. Manufacturing and other good paying jobs that were “built on the backs†of unionization are now being outsourced by the millions and replaced with “flimsy†exploitative positions where workers are discouraged to unionize in order to eliminate benefits, pensions and job security. So why would someone who believes in workers’ rights want to trash unions? Yes, it is difficult to see a union not representing its membership and evolving into a corrupt “fat cat “organization by using the names of civil rights heroes in vain. But what is the alternative, ranting and raving that unions are NO good so that workers become further demoralized and corporate CEOS smugly smile at muckraking reports that will ultimately benefit them. Let me share some info with you guys about how dangerous life can get for the working-class if they are not organized.
In 1997 Jack Abramoff generously arranged a lavish holiday junket to Saipan for Tom DeLay and his family so they could celebrate the New Years in a warm exotic tropical climate. Abramoff known for his copious e-mails sent one stating: ‘one of the most effective ways to build permanent friends on hill.†But what kind of friendships was Abramoff looking to build; the kind of friend that would STOP LEGISLATION TO END SWEATSHOPS IN SAIPAN. And the good moral Christian conservative Republican, Tom DeLay, became such a friend and PROMISED TO STOP THE REFORM LAWS.
Working in sweatshops in Saipan is like working in SERVITUDE. Sweatshop owners violate US labor and safety laws, coercing workers to work up to 84 hours per week without overtime pay. Workers live and work in equally deplorable conditions.
The factory owners know that they can exploit workers because they are very vulnerable. If a worker is fired for protesting working conditions, union organizing, or EVEN PREGNANCY, they must find another job within 90 days or they are deported. And yes, if a woman gets pregnant she is told that she must get an abortion or she will lose her job.
Tom DeLay who is opposed to ABORTION and PRO-Choice in the U.S. because of his religious convictions, is willing to compromise those convictions for a price; and stop the reform that prevents management from coercing women to abort their pregnancy.
The typical wage in these factories is $3.05 per hour, anyone fired from a job is likely to be shipped home without enough money to pay off their debts. Therefore, management has total power over workers, who live in fear of being sent home. Management can enforce arbitrary rules that they wish in order to control workers–even telling them to get an abortion. AND TOM DELAY THE GOOD MORAL CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN PROMISED TO STOP THE REFORM LAWS FROM GOING THROUGH!
Foreign workers are only allowed to obtain a one-year limited work permit; but the uniqueness of Saipan laws allow for loopholes which inevitably open a Pandora’s Box for scamming and exploitation. We all know that good union manufacturing jobs have steadily been eliminated in the U.S. and are being out- sourced to third world countries. Well how is it done? The work is sent to SUBCONTRACTORS in Saipan; El Salvador; Indonesia; Vietnam and China where the sewing is actually done. The garment factories in Saipan are mostly owned by Hong Kong companies, such Divora Knitters. Tan Holdings is a major subcontractor for U.S. clothing companies. Tan then hires recruiting agencies in China to find workers. These agencies are sort of like a “pimp†looking for an easy “mark.†The agency promises anything they think a possible prospect wants to hear—you’ll work in the US; you’ll earn tons of money and live the American dream—the streets are paved with gold. All the usual crap, so that the innocent and naïve become entrapped.
As a result, the supply of workers are limitless, applicants exceed job demands. And to add insult to injury, recruiters force workers to pay a recruiting fee ranging from $2,000 to $8,000. Chinese workers then need to borrow heavily in order to pay the fee which forces them to become indentured servants. Some Chinese workers, after a few years of slave labor on Saipan, may only have enough to pay back their recruitment debts, and leave the island in destitution.
One of the worst subcontractors is Hong Kong’s business tycoon Willie Tan; he is a subcontractor for Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Liz Claiborne. Tan’s garment factories in Saipan have been repeatedly cited for labor and safety violations, by the US Labor Department for systematically underpaying workers. Tan was fined $9 million in restitution to 1,200 workers on 1992, the largest fine ever imposed.
Ironically, Saipan and Guam, is an island paradise for Japanese and Korean tourists. However, hidden in this island paradise are tens of thousands of foreign laborers, who are never seen or heard. Their hard work is not something that the Saipan government, business bureaus or tourist web sites want to advertise. But these Saipan garment industry workers, produce $2 billion worth of clothes annually for American companies like The Gap, Inc., who also owns the Banana Republic and Old Navy chains; Dayton-Hudson Corp., the owner of Target, Mervyn’s, and Marshall Fields; The May Department Stores Company; J. Crew Group, Inc.; Nordstrom, Inc.; Sears Roebuck & Company; The Limited, Inc; Tommy Hilfiger USA, Inc.; Wal-Mart Stores; etc…
And you thought that we were no longer in the Middle Ages? Well it might be 2006 but feudalism still prevails in the third world. Could exploitative economic policies by US companies in places like Saipan, explain why hostility and hatred is expressed through terrorist activities by insurgents in third world countries? What we might be seeing is not terrorism but a modern day slave rebellion. We want what these countries have. We need the cheap labor and their natural resources so in essence it is a form of GLOBAL EMMINENT DOMAIN. I’m stronger and more powerful so I’m taking your resources because I can! And who is preventing reform laws from being enacted—the good moral Christian conservative Republican Tom DeLay. ARE WE EXPORTING DEMOCRACY OR HYPOCRICY!
But when Tom DeLay gets in trouble, so does his right-wing agenda and that’s when his good old buddy Pat helps him out!
Family Research Council
Robertson: “Tom DeLay is a great leader for pro-family public policies of enduring importance to the nation.â€
Focus on the Family
Robertson: “Today’s indictment of Majority Leader Tom DeLay bears all the signs of a trumped-up, political witch-hunt. The extreme left has seized this chance to take a swipe at one of America’s leading advocates of family values.â€
Traditional Values Coalition
Robertson: “DeLay is ‘a Christian man’ and prosecutor Ronnie Earle is exacting “political retribution.â€
BON VOYAGE
After touring one garment plant, DeLay praised Saipan at the New Year’s Eve party attended by top factory owners.
“You represent everything that is good about what we are trying to do in America.”
And what will Bush’s New Conservative Supreme Court and Judge Samuel Alito have in store for American Workers? WE’LL SOON FIND OUT– if it represents everything that is good in America!
The following list includes the estimated wholesale value of American garments produced in Saipan and shipped to the US during the years 1995-1999:
The Gap, Inc.: $237.3 million
Cutter & Buck, Inc.: to be determined
Dayton-Hudson Corp. (Target, Mervyn’s, Marshall Fields): $91.5 million
J. Crew Group, Inc.: $19.3 million
J.C. Penny Company, Inc.: to be determined
Nordstrom, Inc.: $18.3 million
Sears Roebuck & Company: $2.6 million
The Limited, Inc.: $21.7 million
Oshkosh B’Gosh, Inc.: $8.8 million
Jones Apparel Group, Inc.: $41.8 million
The Gymboree Corp.: $30.5 million
The Associated Merchandising Corp.: $14.8 million
The May Department Stores Company (Famous-Barr, Filene’s,
Foley’s, Hecht’s, The Jones Store, Kaufmann’s, Lord & Taylor,
L.S. Ayres, Meier & Frank, Robinson’s May, Strawbridges): $46.7 million
The Dress Barn, Inc.: $16.5 million
Lane Bryant, Inc.: $16.9 million
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.: $43.8 million
Tommy Hilfiger USA, Inc.: $6.85 million
Warnaco Group, Inc.: $9.3 million
January 9th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Along with her Pulitzer, Miriam Pawel arrived (to the LA Times from New York Newsday) with a backstory. In 1997 she stirred the newsroom by sending a pig’s head from a staff party to a Newsday columnist who had been critical of a Pawel-led investigative report on special education. (Apologies followed.) “I’d rather not talk about that,†Pawel says.
January 9th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Ah, Skippy. Good to see you, as always!
Mackey…. I like the pig’s head story.
Reg and Woody, this reality TV thang REALLY has promise.
January 9th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Eleanore, that’s a lot for me to read. I specialize in scanning and drawing short, but accurate, conclusions. So, if I understand you and have this right, Kathi Lee Gifford is responsible for the sweat shops of the world.
January 9th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
rosedog, a reality show with reg would have to be on FOX. We could use the name from another show to reflect the nature of reg’s liberalism and the source of my wisdom. It could be called “Pinky and the Brain.”
January 9th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Woody–stop scanning and start reading–your comments are hardly pithy. Kathi Lee was not mentioned–your reading comprehension is questionable if that’s how you interpreted my comments. Do you remember tricky Dick–would you have bought a used car from that man?
January 10th, 2006 at 9:21 am
And the brain side is clearly reg’s. We’ve seen the pinkys on a regular basis.
January 10th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Mark York, some say that a man’s brain is between his legs, but you say that you see a pinky on a regular basis. Hmmmm.
————
Eleanore, no I wouldn’t have bought a car from Nixon. He didn’t know a carburetor from a differential. Why do you and others hate Kathi Lee?
Okay, I’m just short on time. I’ll try to do this justice later tonight when I’m back home.
January 10th, 2006 at 9:37 am
I’d hate Kathi Lee even if she wasn’t personally responsible for most of the poverty and exploitation in the world. But, of course, we know she is. Otherwise, why would Reeg fire her ?
January 10th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
Just curious and with all due respect. When you did your good work for the Californian re: the UFW did you credit Jeff Coplon for his two part series…Cesar Chavez’s Fall from Grace…which ran in the village VOICE August 14 and 21, 1984 as your inspiration?
Coplon, you and Pawel each did good work and don’t particularly need to credit the other or whine for recognition. Is it the facts that make the story or who broke it?
January 10th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
I thought the story was sad when Marc wrote about it and today’s installment–indicating that in the late 70s the UFW and particularly Cesar Chavez himself shaped the organization by Synanon-created “gaming.” Diedrich’s “Game”, as I understand it, has a lot in common with Marxist-leninist “self-criticism”. It was also less than heartening to learn that Chavez accused a long line of supporters of being “communists” when it came time to purge them. I would like to see a well-researched response to the article, as well as a full response from Dolores Huerta, who is quoted generally in support of the union and the family.
I believe that the first “movement” project I got involved with back in Indiana–in 67, I guess, I don’t think I had my drivers license yet–was the every-Saturday-morning grape boycott picketing outside a Kroger’s grocery. I remember one day the manager came out and said frankly that the boycott seemed to be having an effect, and he was letting upper management know that. It was nice to feel that we were having an effect, and it turns out that we were.
Cesar Chavez was saintly in many ways. It appears that he lost, at least for a while, his tolerance for imperfection in others, and it led to a kind of totalitarian narcissism with paranoid features. But like any such diagnosis, it is not the end of the story, just a description of a challenge.
I agree with all who have said that it is the well-being of the farm workers that is important, not the image of their earlier leadership. That is true and fine, but people need heroes to motivate them, the fewer the blemishes the better.
January 10th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
“some say that a man’s brain is between his legs, but you say that you see a pinky on a regular basis. Hmmmm.”
Speak for yourself.
January 11th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Incidentally, what I glean from Marc’s article on Huerta’s current activities is all well and good, but it strikes me that it’s little and it’s late and that, as the one figure who had stature nearly equal to Chavez, she didn’t offer the leadership or intervention that was needed, when it was needed. This is my opinion from the sidelines, but I don’t see any evidence in her comments to the Times that she played anything other than enabler to Chavez when his leadership began to self-destruct. She sounds like she’ll still just rationalize anything Cesar did as some kind of response to vague threats to the union. Maybe all of the people alluded to in these articles were malevolent influences, emissaries from the Comintern or whatever, and the UFW lawyers were selfish bastards for asking for pay amounting to $12,000 a year, but the idea of running a union like it’s a religious cult just strikes me as bizarre. Huerta may not have had the ability to turn things around from inside and was understandably loath to go public against her beloved comrade, but if this is true, it’s better to try to comprehend what actually happend than to ignore it.
January 12th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Sorry for this long post but here’s the UFW’s response.
Puzzled by Miriam Pawel’s L.A. Times series
We are grateful to the hundreds of good people who know our work and have contacted us expressing outrage at Miriam Pawel’s recent series in the Los Angeles Times. For a few, the articles have raised concerns, and we appreciate you contacting us directly so we can answer any questions. Please email us at UFWofamer@aol.com and we will respond.
• Pawel’s main premise—that the United Farm Workers is “failing to organize California farm workersâ€â€”is directly contradicted by reporting from no less than 22 Los Angeles Times reporters and two columnists between April 25, 1994 (when the current UFW organizing drive began) and Sept. 23, 2005. These stories chronicle substantial UFW organizing, election, strike and boycott activities plus new union contracts and legislative victories.
Either all the stories by those L.A. Times reporters are wrong or Pawel’s stories are wrong. They both can’t be right. There is a long list of accomplishments and facts in that L.A. Times coverage raising serious questions about Pawel’s reporting. Please see citations for just 48 of the 1994-2005 news articles and columns by Times writers on UFW activities by subject matter with headlines, reporters’ names and dates at http://www.ufw.org.
• Among other things, L.A. Times stories from 1994 to 2005 chronicle:
—A string of UFW election victories and campaigns to win contracts, with workers at 32 companies voting for the union in secret ballot elections and dozens of important UFW contract successes, including the largest strawberry, rose, winery and mushroom firms in California and the nation.
—Fierce grower resistance to farm worker organizing.
—The UFW’s major organizing campaign among Central Valley table grape workers last summer that produced modest pay hikes and a near win in the largest private-sector union election in the nation last year, at Giummara.
—New laws and regulations aiding farm workers the UFW won since 1999, from seat belts in farm labor vehicles and fresh protections for farm workers cheated by farm labor contractors to an historic binding mediation law and new pesticide protections for farm workers. The UFW even convinced Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2005 to issue an emergency regulation to prevent further heat deaths of farm workers and all outdoor employees.
• If Pawel was telling the full story of the UFW and the Farm Worker Movement, her writing would have reflected it. You decide:
—Tuesday’s story totaled 121 column inches. Only 5 inches contained facts or perspective provided by the UFW.
—Monday’s article was 135.5 column inches. Just 8.5 inches were from the Farm Worker Movement.
—Sunday’s story was 132 column inches. Only 10 inches were from the Farm Worker Movement.
We plan to take these facts and much more to the editors of the L.A. Times and demand the full story of the UFW, Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement be told. We’re never satisfied with the progress we have made. But we’re proud of what we have accomplished and remain committed to overcoming the many challenges we face. We hope you will join us. Please send your letter to the editor of the L.A. Times if you have not already done so. (A much more detailed refutation is being prepared and we will share it with you.)
January 25th, 2006 at 6:01 am
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