◆ SpookStack

AMENDING MIGRATORY LABOR LAWS with the work there though. About 12 men quit during the two days I was working, so then I decided to quit I told the foreman and he sent me to a town about ten miles away to get my check. When I looked at my check for two days work, 18 houra, it was $5.35. I protested to the man and he said there was nothing he could do, to talk to Mike Baca. I went back twice to the camp to try and talk te Baca, but he waan't there. So I came into town to the union hall VEADIMER SUSOEFP. Esact copy of a statement by Olivas Martines, border card #92485, from El Paso, and armando Alvares Lopes, green card holder #$10-710-194, af Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on January 17, 1066, given to National Farm Workers Associa- tion staf Before eoming to California the two men lived [In El Paso and Juarez. Ther were just easing by the Chamizal Labor Agency when they saw a sign that said work “Work in California.” When they entered the office, they were fold that there wae work available in Marysville and in Delano. The work in Delano was grape vines for $1.40 an hour, 8 or 9 bours a day, 7 days a week. The wo for DiGiorgtv ; there was a bus with New Mexico license plates, Light blo@@hod white. They came from Texas on the 28th and the first stop was ™ i. m, sto bk, 1 1 Camp #2 DiGiorgio in Delano. 15 stayed in Delano. 25 were taken in a large labor te Marysville, 4 men left the truck at Merced. 21 began working in Ma He eight days altogether and were charged $18.50 for room and board for the eight days. The camp was aboot fire miles ont of town toward the mountains and was run by a man named George; the camp was owned by DiGiorgio Fruit Corporation according to the man. The men netted one doilar apiece for the eight days time. The wen said they wanted to leave the camp in Marysville and told the boss who said they could come to Delano. The 22 came In a “green ugly track” from Marysville. The truck broke down on the way and they spent two hours wait- ing for it to move again. They didn’t eat all the way from Marysville to Delano. They had been given breakfast before they left Marysville and they had been charged for the whole day’s meals by the camp manager. While they were coming from Marysville to Delano, the track did stop for food, but they had to pay, so only the truck driver ate. When they got to Delano, they im- mediately got in line to eat with all the other workers, but someone told them they couldn't eat with the others and they brought bread and bologna out to them toeat. They bunked into Camp #4. The next day they started trorking for DiGiorgio in Delano: this was Friday, January 7th. They worked one day for 8 hours and the other days for 9 hours. They worked every day until last Saturday, January 13th. They had Sundays off. They were paid $1.40 an hour, or $12.60 a day. They paid §2.25 a day for room and board. They were served boiled potatoes and white beans every day fortunch. For breekfast, the first ones in line got three eggs, the others got two eses because, the cook said, there weren't enough eggs because the chickens were on €. $5 for the pruning shears they used and $5 for the blanket they needed were @educted from their check and then returned when they turned in the shears and blanket before leaving. .- The frst payroll week, they earned $68 and $35 of this was deducted for their Passage and meals, leaving $33. Each sent this money to their wives. The see- ond payroll week, they had 3 days’ work, grossed §37.80, netted $5 after $32.80 more was deducted for passage and meals. The $5 they had left, they had to pay back to the man they had borrowed $5 from when they frst got to Delano This left them with no money for three weeks’ work. At no time during this period were they informed of a strike in the Delano area. This includes El] Paso, Chamizal Agency, Marysville, and Delano Sierra Vista Camp. The men first found out about the strike when they saw the picket ine on their second day in Delano but they had to earn some money to send to their Tg The second time they saw the pickets, they quit work. This was Jan While these two men were staying at the DiGiorgio Camp, they overheard the main foreman talking with a crew boss. The crew boss said they needed more men and that 40 more should be coming from Chamizal. The main fore- man «aid that this would be impossible; that they couldn't get more men because “they” knew about the strike now. . . _? : « enw fo. * ee ae epee ‘ 7 ~ - - . + . +e a. . ~ ere i = ~ = ) Ca as gr