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Cesar Chavez — Part 7
Page 60
60 / 147
This is the king of cvidence the UFW hes
in its. legal cese against the Teamsters.
A feraworker: "Firsp} off, Ido not
wistr to be represented\: the Teamsters
and secondly, I never signed that peti-
tion. My name is there, but it is not
my signature. I would never sign a
petition like that. I am angered that
someone else would put my name on @ pe-
tition like that. I am and always have
been a loyal "Chaviste" and do not want
the Teamsters et all.” -- a worker
from H & M Tennecc.
The Ufu will bring a legal case
soainst the Teamsters, claiming that
they forged many farm worker names to
their so-called list of 4,100! Second,
the UF will show that the Teamsters
used force to get people -to sign a pe-
tition saying they wanted to be repre-
sented by the Teamsters Union.
It should be pointed out here that the
growers ere not completely free from
blame. All the growers in the Coachella
Valley, except Steinberg and Larson,
signed with the Teamsters. Whether the
grovers whe signed with the Teamsters
coopereted in the above mentioned ime
proper activity, we probebly will never
know, In the end we will see that all
parties--orowers, Teamsters and UFw-~
made mistakes.
Bs far as the UFW is concerned, no
matter what the courts do, (justice grinds
exceedingly slowly at times) the future
cf their union is at stake. They cannot
wait for court decisions. Right now the
Teamsters have 85% of the Coachella Val-
ley teble grape contracts. As tough
Ralph Cotner of the Teamsters puts it:
"We've got no reasons to leave. We got
the workers...and we're gonna keep ‘em.”
So, the UFW has called an ali out strike-
boycott of Coachella Valley Teamster
grapes. be will report later on about
the present status of the strike and how
effective it nas been.
B. One last thing about Teamster statis-
tics and techniques. NEWSWEEK (May 21,
4973) reported thet by March 1, 1973, the
Teamsters asserted they had more than
4,100 signatures of farm workers who
mainteined they wanted the Teamsters as
theiz umiar. At th time, tovever, there
Ler att mpt mene “ip the
grépe vlnreysros! To Se cert this,
on Jure 20, 1973, we contacted Floyd Mar-
lowe, Farm Worker Representative, Calif.
Dept. o an Resources Development. He
said trategn March 30, 1973,
show that Jhere were 500 farm ic
the grapes. Pre-harvest work of
was being done and hence mot thst
workers were in the Coachelle Velley et
that time.
How \did the Teamsters get the 4,402
names they have on their list? No ore
seems to know and they are not telling.
At this writing (June 22) Mr. Mer ~
says there are 3900 field worke
grapes. Th2re are 1,000 striker
there are approximately 4,900 f.
ers in the Valley at this time.
of the 4,900 are UFW strikers; encther
6800 are UFW ferm workers employed by Ler-
son and Steinberg, the two growers in the
Coachella Valiey that signed with Ceser
Chavez. That leaves 3,100 ferm workers
in the fields of growers with Teamster
tontracts. Are all these workers com-
mitted to the Teemsters? Increzsinoly
we are finding by talking to "Teamster"
farm workers that they need money. They
ere poor people and the grape harvest is
One of the ways they can make s' morey
to keep them going. Many supp: Ceser
Chavez and the UFW. We cannct begin to
Speculate ss to how the Teamsters cot
their figure of G,100. But we co heve
some leads. , The following decleretion
was given under oath:
I have been working for the’ -------
Company for the last 6 years. Until
Monday, the 16th of April, I worked un-
Ger UFW contrect. Two times the Team
sters came to our fields befcre the Lf
contract expired. They esked me to sicn
@ piece of paper whereby I would suppor
the new Teamster contract. I toic them
I didn't want to sign because I was 2
Teady represented by the unicn of Ceser
Chavez. I saw that the majority of +
other people who were working with me
didn't want to sign. 7
On Monday, April 16, the UFL cs
expired. The next day
man, instead of sending us to work,
us to stay in the camp. He ¢
would be paid that day even +
Gidn't work. A little bit let
Teamsters arrived. Serry
boss of the camo, was t
- ©
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