◆ SpookStack

t ft t have a family. I hd rked there for six years and I wes afraid if 1 lost my job trere I woulen'( 3 able to find work siywhere else. So }.yad to sign. I think that 3s lot of people signed because they were also afraid of losing their pbs. Because of this kind of confusion and deception, 8 poll of about 1,000 field workers in 31 fields in the Coachella Valley was taken on April 10, 1973. Floyd Merlowe estimates that there were hetupen 1,208 and 1,606 field workers in the grepes at that time. Hence this poll of approximately 1,000 would semingly be Yather valid. A committee of 25 civic, religious and iaber leaders helped to take this poll. Msgr. George Higgins, U.5. Catholic Conference, was a member af the committee. The results of the poll were as follows: 735 votes for UFW 80 votes for Teamsters 78 votes for no union C. Some conclusions. From the forego- ing the following conclusions seem war- Tanted: 41) The UF is the choice of the field workers. 2) The Teamsters through various means tried to make the public think that they are the choice of the field workers. 3) The Teamsters are the choice of the Qrowers. Some theories as to why the Teamsters want to organize field workers and why the growers prefer the Teamsters will be dealt with later. 4) Bluntly, the growers want one union (Teamsters) and the field workers want another (iFW). The growers signed with the Teamsters without respect to the wishes of the workers. This is o.k. if we subscribe to the philosophy that the the employer determines what union will represent the workers. However, if in this situation we use the model of organ- ized labor the following would occur: @) A rival or raiding union (the Team- sters in this case) on claiming to repre- sent the workers previously under con- tract with enother union CUFW) b) must have workers file for a "decer- tification" election in which through secret ballot, the workers determine the union cf their chcice. 2 ohus ieitde owning to do now in the Ceachella Velley is not to side with the Tez «Ss (we have 4,189 vetes!); no should we say categorically thet we arc ye of the UFW (we have tne ‘sun- port of -he workers). Rether, to soive this whole problem there should be ce- cret elections supervised by 2 third ce: ty. We feel from the facts we have seer’ the UFwW would win, since they do have th support of the field workers. Sut this is not to say there is no dissatisfectic or opposition to Cesar Chavez by some field workers. However, we feel the ma- jority of the workers are on his side. 5) A final conclusion about the pect the Teamsters have with the growers in the Coachella Valley. The contrect wes signed with little or no discussion with farm workers. Farm workers did not dete; mine the content. Subsequently, they di: not ratify the contract which was signec by the Teamsters and the growers. This is a clear indication that the issue in the table grape dispute of 1573 is essen- tially the same as the dispute in the late 60's. That is, whether or not farm workers can have a union of their own which is governed by the rank and file and not by a few outsiders end “big bro- thers" who feel they know what is best for the workers. The Present Situetion of the Strike in the Coachella Valley Because of the circumstences surround- ing the grower-Teamster pact, the UFU hes Called a strike-boycott of all Coachells Valley grapes picked by the Teemsters. There are about 1,000 UFW Strikers, as was reported by the local press when our task force visited the valley. Floyd Marlowe, a State of Californie official, confirmed this figure and said there are 3,900 farm workers in the oreses; jo of these are working under UFW cortrects That means thet approximately 3,000 ferm- workers belong to the Teamster uork forc a figure that is disputed by LFL = They claim that about 2,200 pecate are 2c- tually working under the Team: Numerous sources in Coachelle that 4,500 farm workers are peak of the grape season to harvest. At present, the o the peak of ‘their harvest 2 ing tu there equations the have sufficient workers to go However, the growers claim they é 5]