◆ SpookStack

t ee nr me meee ERIUAN FEDERATION ©. BOR AND CONGRESS OF Ihe IRI ORGANIZATIONS US Fe ee ee Sab eiticdesiantdiatidstkaaes tiiiedaeaaiatehiat seanasuckie eine tae a UNITED FARM WORKERS ORGANIZING Ursa COMMITTEE CESAR CHAVEZ A A” aRRY TUNG t azorcz meany ! pReeioguT } 4 WILuiAt & xincHen | DIRECTOR OF CROANIZATION ; 4 DIRECTOR we ne ASST. DIRECTOR : eS GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ bod ce es ARIZONA RUFAESENTATIVE - POST OFFICE BOX 135 TOLLESON, APIZONA 03333 TELEPHONE ANTA CODE 602-936-4335 July 15, 1969 Ki 1b VB JUL 1969 5 De. Richard K, Burke iS 2 RECEIVED co United States Attorney 590 Federal Building Phoenix, Arizona U, S, ATTORNEY PHOENIX Kee ng? sy The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee {5 conducting a strike at several grape ranches located jn the general area west of Phoenix, meson Arizona, The strike began on June 17, 1969 and will probably continue ° until the grape harvest is finished, The purpose of this letter is to relate some of the actions of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department during the strike and to request an investigation of this conduct, Dear Sir: Fo oe while there has been no major single incident involving misconduct hy the Sheriff's Department there has been a constant occurrence of small incidents which when viewed in their entirety establish a clear pattern of harassment of the strikers, organizers and pickets, This harassizent by the Sheriff's Department infringes upon the civil literties * ef thosé involved and represents a clear attempt by the police to inti- midate all the farm workers, both actual union members and potential union menbers. Some of the incidents which have occurred will now be described: 1. A Deputy Sheriff stood by ddly while a ranch foreman "roughed up”. -.--—3 a priest who works with the farm workers. The priestthas his strike buttons torn off his shirt, his kat taken off, filled with grapes and run over by a tractor, The Deputy's explanation for refusing to act was that his department was “neutral” 4{n thie labor dispute. ‘The priest was told that if he wanted to take action he would have to proceed on his own}, and after he did file a complaint, the Sheriff's Department tried to persuade him to withdray it. On another occasion when a foreman ripped a picket sign out of the hands of one of the * pickets, a Deputy ‘Btood by idly, 2. A union member who. vent to work © on a ranch one © morning was follove into the fields by a Deputy who then told the foreman that the man was a union member and had teen picketing. The Deputy. then. denanded the man's identification, Withough he had done aothing | wrong/ and * interrogated him for no. Apparent reason,