1979_03 The Daily Collegian March 1979

              La Huelga enters seventh week
The lettuce strike i
force after seven weeks and the end ap¬
pears nowhere in sight.
The strike has spawned many deve¬
lopments. Last week, Cesar Chavez
called on the public to boycott *Chiqui-
ta" Brand bananas. The plea was an ef¬
fort to put pressure on United Brands
Inc., owner of the banana company and
also Sun Harvest Inc., the largest of
the 11 lettuce companies being picket¬
ed.
Chavez' call for a boycott came 10
days after he personalty took part in
private bargaining talks with Sun Har¬
vest negotiators in Los Angeles. These
talks, first seen as a breakthrough, pro-.
duced no progress.
Sun Harvest officials said that they
doubted the UFW's ability to effective¬
ly carry out the planned boycott of
Ghiquita bananas and other produce.
They felt the organizing machinery
needed to carry out the country-wide
boycott was no longer under the control
of Chavez
Saturday in El Centra an Imperial
County Superior Court Judge signed a
temporary restraining order limiting
picketing to 100 persons on Imperial
Valley farms. That was an effort, the
judge said, to prevent more violence
He said that at times the UFW had
> desin
I the v
One man has been killed since the
beginning of the strike on January 19.
In addition 160 people have been ar¬
rested and at least 30 injured. And
Chavez has blamed the violence on
Chavez, Has also charged that the 28
lettuce growers—have bargained in
bad faith by breaking contract talks. He
claims that growers created an impasse
in negotiations for their own benefit.
Yet the union has remained willing to
negotiate.
These charges will be investigated
by the Agricultural Labor Relations
Board (ALRB), to decide what action,
if any, will be taken to break the im¬
passe.
Two California lettuce growers met
with legislators last week, and asked
that the ALRB act be revised. They feel
that the decertification law has benefit¬
ted Cesar Chavez, and that his Union is
The strike began at the peak of the
lettuce harvest season, after two
months of negotiation failed to produce
a new contract to replace the one ex¬
pired January 1. Nearly J5 million
worth of lettuce Is now rotting in the
fields.
The strike by over 4,000 UFW mem¬
bers affects 11 major growers and has
stopped the harvesting of 40 percent of
the nation's supply of winter lettuce
The union is demanding a 40 percent
increase in wages plus piece rate
wages. The growers are offering raises
up to seven percent in each year of a
three year contract.
The reason UFW members are strik¬
ing for more than a seven percent in¬
crease, according to Marc Grossman, a
UFW spokesman, is that *due to infla-
it of living.
As the harvest winds down in the
Imperial Valley, the focus of the strike
may shift to the lettuce harvest in Ari¬
zona and San Joaquin Valley. Chavez
traveled to San Luis, Arizona last week
for a f ive hour rally. And he has asked
other farmworkers to join the strike
aainst California lettuce producers
He told those attending the rally in
Arizona that lettuce workers were the
victims of 'racial exploitation.* They
think workers are just Mexicans and
they don't need any money because of
how they live,* said Chavez.
Only two growers are being affected
by the strike efforts in Arizona. Gary
Esquinelli, a Yuma grower, said he has
been hurt by harmful leftover images of
'Crapes of Wrath' workers. He stated
that he was tired of the image of down
trodded farmworkers kept under the
thumb of the growers. He felt his oper-
shouJd be considered a business
like any other industry.
Since abandoning the bargaining
table growers and the UFW have tried
to reach the public, through aggressive
media campaigns.
Growers have launched a newspaper
advertising campaign designed to force
Governor Brown to put political pres¬
sure on Cesar Chavez.
One of the ads appeared March 2 in
the Fresno Bee and attacked Governor
Brown and Cesaf Chavez. It blames
Brown for letting Chavez help him dur¬
ing his quest for the Presidency and
for letting Chavez nominate him in
the '76 Democratic Convention It
accused Chavez of attempting to keep
himself 'above the law" anil superior to
the people of California.
It asked Brown to help enforce laws,
picketing and send national
UFW asks for
help-^
tact Ben Bustos at 251-9380.
ir now then they had eight years ago."
The plea for food and money to help
farmworkers on strike in Huron has
again been issued. Contributions are Mecha President Prisdlla Contreras
urgently needed by these local United has also requested that each Chicano
Farmworkers. *wouponfarrirxisccntributefoodandat
DrxutiommaybeleftattheLaRaza least S25 per group for the strikers
Studies office In SR 4, room 118. For She may be contacted through the La
more information call 487-2848 or con- Raza Studies off ice
guard riot control troops into the fields.
It also asked that Brown use his politi¬
cal influence with Cesar Chavez to
have him end the strike. A picture ac¬
companying the ad showed 'rioting
farmworkers' overturning a lettuce .
loader during the 'Imperial Valley Ri¬
ots/	
FLASH!-
Cesar Chavez
scheduled to
speak at Huron
Rally and March
tomorrow.
Brown has also been under attack by
acting Governor Mike Curb because of
his close ties with Cesar Chavez and
for attending the funeral of the slain
farmworker, Rufino Contreras.
Curb, who said he supports the
growers in the current dispute, said if
he was Governor ha would send the
National Guard into the fields.
Segregation
still alive
Almost half this country's minority
students still attend racially segregated
public schools a full 25 years after the
US Sup^en^ Court outlawed such dis¬
crimination. According to a report is¬
sued by the U.S. Civil Rights Commis¬
sion on Feb. 13, 46 per cent of minority
school children still go to these 'separ¬
ate' institutions.
The commission accused Congress
and the Carter Administration of weak¬
ening the enforcement of federal poli¬
cies that require desegregation. They
said that Carter has yet to mount an
all-out enforcement effort that will
make it clear that the nation is firmly
committed to the goal of insuring equal
educational opportunities.
The most segregated schools of the
16,000 school districts •ajrveyed, were
found to be those in the north-central
and northeast U.S. • f»and »per cent
respectively. '"30
Brown to speak
at conference
'Excellence in Primary Care-Rural
Approaches* will be the theme of the
Second National Conference on Rural
Primary Care to be held in Fresno,
March 19-22.
The
. Inn, will feature
top local, state, and national speakers
m the medical and health care fields,
For more information contact the
California Rural Hearth Federati"
268-9644.
Tuesday
March 6, 1979
day. The team is now 3-2 bile
The   CSLff' Raend Rabin   tmamamv*
n place this Friday and Saturday.
AS budget requests
top 3300,000 mark
-Page 2
Of virtue,
vice and drama
—•Page 4
Coaching staff
survives Prop. 13
—Page 6
In search of
the perfect pineapple
-Page 7
Also: No disco