An interview with Cesar Chavez by Raul Torres

We're excited about some of the things that have happened to the union. And I'd like to cover a few of those topics. First off one is the recognition of your flock now as a full fledge Union and member of the AFL CIO. Can you tell us something about what it means to the union. Well. It really doesn't mean that much because we in effect have been a time in this group since back in 66 when we started. Before that you know we're an independent movement. It means recognition mourning thing else it means that we lose now our the subsidy that we were getting from the AFL CIO to continue organizing. That has been dropped because we're now a national union and the policy is not to give subsidies to national unions from the from the Federation. But it means other things mostly good it means we reckon

we're a recognized national uniform or for the first ever in the history country. It means. There's recognition by the labor movement. That we can take care of yourself or should take care of yourself. And more importantly of course it means that we have the jurisdiction to organize from workers throughout the country. I see no can that jurisdiction at all come into conflict as it did with the Teamsters in the Salinas Valley. What you say the Teamsters are not part of the AFL CIO. So it would come in conflict with independent unions. But I think you'll be less and less of that. I see that with the with the recognition as a as a union. Will the farm workers. That are currently members be able to receive any additional benefits that they didn't have as being just recognised as an organizing

committee. No the benefits that come to members of Congress are contracts. And those that have organize and have contracts will receive the same benefits. They will receive benefits they have in the past indirectly through their union in terms of support I suppose. Probably the best thing is that it's a good indication to the employers the growers that we're really for goods now we're not we're not going away and that's probably probably the best right. Well the union has been recognised as a sort of I would say is as well to richer. I spoke one time about organizing a community unions and I think this union has been recognised as somewhat in that terms as a community Union caring not just for the employees. Conditions on the job and but caring for the family unit as well

is the philosophy going to continue. Oh yeah sure. It's going to continue as long as. Those who are in the leadership today are hearing on and want to continue in this long as the workers. Understand in value that it's important to be continued. But yeah it's continuing but it's also getting stronger. And the concept which is a new concept it's. Not entirely a new concept in union Unite station a workers is a new concept only as of late because in the years back before labor was recognized by this country you know when the days of the great struggles. Most unions had a lot of community involvement they had to an artist a life. And that where in the same way we're not. We have to. Well see where union made up mostly of minority group people. Were you made up all poor people. And in that sense were a very different

union for most unions. But not very different from unions in their in their early beginnings you know most of us went. When they started there were minority good people and they were you know they were the immigrants and they were poor. But the other thing is that. We're confronted with problems that most humans have never been confronted with and there's a problem of migrants the. Problem of seasonality of employment. And those are great problems for us in trying to. Fashion A union that is going to provide services. For its for its members you know. It means that. Added to the to the problems of being poor. Is that the additional problem of. More expense because we have to cover more people. In lesser groups. In more areas. Right. For instance you can get a union and. Organize a plant covering. Six thousand

five thousand workers. Well it's relatively easy to service and they're all together right. But if we cover for us for one hour you can cover 5000 workers are spread all across California and parts of Arizona and parts of Colorado New Mexico. So that means that we have to. Provide more staff many more many more times and then the ordinary than the usual Union. Are you continuing the practice of having not only volunteers but those people who do work maintaining a minimum base salary of $5 a week as you did when you were first organizing. Yes. It was reaffirmed. The day we got the charter by the board. Were held we're going to organize a constitutional convention the first one. Sometime this summer. We have. The board straight making the recommendation that this be our lifestyle. That we continue to work. You know it's in a sense of

sacrifice workers more than more than in terms of getting just wage or salary for the networks pledging herself to do monetary. Run Terry poverty in order to alleviate mandatory poverty I see. And so all of us are in that boat. Well you know some of them you know for almost 10 years now so it's nothing new and will continue. Right now the the headquarters that you established for is a union. How many states are you covering from the US. And. We're actually not in about what were another. About 17 about 37 states. Either organizing farm workers or cutting or. Fighting the. Whole slew of legislations been initiated recently by the Farm Bureau and. Another employer groups who try to strangle Union.

Legislation that goes beyond the the hated right to work so-called right to work lost. Legislation that's been proposed. In many states with a very direct. Idea in mind to destroy the union by preventing strikes. And preventing a union from boycotting and very bad legislation story involving about 37 states in one way or the other. The There's recently you just announced last week I believe I'm sorry earlier this week rather about a contract you signed in Florida. Yes it was approaching Telus. So those are very good contracted. With the Coca-Cola company covers about twelve hundred workers. Minimum and go up to about twenty two hundred workers. It's. Mostly in citrus. It's almost all black. About 90 percent

black and. 70 percent white and maybe 2 or 3 percent Chicano some Puerto Rican support Cubans. And. It's a basic contract we have we've got in that contract a. 50 hour. Guarantee. It's sources. So it's sort of a wage an annual wage guarantee but it's on a weekly basis. But it's a mass of the same thing. Oh yeah it is a tremendous thing and we have a lot of. Support from the workers. And. They were involved in the in the. They were involved in the. Negotiating the contract in organizing and so forth. But also. What's good about the contract of course. It's a first contract of its kind in. In Florida anywhere in the in the south or southeast. And it's a very large company for perhaps one of the largest. So use as a base from

where to start you know to you know we're now. Making demands on the few other companies right here in Florida or in Florida. We also have a strike in Florida that we got into it's a strike of Cuban exiles. There. Cuban refugees whatever the. Hour they call themselves it's their workers who are working in a sugar plantation. They went out in strike and so we've been striking now for nine weeks. And. It's a tough strike. You know what type of the systems are you getting in Florida. Yes. Is it similar to the type of assistance the grape boycott took. Yeah we're getting not as much assistance but we're getting sound. But we're also getting the other type of assistance as very important to us people to volunteer their time. Because that's more important even. When money is important but that's even more important than money. And so we have. Put together a very good group of volunteer workers in Florida.

With a very good direction in so doing some great work. I see. And. Back to California which has been the main base of the organizing. Have you. You've continued to organize in the Great. Areas of the vineyards understand that currently you're still boycotting some of the Napa Valley winds winds. We got into a strike there and boycott of the of the. Valley fine wines. Crude and a few of the others. There's nine altogether and that we're having a battle with them. It's not a very large workforce but. There are a few workers there you know buying a couple of thousand maybe 25 hundred workers. But they made a

demand that they wanted to have a union recognized by their employers and well they were the. Employees refused and so we got into a big fight. I see. And so really the piece. Strike in terms of the vineyards isn't really over yet. And when you get through with those nine Will there be are there still more that you have. Oh you know we have right now we have demands for organizing. From almost every segment from workers about the country we have Indians we have. Blacks of course we have Puerto Ricans Cubans. She Connell's the white. Worker. We have. Almost every area from anywhere in the states where farm workers work. We have some sort of request. To come and assist. There's a very very large. Organizing

revolution I guess among from workers going on but it is not a very it's not a very. It's not a very visible thing is not like the great boycott where you know right but are very very visible. It's there in the ads and it's you know and it's working itself. And we're you know are strapped for. Staff for money. We're not just for working hard and Alaina. Demands a tremendous you know we have immense from from workers all across the. Well how do you see the. There's a lot of people have who have in the past volunteered to help in their communities like with the boycott of grapes a table grapes where indeed in many families many homes especially in the Bay Area we were at it was quite well supported and I know people supported throughout. After that a lot of people have stepped back to to see just what they what they could do what they would be asked to do again and.

Occasionally in these last. Say the last half year at least. Numerous people have said well we don't hear enough about what we can do together and I was like to know what you feel. Again the type of support that you could use in on a national level that becomes sometimes a bit harder for people but when you see what can happen the level of. Let me give you an example of probably answer your question very well. Say in the grape boycott. If there were 10 people present. The seven or eight of those people would be touching one way or the other because they would eat grapes. In the wine boycott out of 10 people our experience that we do this sort of our own. You know where you know we conduct these surveys out of 10 people that we talk to generally two at the most annoying thing about the ones we're boycotting. So we touching only two because the other eight you know don't drink wine or they're not involved in what we're doing. Now one thing that I think is that

we've gotten many contracts since the grape boycott was over. And we've had many boycotts in between the people I know where because I've been. Where we had a boycott that lasted like 72 hours and we've had about I don't know the exact number we have so many but I think we've had about. Four or five boycotts maybe more. Different scraps that we have with different employers and we win them so people don't know because it doesn't become that that clash that we develop with the grape growers. Now we have the lettuce boycott coming up again as you know we got into and then we. Call it off. Because the employees said that they want to negotiate we negotiate for eight months and then. At the end we find out that they in fact didn't want to negotiate they were just killing time. You know the ones that are involved in trying to serve our union through legislation. So now that's going to be a big one. Now when we conduct a survey about.

About lettuce 10 out of 10 people are connected with it so that once we get into it is going to be is going to come back to live again right where people can again feel dirty. Sure because it's it's a major thing and let's confine you think it's major Is that right Andrea wanted it to. Ask you a little bit more about the. Planned. Lettuce boycott. And that's. You've been holding off. On it. And in the process some legislation has started to come out. When will this legislation and I assume you're you have a group of people that are watching legislation throughout the states that you're organizing. Again is this an area where people can get involved one by maybe were writing their state legislator. Yes very much. See we have. Had two small. Drives you know to do away with legislation with but one was trying

to do in California. And we had a big driver in Oregon. We just got word a couple of days ago the governor in Idaho veto the very bad bill. And then they legislate the legislature took it back and they try to write a redo and he won by two votes. And he said according to the reports we got that he was reading the bill because he had examined his conscience and that was what he was asked to do. But there's one on Florida pending. Most of the states where we have problems I think legislation is going to be. Not a problem until next year. But there is a bill now pending in Florida which would be. See Florida the right to work work state. Now they got an addition to the right to work law that specifically aimed at our union. And there's no bones about it they're saying that. And that would be to put criminal penalties. For any union member or any union official their way in one way or another either by mistake or purposely would avoid or find a way to go

around the right to work provisions of that law in the state. And it's geared to the union voices specifically geared to farm workers and their union and that's very bad and of course. We. Are now. We're now. Getting the support you do something about that but we put the legislature in order on warning that if they enact a piece of legislation it's horrible that we're going to have to boycott their their state. And you know that you've had here in California you've had I guess to Lawrence where as has done a lot of work and legislation here in California and perhaps you can tell us a little bit of the work she's done because I know that she's run into some problems with our legislators up there. Well. Earlier early last year but the middle class will begin to have problems with Democrats. There are so few Democrats who are introducing some very bad legislation against the unions. And

so we had a few fights with them and were able to bait some great to very bad bills. Corey before he was a very bad one we're going to beat that one. We at one point were forced to. To muster about 10000 workers and at the state capitol to. Complain about the proposed legislation she has been in charge of legislation in the various states. And she's had nice any job. And she's still doing it. Do you have any person any members currently or in the boycott office in Sacramento that that are watchdog in the legislation that's coming through. No but we have friends who work there. Who are doing that for us. And. There are people I worked with. With different agencies in town or people who.

Have other jobs not connected with the union but who devote their time to. To act so watchdog for us. But we also have very direct contact with many of the legislators and anything comes up with a little snow right away. I see there's another bill that I wanted to ask you about because this covers the the nonresident workers and that's the Arnett bill that has been. Talked about pro and con with him. The Chicano community quite a bit and I wondered if you could you know give some clarification where the union stands. So yeah we have a very definite stand we've been with to see that stand has been taken by a union for the last eight or seven years. See we will make a choice early in the struggle you know whether we're going to. Permit the employer to use our brothers from across the border. Who are. Illegal. Aliens to bring them across and to do two things One is to break our strikes because

every single strike that we've had they have been used to trying to break the strike or trade break it. And number two is to depress wages and working conditions. And so the farm worker is at odds with some of the brothers in the cities on this one because. The farm workers sees this is a very direct threat to its likely hood and to its union and it's something we've been struggling now for the last two. Seven years with. Now the Nixon Arnette failed. It was elected I think it was last year to try and provide some penalties for people who knowingly employ people who are illegal here and. I think that the problem in the cities with our brothers in the cities is that they say the bill is a very bad thing because they feel that the bill harasses the the the illegal and harass especially those people have been here long many years you know. Right. And so we say that that's a separate problem

that we can't support them to support them and be against the wishes of the workers who are very strong about not wanting to permit illegals in the country. And especially when we have been the number one union the U.S. ever culturists is still the first place of employment for for these people who come across. And the only time you can get a job is when we're on strike and the employers of course know this and use it for their help. Now. We think there that they that the problem. We're not against immigration is supposed to be understood very well. If they can come here and have some out we can lend ourselves and your support to to legalize and we're for it. We're not against any legist any immigration from Mexico or any other country particularly poor countries. But we do we are against the employers using them as pawns in our breaker strikes right in error.

They they also would participate in poor wages and so forth. Well if you want example right now we had a committee that. Came in last week from. One of the small towns here in the valley. And they were saying which is stronger because we lived with this for years and years. They can't get jobs here that the resident people. Who are growing Mexican have a Green Card who are here legally. And they citizens who are here can't get jobs. Because the employer. Uses a way the legal way the illegal entrant to depresses wages working conditions and to screw the Union. The committee came you know they want to know. You know what to do because they have got the jams. Now there's. Approximately about. 300 families. About we estimate 85 percent of our employed. The employers in the labor contract with one hire them they'll hire the illegals because you know illegals. Get paid about 50 percent of the wage. They won't complain.

You know they exploit them not only in their wages but also exploit them by selling them by camping and putting him in camps and selling them because they're illegal they can go to town wine and cigarettes and all of the other things that they need. So programs to make any money and it's a big racket. It's an enormous record for those people who are in engaged in selling. Flesh you know. Right away selling workers to be exploited. And so we are one of the. One of the major groups that that the employer chooses these people who nevertheless are poor in their brothers but. Who use them against us and so it's not no way that our status and they've been there for seven years. Right. Besides this type of. Legislation and the right to work. Legislation that is that is. Currently. Active in some states and also problem in others that it may be enacted. Are there other any

other. Legislations that. You're keeping an eye on as part of the. Protection for farm workers or are you tempted to get legislation passed for instance for farmers. Well the other camp is to try to take a bucket away from us. You see for all these years since 1935 when the other work most of the workers were covered by the National Relations Act were excluded. All these years we've been excluded now all of a sudden here in the last 10 six years we've been able to find a way to struggle back against you know as you know so many odds and. Once we find a way and we develop a technique how to organize workers now the same employers who fought to keep the workers from getting the law I now see are screaming to put us on the law because they find it's a gimmick to frustrate organizing efforts and to destroy the techniques that we've developed you know the organizer working with. And of course we're fighting that. And then. There's a lot of legislation. That

has to be corrected save the employees they the growers have had to have had a field day in acting all sorts of legislation to protect their special and varied interests. Now we were researching all these laws every single thing it has to do with every culture. And we're not saying that we want participation in those laws and those commissions and those marketing orders and everything that affects the workers life through any governmental or any. Piece of legislation is done for the purpose of protecting the grower has in one way or the other affects the worker pretty directly we want to be involved we want to have a say so so we're. Looking into all those sorts of things also and all the different subsidies to do the whole question of. The. Water. Giveaways that they have for them and on and on you know. So Roy I'd like to ask you about one particular area that concerns the. Farm workers specifically working out there in

the field and that's this. Pesticides that are used which has long been recognized as being detrimental to the farm workers and yet necessary for the crops. You the union has taken a stand. What what what is what is the what do you feel will be an outcome for for you what were to say we're going to give you one. We say. Pesticides we call them economic problems. That they may be needed in some certain special occasions but that first of all we feel that they're being that they're not for the workers that the employer has no concept of how dangerous they are but they're also harmful and dangerous to the consumers. And we feel are we feeling the Union that it's our responsibility. To protect the workers from against this poison but also to have some to say as consumers also

try to alert and protect consumers who have been our best supporters about the economic crisis. And so we have in our country most of it contracts. Outright bans against Niti indeed the DND for Scion and TEP and some of the very. Very. Heavy poison. But. The other thing is that. That sometimes employers. We feel are also of the. See the large producers of these poisons. Have worked out a scheme by many lawyers don't even know that they need the press. But they use only the recommendation. Of the large chemical companies. And so. Far they may need one application or two applications one of which case and a half a dose of this so that many cases the salesman will sell the growers they go not knowing doesn't take time to understand.

So they over over kill over spray over. Pollute you know the environment well the stuff that they're coming out with and we feel bad that first of all certain frozen should be banned completely. We also feel that even though they're not banned are used extensively because the employee has no understanding of what they are. Thirdly we feel that waste have to be found. To. Take care of the pests that interfere with the protection of vegetables and foods and so forth. But that a weight must be found and ensure that we have the know how and the technology to do it. Coming out with with other means of controlling the pest without having to resort to this awful and very dangerous pesticides. So that's one of the big things that we carry ourselves into as an extra program. Now we also have a very very good educational program among our workers and workers

in the in the union before they came into the union who knew nothing about pesticides get a very good idea and in a few months they're. Very up to what's happening also very concerned because we begin to show how harmful it is. And we don't say we don't we're not against pesticides for the sake of growing the growers and you know saying you're. Interfering with the production are really against it because we we want them to. We want the industry and and the those who are made to make the industry the employers to come to grips with this very important problem. You know that right now a lot of people are concerned throughout the country with the ecology issue here and in the country and it seems to me that the pesticides certainly are part of our ecological program that we're concerned with. Are there. Groups that are in support of the stance that you've taken for instance right now

that I've been supportive. Yes we have. All of the ecology groups the conservation groups to the groups who know. The dangers of pesticides you know are supporting us. People who. Aren't. Scientists and people who are. Who know about the dangers you know and support. But there's a big job that has to be done with the average American doesn't know anything about. About pesticides and there has to be a lot of work done and of course this is one of our jobs to inform the people. That. You know they have a lot at stake. In pressuring the society to come up. With ways of. Dealing or substituting. Substituting for. The economic poison pill for years the Department of Agriculture. Who is perhaps. The largest

public. In a way growers the grower research firm around thinking if that's how it can be turned he. Has worked very very close with with growers in in terms of developing a lot of the pesticides and in fact providing research for for the firms that produce many of the pesticides. Has the Department of Agriculture at all moved in a different direction in terms of of. Working now what's with. The ecological groups and also your program. Of reversing some of the stands if taken in the past you know very little see the evidence from the apartment as it's the property of the growers in the United States is gambling that remain their property for years to come. So anything and everything they do they do blindly to support the employer regarding how good or how bad it may be.

And so we don't have that much influence in changing at least not at this point. But it's sad you know that they will go and buy all this money and then themselves all this research. And knowing full well that it's that that it's dangerous. And not. Interesting themselves in the other aspect of providing the same protection for those plants from pests. But doing it in a way it's not as harmful you know. And they have to cross over into that they have to understand that that is important in our job and the job of those who support us is to make them understand it and make them act on it. Like to to ever known another portion and that's that in the years that the that the union has gone from organizing to becoming a fully recognized union it's had. Many numerous farm workers and volunteers who who have not only placed their. Their bodies on the line but have given them up. And. Most recently a young lady passed away in Florida and.

I wanted to ask you. Beyond that of course has been what was uncovered as a plot against your life. And. I'd like to know if the authorities at all have moved. To to assist in finding out just the validity of the plot in the depths to which it exists. Well it takes very first things first. On the question of volunteers you know people have helped us for so many years you know. Just recently as you may have known. A young girl the young volunteer from one of the colleges in Florida. Went on the picket line in about 2:00 3:00 in the morning was run over by a huge truck Qing truck. She was killed instantly. We have set up a. Memorial Fund. The memorial fund is. Trying to solicit money so that we can

provide. Experiences to young people in college to come and work with us for room and board. To assist us in organizing the four workers for every maybe you know whatever color it may be and. Whatever kind of working may be doing there in agriculture in our drive to organize them. And so we have a campaign now trying to do that. We also have a campaign of recruiting. Workers of volunteers from the colleges and different people who may want to give us. Two or three months during the summer but also want to give us six months or a year or two years. And we're always saying they need at. Least efforts and so we're starting a campaign. In the first of May a place. To recruit an additional 500 volunteers to work with us in the boycott and also in the organizing drives that we're having in other states unfortunately in California. As to the rest of the

plotting against my life. I don't know. Too much about about the recent developments that we have an attorney who handles that for the for us you know. And that few other people in the union including my brother in law. Well whatever has to be done. But. So I can't. You know answer to it which I don't know that much except that when it was reported to us last. July. Towards the end of the latter part of July last year that was the year. That the. The. It's a division it's the. Big Tobacco. Firearms. Well firearms division a division of the Treasury trading partner and it implied it had uncovered.

What they consider to be a plot of attempt against my life. And this was in late July and so. Then for the first. Few weeks after that after we got the report they were in touch with. Our people. But then after a while they close investigations that they had and it hadn't really come to anything. Then here about. Three months ago one of the persons who supposedly was. An informant for the for the firearm control. Came on the opening made a statement publicly. He had some facts and some information. So we followed that and we've asked for investigations and. I don't know what that where it's going and I don't know how true it is. But well have you taken. Some precautions and has has has the Union moved too to ensure that that at least. They can provide some assistance to you in that area.

Well they're all very concerned but. It's set up a $10000 reward you know for anyone having information. Concerning the plot and the information to be substantiated and can be used in court you know then. The worker set up a fund you know through the unit. And. Then the other worker union. At another another. 10000 sites up to 20000. And then that we're taking some we have taken some questions but. Well it hasn't hindered the movement as far as we're concerned and what you're doing here and which shouldn't. But that's what they want to case it's truly. Aware of it and get away with that. Right. Now we're you know we're we were cautious but we're not frightened. Because. We can't be we can't afford to be frightened that we have too much at stake.

And. They've been sent some precautions taken you know but. Their work must go on and we can't you know let those things detect this and want to dess you further. Earlier when you when you first started you got a lot of assistance from people from the migrant ministry I. Believe one of the people that I first spent was Jim Drake I think in that time. And Chris Hart Meyer. I know that now you have a national Migron ministry force has been established. How how are you working. How is the Micra ministry again working with you in the other states organizing. Well I've been very close supporters you know the right to work this organizing of their own union. And. Then I have a national group that's active in and trying to register and document and assist workers in their. Not only their right to strike and have a union but in their rights and they have you know.

So they have. I've done an awful lot of work and then of course supported us. In a very good way and. They're responsible for. Much of the information from movement going into the church moving the United States and doing all the different religious like you know and. They have made a sizable contribution I would say. In terms of time and sacrifice and concern and support and all these things that go with. Helping workers have the rights to. Have their own unions and strikes and boycotts. It's been very substantial and. I don't know there's another group that is committed so much time and as much effort into assisting us as a here. This isn't this is a multi religious group of ministers right. Yes it is made up of. Various people you know in the Protestant denominations in the Catholic Church and

so forth. And. But all those made up of people who are not particularly you know. Who are not. Ministers that are laymen and sometimes they need church affiliation but very concerned. And. They lived in a major war. Where the workers. You know that you had. You had plans and still continue with the plans like on the 40 acres. Do you. Have plans for the buzz and expanding here the facility. Can you give us some background on some of the plans that you are currently involved in. Well over and Alayna we have as you know we build the. Hiring hall and in the central administration building for that area. We have a co-op building. Against Poverty service station so we have a very beautiful clinic with five doctors and the pride and joy of the

movement. We have. We're in the process of building any minute now beginning to build a our first retirement home. We're doing things much faster and with scenes that you know in the beginning of those we have a lot of. Them go out and then we have. Here in the past we're. In the process of remodeling or in fact just bringing the stuff up to code you know some of the bills that we have here. Are planes to. To. Bring through here. At Fort Worth full swing. Five hundred people a week and put them through the different education course and we're going to have here. For the workers and. At the same time we're working to bring different things together you know. Like the classes here the. Transportation we're. Looking for buses now so we can transport

people here we have it we've got a few. Then are newspapers coming out again after. About a year and a half off. The writing is going to come again it's going to be bigger and better I hope. I think it's going to be and that will be out of the first week in April. And that's going to provide the well the necessary. Army you know to go out and give information to the public and know that past issues where we're. Really one of the best means for communication that the people had about the well you know just where right where where the boycotts and and this and the direction that you falafel walk was taking. I imagine this is again how the market either will be used. Will you expand that to cover. Other issues in the Chicano movement in general. Besides just those concerning the farmworkers.

Well in the beginning it would be just those concerning the farm workers because the sacred. Site is going to be a problem for us because we have. Started out 16 pages. On the tabloid sites and it's going to be jam packed with our own stuff you know. But from time to time we'll be covering other things. But. Initially. We've got to to just. Get to the work a wealth of information that we have you know and it's constantly available we can get to them. We don't want to compete in with any other newspaper I think with ours this has a very definite you know a very definite mission that is to report to everyone about the fine work and what they're doing and how they're doing it and who is doing it and where and how and so forth. We. Will start selling it too. In the rural areas first.

And gradually we're going to the into the into the. Into the urban community. But to begin with we want to get out to the workers. Earlier you mentioned using volunteers. And is this one area where volunteers could work those who have some background and write his papers see what we're doing at home when those we don't want to sell it on the stores. Or we don't want to mail it through might through the made through the. Postal Service postal service because. It becomes a very to do it that way it becomes a very personal thing. And we get here in the office. Anywhere from 20 to 40 copies of newspapers a week you know. And it's very impersonal and there's some really good but we hardly read them because it doesn't have the message it comes to the mail by coming gets here is kind of cold you know it's that there's so much competition of other stuff coming in the mail. So we wanted to we want to do differently want to go and go directly to the worker and

give it to me his hand. And go to our supporters and friends in the city and give it to them in their hands. And this is a program for outreach for education to the farm workers for education CEO both ways to educate the farm worker about about the things that he should know about his movement and so forth. But also to educate our friends and supporters in the key in the in the urban areas about what the work is doing and then also to bring those of what. His friends are doing here to the farm with her so we can tie the whole thing together because we have. A good Fourth. About 30 percent of our staffers it is in the boycott. And getting bigger all the time and we have an awful lot of friends with me in the last six seven years. They want to keep you and you know also because their way of doing. We will have two additions will have one in English and one in Spanish to begin with a big year to the worker himself. Later on will come with a 30 day she was going to be here to the supporters. In their words the style of reporting and

probably more sophisticated in terms of. Political views and so forth the ones going to their supporters. But initially we want to go to the worker you know and keep in a very in a very. Personal and you know even contact with the workers. And so we have great plans for it. We don't know. What the outcome's going to be we're hopeful we think it's going to be so there will be we're going to need hundreds of volunteers because we elected to do it the hard way. But the only way equation is going to be successful that is to do it. By enlisting you know literally hundreds of people. Twice a week. Every two weeks you know getting it out there to buy monthly then you'll have it out. Yes. Now you mention that the paper will come out in English and Spanish. Here in California when you started out it was a Chicano movement. It became a check on a Filipino movement. And now with the contract in Florida you are in this thing the black community.

You mentioned earlier that now the white farm worker. Who in the past has rejected organizing with any minority community members. Is now starting to feel that they want one to be part of it. Do you do you see see this as part as part of this community development portion of the of the of the farm workers that it's now starting to reach. Every ethnic group that participates in farming. We started with the chickens because they're the most numerous in California because we know sewage come from that group. We know him best and we have most of our experiences were with them. And. But it was never the intention of just our relationship kind of intentions always been organized from work regardless of you know. What they look like or you know what they do but they believe in a lot of their farm workers. We want organizing and saw for the first few years where we're trying to win delay no. Well they were mostly all she got then Filipino.

But we know once we got out of that fight and we're going to win and that is a recovering a lot of other people for instance. In the last seven months we've brought in. A large well. There are contractors a large number of blacks for the first time. Because that's where most of the workers. Not too many blacks working their culture in California and then. Even some Cuban said you know we have about 350 Cuban workers were announced Reichen trying to get a contract. But. Since the beginning of the since the days when the lawyers worked on myself and Fred Ross and a few others planned the union had organized. Our plan was always sort of a universal plan in terms of. Every worker we don't care if he's a farm worker or. What rates are. So. Our strength is really in that approach. The strength of the movement is in the approach that. We're

going to to give the instrument of the Union to a member once a regatta what race he may be. Cesar we wanted to to ask you a little more about the. Participation. That. People. Are currently needed in. Now that you have expanded from being a small struggling organizing committee in delay know to a national farmers farm workers. Union. And. The complications that come about in maintaining the same philosophy in the same same concerns. One of the ways that one of the great. Discoveries that we made. You know nothing not because we were that's my but just it so happened you know that we're able to put people of various ethnic groups and different believes and

put them all together and sort of fuse the different. Ideals with the with the different. Very practical approaches to bill you for farm workers and in writing from the beginning of the struggle. We were we open the doors wide open to all. Even in those days mostly. Students and mostly from Berkeley in the beginning who came and stood those picket lines for days and days and hours you know and the workers got to know them and the workers we did learn a lot from. See came the student came with all of these ideals and all of the. Things that they did learn of this great universities and the work of the other practical down to earth. Approach to things and when I put them together we came out with a very good a very good philosophy. How to. Keep our movement from becoming corrupt and how to struggle for the. For the. Underdog and how to constantly be aware that our job never

ends. You know be we should be an instrument for any anybody who suffers and. Is poor and powerless and so forth is already happy about that. Now of course in those days it was people to hold up a picket sign and help us you know. Now things are living more. Well we still have an awful lot of people to pick up because that's like or. Like the like the. That's a front runner for the front runner for it sure the whole issue. But we also begin to get into more. Technical things. So what we need really is people coming help us with the different contributions they can make in some of these. Some of these technical aspects that that we need around the Union but also to be able to to to teach workers. Friends of the East that we have a data. Processing program. And it's been done with volunteers who are getting time here in there in a free and program would ordinarily cost several While hundreds of thousands of dollars

is being done for like we do for things mostly for. A few hundred dollars a month you know. Right. And. But we're in need of what we need for instance. Because a union. Is a community Union and we are involved in so many others so much of the work not only the union but the hope property program you know all of the educational programs all of the other. Programs we have to get into for the sake of servicing the members and for the sake of. Not becoming stagnant and reaching constantly reaching out. We need. Well. Starting in them. You know we need for instance. A cook. Someone who can who want to give us a year or two. To come and cook at a pass so we can teach some of the workers to cook for groups. So because see that's it we're going to teach workers. And bring them here. Or have a kitchen we have a dining hall and we have a place to sleep I'm only about 8

o'clock. And we've tried a lot of people but they don't always have been successful. For reasons we need out just a good out a mechanic is an example to to teach some of our workers so we can take care of our own cars because that's a constant problem and we have all cars always there always breaking down and we don't have enough money to have new cars and even if we did we wouldn't have new cars. And so you see that's just the very practical kinds of things we need. For instance people who have skills in car in. Carpentry you know. Doing you know building because we have to build. This year we have to build three more clinics. If we can get them done. But the way we do in states we're doing great we're doing very inexpensive because all the labor is donated. We waited to build them with. Pay for all the work would never build one if we will one every ten years. This is where we are ready to go with three more when it's an example then we need. We're looking now as an example for someone who is versed in.

Insurance. Has that well run experience in insurance because we're now ready to to begin with we would like to organize a co-op insurance for the workers. And well someone with credit union experience would be ideal we need someone that has experience in. A trade unions large is growing. So you're looking now not just for the volunteer who is who's felt that the philosophy of organizing from workers was a good philosophy and was willing to stand with a picket in the picket lines but you're now looking for those skilled workers who still maintain the philosophy supporting the farm workers and are willing to train farm workers to take over those slots eventually. We all but we also need the others you know we need people for instance in the organizing Department. We estimate we need 300 organizers we have. Well. About 60. And because we're so many areas that we're not covering because we need workers so

that that's one area in the boycott we need about 500 more people this summer. And when I'm there but in together with that we need for instance. We're looking into the idea of setting up a cooperative bank. Say you give the workers race here in this hand. Do you know anything about helping him. Save a little when he buys and they get services. So he comes to the Senate goes out to the other. And so we need a lot of help in the cooperative espec service we need help. With doctors. Gee we can build clinics now as fast as we can get doctors. And the only thing that keeps us from billing him are. Because they're not. They're not superduper clinics but their clinics their serviceable clothes it was all for the workers. And with a lot of emphasis on on service you know you know just being great human about the approach to workers and now we need nurses. For instance some of the. Like. Laboratory

technicians as an example. Are crying for a couple of them right now. And. Attorneys. And but also as I mentioned when the carpenters and. Plumbers and we say. This demonstrates you know that the unit is much broader than just a unit because we're involved in all kinds of other things that we have to do in order to help people. Yeah yeah. This is. Something that has remained quite. Unique in the union. Oftentimes perhaps because of it misunderstood in the union people many times I think don't recognize why you need a plumber when you're out there negotiating a contract with some particular grower. And perhaps the emphasis that you place on on making this a community union a union that meets the needs of the worker far more than just getting him a

better pay raise. Right. To keep it it should be a brotherhood you know where people really know people in the movement in keep it. Although it may become a large union. Keep that that that great desire to be one with all you know and have workers really cherish the experience of brotherhood. It's a big job Missy that's a big job we have. In the kind of job that is not written in a book or a current job it just takes an awful lot of. Common horse sense and a lot of work to get it accomplishing a lot of work to. Fit the great puzzle together and keep people. Feeling you know developing and keeping and feeling in. This sort of love for one another. When I say love I mean in the best sense in the words to understand that a little sacrifice here can go a long ways towards reconciling you know whatever differences may be in and. Keeping workers. With the understanding that. They use important certainly and that it was very

potent. But that's not the end. You know there's other things that are Porton. Also. Training workers and people to understand that. Not so much training but just. Making sure that they're constantly reminded that they've got to struggle to help other people. And right now we're asking everything for us but that's very soon we're going to have to start giving and helping other groups and with no strings attached. A lot of we like to. One of the great dreams we have is to put together a large group of volunteers supported by Indigo or sister groups without any interference or asking anything in return just saying this is the way we're going to pay back what other people have done for us. And while it's not going to happen next year is going to happen in a few years to come when we get it. Once we get a base and. We can afford it we'd like to do it. And that's about the only way that we can pay back the many. Favors and support and just great outpouring of goodwill. People come in out not not on the country but throughout the throughout the world literally you

know and well how to keep that. Motivation how to keep workers who came in into the Union last month putting go through the great battles to. Get them to understand that. That the reason they were able to come here was because way back there 6 7 years ago there were people of goodwill and there still are who are helping us. It's a very very big job it's not difficult just takes an awful lot of manpower to do it. An awful lot of. You can communicate this through newspaper or through a tape you know it's a human contact you know. It's sort of. The philosophy it's handed from one to the other and he spreads. And finds. Finds. Fertile ground you know in you know among the workers once it's planet there. So it's that's it's a big job. And then. Wait more and more try not to. In the beginning it was a need to be in the public mind you know constantly but. Now

more and more we feel that that's not that necessary you know. Although it's important at times. These are. As I said perhaps earlier that the union has moved and moved quite fast perhaps faster than than originally. You and Fred Ross in the last where I had imagined. And. Perhaps the demands that it's made upon all of you in moving this fast as it has has been quite quite. A struggle for you to keep up to to the demands. Do you feel that there there would have been any any other way you know of having done what you've been able to accomplish and the amount of time that you've had and the demands that you've had. With him. Which if there is a new is. The only way if there's no shortcuts there in any mirror.

It's just a lot an awful lot of hard work and believe me from it. The nation is going to be down and. Of course. A. Man that's. Lucky not been able to get it and real people who work. In the dedication that we've been able to generate among the staff. And the volunteers we call ourselves and the workers and then the heat generated support from throughout the community. Now you know back in the kind of support we got great boycott. For at one point there must have been several million people boycotting actively boycotting grapes. There are so many people boycotting those days away you know who who was who you know. But I bet you if there were any chance of any consequences that a boycott committee completely on their own and going to just. Putting the heat on the on the grates you know on harassing them with. And with a major effort. So. And I think that the that the we have any messages that. We have to

continue to work. There are many many poor people and states not only farm workers but those who don't even have jobs. And we want to we want to have the right to play a role in determining in helping solve those problems. Determining the solutions you know. But also. We. We know that we have to give. What we have taken from the from the. From the communities throughout the United States and that is the goodwill we've got to now. Reimburse those people but in a way in which we can help either sell themselves. Well thank you very much Cesar for this interview and I'm sure that the public. Now will be aware more so of where the union is today and perhaps what they can do to work more so for the struggles that you've continued to work through for so many years. Thank you.