Bill would force growers into binding arbitration

[Guest guest]

The struggle for farmworkers' rights continues in California! A huge rally is

scheduled for this Sunday, Aug. 25, 2002, in Sacramento, Calif. in support of a

bill for binding arbitration.

Victorio G. Rojas

Victorio, the latest news....

http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/S1a3zRd1zp1p/ap

Bill would force growers into binding arbitration with

unions

OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, August 22, 2002

(08-22) 17:00 PDT THORNTON, Calif. (AP) -- Doing their

best to persuade Gov. Gray to disappoint some

of his biggest campaign donors, union farmworkers are

picking up support as they march on the state Capitol.

Redford, Marlon Brando and dozens of other celebrities

signed full-page ads in Hollywood trade magazines Thursday

urging not to veto a bill that would force binding

arbitration when contract talks fail between growers

and unions.

" A lot of us worked very hard to get him elected, "

said Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm

Workers Union, which organized the 10-day, 150-mile

march on Sacramento. " We're hoping he won't disappoint

us. "

has not decided on the bill. While not wanting

to appear unsympathetic to workers, aides said the

governor's main concern is to avoid doing anything

to harm California's jittery economy.

" This is a very emotional issue. We have two sides

that feel very strongly that this bill is either great

or horrible, " ' spokesman Russ said Thursday.

It's one of most challenging political decisions of

' four year term: He'll either alienate his traditional

Democratic constituency just before the November elections,

or reject major campaign contributors in California's

$27 billion agriculture industry.

" I think if he vetos it, it's going to be a political

decision that will harm him the rest of his political

career, " said the bill's sponsor, Senate President

Burton, who joined the march.

Agricultural interests have come down hard against

Senate Bill 1736, which the UFW sees as the key to

reversing decades of failure to secure contracts for

most of its union members. Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO " is

calling the governor daily " to lobby for the bill,

said.

The bill has passed the Legislature, but Burton, D-San

Francisco, hasn't sent it to the governor yet, in part

because he wants to see how much support the

farmworkers can get.

" The agriculture industry has been given almost $70

million a year in tax breaks, " Burton said. " I don't

see what the big deal is on this. The governor has

signed several bills requiring binding arbitration

on police, firefighters and people who work at the

racetracks. It's basically a choice between poor farmworkers

and rich farmers. "

The union campaign hasn't been helped by the governor's

GOP challenger, Bill Simon, who has been courting farmers

in the Central Valley.

" This bill kills jobs, " Simon said at a campaign appearance.

" No other private industry is faced with this kind

of burden. "

Since Aug. 7, the day before the Senate approved the

bill, farm groups have contributed about $130,000

to ' campaign. Winemakers Mondavi and E. &

J. Gallo, and political action committees for milk

producers and rice growers each gave about $25,000.

" We think this is antibusiness. We think it could be

unconstitutional and we think it's absolutely unnecessary

and it will kill California's No. 1 industry, " said

Seline of the Western Growers Association.

Farm labor is governed by a 27-year-old California

law, signed by another Democrat, Gov. Jerry Brown,

that set up a collective bargaining system. But only

185 of the 428 elections in which workers voted to

be represented by the UFW have resulted in contracts.

Many negotiations were stalled for so long that workers

couldn't be found, or growers went out of business

or changed their names, said Marc Grossman, a UFW spokesman.

" What good is the right to organize when farmers don't

get union contracts? " Grossman said.

The law was supposed to help union members like Francisco

, a 72-year-old retired farmworker from Delano.

He joined the UFW in the early 1970s, but out of 44

years picking tomatoes, grapes and lettuce, only two

were under a contract.

At times in his early years, he was paid $2.50 a day,

or nothing at all when he was cheated out of his pay.

" You have to struggle for the benefit of everyone, "

said , who walks slowly but managed to keep up

with about 50 other marchers. " I didn't accomplish

much, but I hope that all those farmworkers in the

future will have a better life. "

Huerta, who led and other farmworkers on a similar

march in 1966 with UFW co-founder Cesar Chavez, said

the atmosphere is much different now as they pass through

small towns and fields.

" People were yelling, 'Go back to Mexico, go back to

work,' 'These people are lazy, " ' Huerta recalled. " Now

we're hearing 'Viva!' and people asking if we can give

them a flag. "

said has been more than fair to both sides

during his tenure, signing laws enhancing safety of

farmworker transportation vehicles, making Cesar Chavez's

March 31 birthday an official state holiday, exempting

sales taxes on diesel fuel used in agriculture vehicles

and allocating $79 million for the " Buy California "

advertising campaign.

But Grossman said these have been largely noncontroversial

moves. He hopes the marchers, who will arrive in Sacramento

Sunday with rallies and speeches -- will provide the

political support needs to take a tougher stand.

" In 1966 they were trying to raise the consciousness

of the American people about the plight of farmworkers, "

Grossman said. " This time they are trying to raise

the consciousness of one man: Gov. Gray . "

Associated Press Writer Kim Baca contributed to this

report.

copyright: 2002 Associated Press

New York Times

August 22, 2002, Thursday Late Edition - Final Section:

A Page: 20 Column:4

National Briefing | West: California:

Celebrities Back Farmworkers

By Greenhouse (NYT)

More than 40 entertainers signed a full-page advertisement

that ran in Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter urging

Gov. Gray to sign a bill that gives unionized

farmworkers the right to binding arbitration on contracts.

The signers included Warren Beatty, Redford,

Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando,

Annette Bening, Penn, Danny Glover, Sheen,

Altman

and Dreyfuss. Mr. faces pressures from

the growers to veto the legislation and from the farm

workers and other labor unions to sign it.

copyright: New York Times

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