On the picket line
By
Sue Davis
Published Oct 7, 2005 9:35 PM
How solidarity led to UFW
In September 1965, Filipino farm
workers in Delano, Calif., voted to strike after they discovered they were being
paid $1.10 an hour while temporary workers from Mexico were paid $1.40.
When the growers called in more Mexican workers to replace them, Filipino
leader Larry Itliong went to Cesar Chavez, head of the mostly Mexican National
Farm Workers Association, to ask for help. Initially Chavez had misgivings.
“Our worry was that the Filipinos would abandon the strike [after
the growers intimidated and beat them up],” explained NFWA co-founder
Dolores Huerta. In the past growers had used Filipinos to break Mexican-led
strikes and vice versa.
But just eight days after the Filipino strike
vote, the Mexican NFWA workers voted unanimously to join them. That eventually
led to the historic merger of the two groups and to the founding of the United
Farm Workers of America, with Chavez as executive director and Itliong as second
in command.
The UFW then mobilized a nationwide boycott of Delano grapes,
which in 1970 forced the growers to give in. “We got wage increases [and]
a medical plan; we set up five clinics, a day care center and a school,”
said Huerta, who was UFW First Vice President.
Though Chavez’s role
in the movement for farm workers’ rights is legendary, Itliong’s is
not. “I’d like to see the name Larry Itliong mentioned in the same
breath as Cesar Chavez. His impact on the Filipino American experience is
unsurpassed,” said Fred Cordova, past president of the Filipino American
National Historical Society.
‘Virtual strike’ for child
care
During the week of Sept. 26 unionized child care providers and
families all over New York State held “virtual strikes,”
“stand for children rallies” and meetings to raise public awareness
about the need for affordable, accessible, high-quality child care. This
critical service that allows parents to work is under increasing attack from
budget cuts.
In New York, 54 percent of children under the age of six
need child care because their parents are working, often at low-paying jobs.
Study after study confirms that high-quality early care and education programs
prepare children for later success in school and in life. More quality child
care, not less!
‘Give them a real job’
Union
members walking a picket line outside California Pacific Medical Center in San
Francisco were horrified to find out the hospital had temporarily hired evacuees
from Hurricane Katrina to fill their jobs.
“It’s not a real
job, it’s a temporary job,” said Beverly Griffith, a member of the
California Street hospital’s housekeeping staff. “Give them a real
job. Hire them full-time. Give them a real sense of hope. They’re using
them because it’s convenient. My heart goes out to them. They’re
suffering. We’re suffering.”
Striking janitors, nursing
assistants and housekeepers walked out at three campuses of CPMC on Sept. 13
after management from CPMC’s parent company, Sutter Health, failed to meet
the union’s demands about staffing, training and
benefits.
“It’s such an extraordinary irony,” said Sal
Rosselli, president of SEIU United Health Care Workers West. “SEIU is
sending nurses and psych techs to New Orleans to care for people there.
We’re [demanding] the government establish training programs there for
workers who are unemployed.”
Demand fair pay for Gulf
construction workers
On Sept. 8 President Bush issued an
executive order removing Davis-Bacon Act community wage standards from
construction workers hired to rebuild the Gulf Coast.
These community wage
standards were modest to begin with, averaging about $9.50 an hour—which
adds up to less than $20,000 a year—in the hurricane-stricken Gulf
states.
The AFL-CIO has set up an online petition to Bush and members of
Congress to protest this pay cut for workers who desperately need decent-paying
jobs to rebuild their communities and their lives. Go to
www.unionvoice.org/campaign/fairpaynow to sign the Petition for Decent Pay in
the Gulf Coast.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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