Word: ufw
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...commend The Crimson for its excellent November 12 editorial reminding the Harvard community that the struggle to gain fair representation for agricultural workers is not over. The United Farm Workers' boycott of non-UFW iceberg lettuce and table grapes and Gallo wines will indeed continue until contracts are signed...
Nevertheless, there is one inaccuracy in the editorial that should be corrected. The Crimson stated that "Press accounts of election results in the fields, however, show the Teamsters and the UFW in a near draw among those workers--a sizeable majority--who favor union representation." This "near draw" existed early in the balloting, but a November 11 Associated Press report in The New York Times indicates that the UFW now has nearly a 2 to 1 margin as a result of recent victories (18,000 votes overall for the UFW to 10,000 votes for the Teamsters...
...THESE UFW SETBACKS have occurred even though the current law strongly favors Chavez. Because elections must be held at peak harvest when short-term workers usually outnumber year-round workers, UFW organizers and students with little if any previous field experience have allegedly signed up to work a few days and then have voted in the election, sometimes repeating this process at several ranches. Students and UFW organizers have also allegedly voted under the economic striker clause even though they appeared at the polls with no identification or record of employment to prove they were legitimate strikers...
Despite the fact that farmworkers are now registering their opinions, the UFW has not yet called off the boycotts. Chavez supporters argue that pressure is needed to force growers to sign contracts where the UFW has won. But such indiscriminate boycotts mean a loss of jobs and income for the Teamster workers who prefer to continue working, believing they can bargain successfully without such "support." This is also unfair to those workers who have voted for no union. Since the UFW represents only a small minority of the workers in the boycotted crops, this objection is especially important...
With so many farmworkers voting against the UFW, it is clear that elections have been needed for the past decade. The fundamentally coercive boycotts have been an unjust and unfair organizing tactic with such a large portion of farmworkers opposed to the UFW, especially in the blacklisted crops. In fact, the overwhelming rejection of Chavez among these workers lays bare the insidious purpose of the boycotts for all to see. It is time for those who supported the boycotts to realize that the issue is more complex than they originally thought...