Word: chavez
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Died. Leo C. Byrne, 66, Coadjutor Archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis and vice president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops; of heart failure; in St. Paul. Theologically conservative, Byrne was a social activist who supported Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers' grape and lettuce boycotts. At the 1971 World Synod of Bishops in Rome, Byrne urged that "no argument should be used to exclude women from any service to the church if it stems from male prejudice or blind adherence to merely human tradition...
...choosing the UFW and forcing farmworkers into that union. Support for the boycott means that growers will be unable to sell their crops and be forced to sign with the UFW, whether the workers like it or not. We don't need to know of the massive evidence that Chavez and the UFW has hurt the workers. All we need to know is that workers should have their free choice. But if we support the boycott, we will be making the choice, even though we are three thousand miles away from the issue and most of us have only second...
...ONLY THING that will give the workers the choice is officially supervised secret ballot elections. These have never been held for the farmworkers. We don't need to know of the evidence that Chavez has consistently prevented these elections. All we need to know is that, in the words of The New York Times, "the choice on which union, if any, ought to represent pickers of grapes and lettuce and is not for the Times to make, or Mr. Meany, or for housewives in supermarkets from New York to San Francisco. That choice should belong to those who work...
...workers feared this would happen if they let anyone get control over their jobs and that is why they never supported Chavez or his strikes. Their experiences with the hiring hall confirmed their fears and this is the major reason why many workers have joined the Teamsters or, in the words of Time "appear ready to shun both unions...
...Chavez's major effect on farmworkers, therefore, has been to cause a loss of jobs and a decline in annual incomes. Along the way Chavez also trampled a few basic rights, like freedom of speech and association...