Word: grapes
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...farmworkers do not support Chavez and his strikes." As evidence of this "fact" Mr. Ferrara cites several positions and a survey of "71 non-union grape pickers." Unfortunately, there is no way of saying exactly how extensive support for the union is. The UFW has called for elections to determine what the workers want. But the growers and the Teamsters have consistently refused, bitterly opposing state and federal laws that would require union elections...
There is, however, no shortage of clear evidence that the workers support the UFW. In a recent poll of nearly 1000 grape pickers in 31 fields, conducted by an independent group of Congressmen and religious leaders, 80 workers voted for the Teamsters, 78 for no union, and 795 for the UFW. And the California Supreme Court, after reviewing the evidence, declared in 1972 in a 6-1 decision that "...a majority of field workers desired to be repesented by the UFW and expressed no desire to have the Teamsters represent them...
...Arizona Ecumenical Council interviewed 71 non-union grape pickers in 1972. Sixty-five said they did not want to join the UFW and bitterly opposed Chavez, although many said they would like some union...
...Another grape picker, Shirley Fetalvero, testified before a California Senate fact-finding committee. "The union's massive propaganda machine has led the public to believe that there are thousands of desperate, ragged, starving farmworkers on strike here. This is not true. The picket lines are being manned by outside organizations such as the SDS. We resent the invention of an ignorant, downtrodden class of farmworkers where none exists...
...strategy eventually brought limited success. In the summer of 1970, 26 major grape growers signed contracts with Chavez. They were signed only by Chavez and the growers but they made the workers members...