Word: ufw
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Alexandra McNitt, a project manager at HDS, said the "Limited Yes" voting options were added after students pointed out that not all table grapes are produced in California, and that foreign grape producers would not be subject to the United Farm Workers (UFW) boycott on California grapes that has been in effect since...
According to the UFW, grape-growing continues to cause health risks for both farmworkers and consumers. Thirty percent of farmworkers are under age 16, the UFW says; 27,000 farmworkers yearly suffer acute illnesses from pesticides, despite laws aiming to curtail their use; and farmworkers face generally unhospitable working conditions, often lacking bathrooms and drinking water. Meanwhile, the UFW claims, consumers are also at risk. According to a 1992 study by the General Accounting Office, cited by the UFW, grapes are sprayed with 75 different kinds of pesticides--one-third of which are known to be carcinogenic--and between...
...response, The Grape Coalition alleges that conditions are much improved since the 1960s, and that information supplied by the UFW cannot be trusted. The UFW denies the truth to advance its political aims, they say, pointing out that California farmworkers themselves have abandoned the union, with fewer than I percent currently UFW members. And California, the Coalition notes, is the only state in the nation to require that pesticide-related illnesses be reported to state authorities...
Voters hungry for the facts should take The Grape Coalition's pleas with a grain of salt. Ninety percent of the nation's grapes come from California, and, according to the UFW, more pesticides are used on grapes than on all other fruits and vegetables combined. So wouldn't you expect California to be the state to most want to know about pesticide-related illnesses? Moreover, just because California knows about these cancers doesn't mean it's working to prevent them. Even if conditions have improved in the fields, does that mean they have improved enough...
...fact that the UFW has largely abandoned the grape boycott in favor of other crusades--and the fact that many farmworkers have decided they are better off without membership in it--may well be another red herring. What matters here is not labor politics, but the health and safety of the workers and of consumers. If these remain at risk, the boycott remains justified...