Word: ufw
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AFTER A LONG boycott campaign, Cesar Chavez finally got enough public support to force many growers to sign contracts with his United Farm Workers Union (UFW) in 1970. The growers signed even though Chavez did not have the support of the workers and even though he had misrepresented the facts to gain public support...
Those who joined the boycott must have felt that the farmworkers had won a great victory and that their living standards would improve. But the truth is that supporters of the boycott had forced farm workers into the UFW where Chavez hurt them both personally and financially, ultimately causing the living standards of many farmworkers to decline rather than improve...
...problems began with the UFW contracts themselves. Chavez contracts required growers and workers to use a hiring hall system. Under the plan, growers could not hire workers. Instead they would notify the UFW of how many workers they needed and when. Meanwhile, anyone who wanted to work would go to the hiring hall where the UFW would pass out assignments. This meant that a worker could only get a job through the union, worker could not get a job through the union, establishing a closed shop. The closed shop is illegal under the Taft-Hartley Act, but the act does...
Furthermore, the contract made it clear that there was to be no limit to Chavez's discretion in assigning jobs. One of the conditions for working is that a worker must be in good standing with the UFW. The term good standing is not explicitly defined. But as a hint the contract reads, "The union shall be the sole judge of the good standing of its members," and also, nothing in the contract "is intended to limit the grounds for determination of good standing...
...agreement goes on to say that the UFW will be the sole judge of what constitutes impairment of its activities. As it turns out, it meant refusing to take time off work to man the boycott lines or refusing to drive boycott pickets to San Francisco. But most importantly, it also meant speaking against the union to reporters and outsiders. This agreement was devised to intimidate and silence the great majority of farmworkers that Chavez and the growers had forced into the UFW against their will...