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Certification Of Starr ‘Strikes9Seems To Have Little Legal BasisBv KK\ KNGLADERIO (IRANDE (TTY - The I nited Farm Workers Organizing ('ommittcj (UFWO-F) won the latest round in the hitter Rio Grande Valley labor dispute — but the victoryservice regulation which limits it were requested by employes employment for * green card*’ Rut he said the only requestLabor Service, a branch of the \ spokesman for Starr said Labor Department, said strikes the union packers at first reworkedhad come from persons who were apparently certified at the fused to cross the picket linesUnder the regulation, which were not employes of the organ-went into effect last Monday, jization. * I would not reeom-aliens cannot take jobs at strike- mend to Mr. Rochester that he packers on June 1, 1966.He said 38 union packers refused to cross UFWOC picket. . .demand an election” he said, been no walkout or work stoppage as a result of the unionbut went to work after receha walkout bv union melon ing instructions from their homesix Starr Countv farms because ofbound United States plants un- allow* strangers to his businessGrowers have said there hasappears more moral than prac* less they were alreadv working tical and 1* may leave Labor there when the strike was Secretary W Willard Wirtz on called.rather shaky legal grounds. However, it is up to the Labor Wirtz placed himself square-, Department to certify that a demonstrations,ly in the middle of the 12- bona fide strike exists at a par- The Labor Department, in amonth-old battle by certifying ajticular plant or farm. statement issued after Wirtz’strike exists at six Rio (irande’ The regulation was eagerly j certification that a strike exist-(itv area farms. sought by the farm workers un- ed, listed! he criteria for deter-The determination was the H)nlt; which said Mexican citizens mining when a strike was inImportant Ingredient In a new were being used as strikebreak- progress: immigration and naturalization ers in South Texas melon and “is there a job in the operavegetable fields. • tion vacant because of the workCutting off the supply ri labor)dispute0” or “Is it a disputefrom across the border was one with labor that involves a worklines, which apparently brought the farms under the department criteriaHowever, growers bitterly at tacked the connection betweenoffice saying they were under no obligation to respect thefarm picket lines He said theunion packers worked the 1966 season and lt;ame back in 1967.If the packing shed incidents were used as the basis for determining a strike existed, it.hr packers and .hr current dts-1 were certified at farms otherCustom MadeDrawthe department)pnpsiof the main objectives for! stoppage UFWOC. ! said.Gilbert Padilla, union vice j Two of president and head of the Starr the area.County organizing drive, hailed answeredthe Labor Department certifica- usite questions.W. B. McFarland of Dallas, regional director of the Farmthe largest farms in La Casita and Starr, no” to both prereq-k *J' ■¥j*A.v:With18 Yrs. Experience We OfferThe V tnest Workmanship Made To Fxaoting Specificationstion as a union victor.“It shows tha this is not a phony strike as the growers have been saying. This is a real strike,” he said.Padilla said the Labor Department action would encourage more farmworkers to join the union, which now claims some 3,000 members in the area.Testifying during a court hearing last month, Padilla said the union represented a majority ofpute.Rochester said the packers refused to cross the picket lines but there was no work stoppage because the men had not yet started working He said UFWOC put up Its picket lines the day l.a Casita was to begin packing its melons and the un ion packers never reported.He also denied there was job vacancies because farm employes were trained to pack themelons and worked the entireseason.★ ★ ★★ ★ ★Fabled RangersAnrider FinDraperies • Corniceslease the names of union mem-1Kirch HardwareWe carry a completeline of samples toshow in your homeESTIMATES GIVENthe workers at La Casita farms, „ tiiompmivone of the prime union targets. A$T,V TeX” ITI) - The However, he refused to re-!fabipd Texas Rangen( strong. .and silent men since the da\bers and would not say exact-j0j tjle frontier, are under one ly how many were employed by! mas^ concerted attacksLa Casita. ;}n their sLstory.Growers have preferred to Angry words have been call the dispute a series of dem- thrown* at the Rangers sinceonstrations by “outsiders”—non-j Capt. A. Y. Allee, of Carrizoemployes — instead of a strike. Springs was asked this year to “Traditionally a strike is a'bring his company tx) the I/wer dispute between an employer Rio Grande Valley, where1 a de-W7-T.r- 2SSK7.AT NO COST.BUDGET TERMSMARKUPHOLSTERY INTERIOR DECORATION2554 Boca Chlca LI 2-5773and his employes but this is not the case here,” one grower’srepresentative said.La Casita attorney Morris Atlas told the U. S. senate subcommittee on migratory labor, in the Valley for a two-day hearing on proposed legislationaffecting migrant workers, General Manager Ray Rochester would call a union representation election “immediately” IfFrom The World's TreasureHouse Of Great ArtAT THE BANK ON THE “GO”termined union organizing drive has been going on for more than a year.The presence of eight white-hatted officers around the troubled farms in the Rio GrandeCity area brought repeated accusations of brutality and union-busting The Rangers said they were only enforcing the law.The trouble started in tune. 1966 when the United Farm Workers Union, fresh frlt;m a successful organizing drive on big California farms, deidod to move its activity to the Rio Grande Valiev of Texas.Asks for HelpJust before the 1967 melon crop was due to be gathered, the union's United Farm Work-ERS Organizing Committee (UF WOO decided to beef up its efforts. Unrest grew , and County \ttv. Randall \ye asked the Rangers to come help local officers in the area “to prevent a possible riot( APT. A. V. Al.l.EEAllee and local officers, according to th»- DPS, located Dima- who fled into a house. A search warrent was obtained and Allee went inside the house to arrest Dimas Allee said Dimas had his hands under a table and was told he was under arrest, and to put his hands on top of the tableAllee said he refused so the Ranger Captain knocked the table back against Dimas andThis, the Department of Pub- grazed his head with a shotgun Lc Safety savs, is the sole rea- barrelson the Rangers were sent toRio Grande City Allegations ofbrutality and strikebreaking are“totally false and unfounded “ •»Col Homer P. Garrison of the DPS said All arrests, he said, have involved illegal arts andno more than necessary force was used One incident which got a lot of publicity involved the arrestThe Rangers, which number only 62 men, are the only police officers in Texas with jurisdiction to work any where in the•rstate. A spokesman said labor disputes “are only a small per-than La Casita Las Casita packs only its own melons and packing shed employes are counted as farmworkersHowever, a Starr spokcMnan said Starr Produce Co , which operates the packing shed, and Starr Farms, which was certified as trikebound, are two separate corporations Starr Produce employes are not listed as farmworker under the National Labor Aelations \ct Starr Produce packed melons for Starr farms, but it also packed melons for Sun-Tex Farms, which does not have a packing shed but was certified1 as strikebound Growers questioned how an incident at a packing shed could jbe used as the basis for certifying a strike at an independent farm. Independent farms send their melons to be packed much as a cotton farmer sends his crop to a gin Another independent certified as strikebound. Margo Farms, sent its melons to McBride Produce Co Melons from Trophy Farms were sent to Griffin and Brand in McAllen. 40 mlies east of Rio Grande City The relationship between Trophy and Griffin andBrand is much the same as that between Starr Farms and Starr Produce—they are separate cor porations Growers while hitter about the Labor Department action, were doubtful It would have much bearing on their operationsMost of the farmers hire “green carders” only during the peak harvest periods—and! there will not be another har vest in the area until late November or early Decmber They said that would leave thorn time to assess the situation and take action.Also, most of the growers rely more on citizen labor thanwon “green carders ”Less than one third of La Casita’s total work force is made up of Mexican nationals and Rochester said most of the “green carders’* at La Casitahave been working at the farm for several years.wThe new regulation would lie effective onlv if most of the Mexican nationals now working on the farms quit, he said“From a practical point ofview it’s not affecting us,” Atlas said. He called the Labor Department certification a“silly commence. It’s just acontage” of the total Ranger way of getting into the newspaactivity, making lip less than 1 per cent of total enforcement work.“In some 94 000 investigationsof Magdaleno Dima.- a man during the past two years, therewho, according to DPS files, has a long criminal record, including a murder charge Just prior to his arrest, the DPS said, it had reports thatDimas and another man were seen in a car near one of the La Casita farm sheds with a gun. Ray Rochester general manager of the farm, filed a complainthave been fewer than five inci dents in which we have been called in for labor disputes,”a spokesman said.Texas Rangers have a long tradition of keeping their mouths shut. When accusations are mad shut When accusations are made the Ranger—as did A YAllee—stands tall, looks grims and refuses to answerper, he said“It sounds like more of the political nonsense that (Senate)subcommittee (on migratory labor) perpetuated on us,” saidothal Brand, manager of Griffin and Brand. “P’s more arbitrary action bv the Labor De-wpartment One farm official summed up the feeling of the growers “We’re no longer fighting the union; we’re fighting th#* federal government,” he said«»
Newspaper Details
Brownsville Herald
Brownsville, Texas, US
Sun, Jul 16, 1967
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Del M.
Texas, USA 18 Feb 2019
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