Cesar serves, has served and will continue to serve, as the only positive Latino role model for ALL workers in the United States. His philosophy of non-violent resistance, against the greed of corporate America, embodied in his organizing efforts in the fields, has been, and is, an inspiration to all who toil from dawn to dusk for the crumbs that the elite let fall on the ground.

Your brand of truth has allowed Enron executives to steal the future of their workers; WorldCom to demolish the dreams of their workers and allowed Wal-Mart the hero image that destroys the ability of the average American to earn a decent wage manufacturing goods that can be sold as "Made in America by American Workers".

Jerry Morales

American Citizen, American Worker and believer in "We, the people"

In a message dated 1/23/2006 4:55:38 A.M. Pacific Standard Time

January 21, 2006

Dear Editor,

I am really concerned by the articles which are published in the Fresno Bee regarding the United Farm Workers Union. They contradict all the e-mail I receive from the union

to vote against some of Gallo's practices and immigration issues. I have been kept aware of poor working conditions whether it be muddy drinking water or the use of toxins which make working conditions poor. The United Farm Workers Union are on top of situations that are detrimental to the workers. Anything which undermines the United Farm Workers position I would suspect to be from writers who support corporations who are not labor friendly and are determined to undermine the United Farm Workers Union.

Lydia Flores

In a message dated 1/19/2006 8:48:50 A.M. Pacific Standard Time

Please print this response to Miriam Pawel's series on the UFW.

Dear Editor:

As a former UFW volunteer who spent many hot summer days in 1975 organizing in the grape fields of Delano, I take exception to the smear campaign the LA Times so pompously conducted against Cesar Chavez and his followers. The series attacking the UFW reminded me of the time a grower tried to run me and another organizer off a dirt road, banging his truck into our tiny VW bug. Here we have the mighty LA Times attempting to do the same, to maliciously run the UFW into the ground -- for what reason, I cannot imagine.

Nowadays the phrase "fair and balanced" sounds at the very least trite, yet the truth is the Pawel series was neither fair, nor balanced, almost totally devoid of the UFW's voice or perspective, leaving LA Times readers wondering what motivated Pawel and the editors who gave her series front-page story placement. During my tenure with the UFW, Cesar Chavez demonstrated what the the LA Times has forsaken in this series -- a desire to hear, really listen to what all parties have to say. I remember how he visited each and every volunteer at Delano's headquarters, how he sat alone with me in a room, asking with great sincerity what I thought of the current organizing campaign. Readers, too, want to hear multiple perspectives, not one long invective that ignores all the good the UFW has accomplished in providing public housing, health services, and union contracts. I urge all readers who remain skeptical to take a drive up to Delano, less than two hours from Los Angeles, and look at the fine homes in which former farm workers reside, all because their union wisely invested in retirement housing.

Finally, let us not gloss over the remarkable work of the Chavez Foundation in establishing programs to foster an understanding of the labor movement, Latino history, and, perhaps most importantly, Cesar Chavez's legacy of non-violence. Foundation leaders, ever mindful that Chavez believed conflict must be resolved through peaceful means, established a public service model for schools embracing community service as part of its core curriculum. When I taught at Palisades High School a few years ago, teachers, staff coordinators, and students alike beamed when they spoke of their Chavez Foundation mural projects depicting Latino heritage in bold brush strokes. I am not talking about crass marketing of a brand, but about maintaining the significant and worthy ideals of an organization no amount of venomous reportage can erase.

Since Pawel dragged us through ancient UFW history, which I might add has been reported before ad nausea in the pages of the LA Times, I would like to take a moment for a different history lesson. Let us not forget that the federal government, intent on defeating PATCO air traffic controllers in the 1980s, launched an expensive, yet effective war against unions, resulting in union membership declines throughout this country, aided and abetted by impotent labor law enforcement agencies.

The successful organizing campaigns of the unions Pawel sees fit to praise, like SEIU, have occurred because broad-based organizing efforts mobilized a larger community to support workers' struggles, thus empowering employees. Justice for Janitors in this city, and a similar campaign in Houston, would not have worked but for that community support. Given these facts, shouldn't we praise, not fault, the UFW for reaching out beyond the vineyard to cultivate the seeds of change?

I look forward to another LA Times story, one that perhaps contains interviews with retired farm workers living in UFW-built housing or public school students learning non-violence in Chavez Foundation-sponsored community projects or winery workers in Northern California who, after many years of a David vs. Goliath struggle, are now working as proud members of a UFW local at Gallo Sonoma.

Sincerely,
Marcy Winograd

It is certainly no secret, if not continuing national news, about the difficulties of organizing workers into unions in this economy and political climate. Virtually every union in this country, including those that have had the most organizing wins, have struggled to organize in the private sector. Miriam Pawels' "hit piece", for it can be characterized no other way, fails to acknowledge, in anyway, the organizing efforts, both successful and not, that the UFW has made over the last few years. These are a matter of record. I cannot recall ever seeing a piece as biased as this series of articles. Ms Pawel charges that the current leadership of the UFW has "disgraced" the legacy of Cesar Chavez and yet continues on, at great length in this series, to attempt to tear down that very legacy. You can't have it both ways Ms Pawel, I can only ask, what is the real agenda of the LA Times in allowing such a one sided story to see print? This is journalism at its worst.

Sherri Chiesa
Executive Vice President
UNITEHERE!
Western Regional Office
San Francisco, CA 94102

To the Editor

As the state's largest organization of women and men committed to equal rights, California National Organization for Women is outraged by the inaccurate and biased coverage of the United Farm Workers. Not only has the coverage disseminated misinformation about the UFW, but the LA Times has not adequately allowed for their rebuttal.

The fact is that thousands of farm workers?a demographic at great risk of exploitation-- benefit daily from the UFW's efforts. The UFW has demanded fair labor treatment for farm workers by representing dozens of UFW contracts including the largest strawberry, rose, winery and mushroom firms in California and the nation. Without these efforts, farm workers would be relegated to inadequate wages and unsafe work conditions.

Contrary to the depiction in the Times, the UFW ranks among the highest of all unions in its use of resources on actual organizing around workers' rights. The UFW is not only committed to ensuring workers safety, health, equality, and dignity, but also honors the legacy of its founders, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, who believed the movement had to go beyond the work place through non-profit programs that address specific needs in the community, including affordable housing, education, and leadership training.

Shame on the Times for going for the most sensationalized approach to a story, instead of the most accurate and balanced.

Helen Grieco

Executive Director

California National Organization for Women

In a message dated 1/18/2006 9:51:59 A.M. Pacific Standard Time

In a time of Chicano/Latino political ascendancy it seems appropriate that a white power structure such as the Times would act this way - with the exhortion of other groups. As an activist over three decades, I have been constantly aware of UFW presence and influence in many important political campaigns. Miriam Pawel's distorted narrative for some reason leaves blind spots over much of this and the UFW's campaign, since 1994, to activate farmworkers and win contracts and better wages. I urge the Times to be truly "objective" and report both sides.
Sincerely,
Elias Serna
Professor, Cal State Northridge

In a message dated 1/17/2006 2:10:03 P.M. Pacific Standard Time

L.A. Times:

My family went out on strike in 1965. Our life changed for the better when we joined the farm workers union under the leadership of Cesar Chavez. Personally, I have nothing but respect and high praise for him and his family as do many farm worker friends of mine.

Why your reporter, Miriam Pawell, chose to write a lopsided account on the UFW is beyond me. I am not only puzzled, I am appalled. Will she be following the piece with a report on how growers and labor contractors intimidate and threaten workers at every turn to keep them out of reach of the union? She will be surprised to discover how sophisticated both have become at squashing any hint of organizing. Workers literally hide to speak to union representatives and live in fear of losing their jobs. Let me end with a dicho (proverbial saying) for Pawell. "Ojos que no ven, corazon que no siente"-(eyes that cannot see, heart that cannot comprehend). In short, a discretionary point of view equals discretionary reporting.

Abby Rivera

Kingsburg, CA 93631

In a message dated 1/16/2006 5:15:16 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, allen@occhc.org writes:

This is a letter to both the Times and one of its activist writers, Miriam Powell regarding her one-sided activist series about the United Farm Workers. Both the times and Ms. Powell are complicit in activist, right wing, reporting that denigrates the reading public, the journalism profession, the farm worker and the United Farm Workers. All have suffered unnecessarily as a result of this self-serving right wing hit piece.

The writer doesn't speak of the slave-like use of immigrant labor. Miriam Powell speaks nothing of how our twenty billion dollar agricultural giants profit from slave labor. The writer doesn't speak of the many interviews she did with those close to the UFW who refuted much of her word picture painted with the blood of the farm worker.

The UFW survives today because the 501c3 efforts that were begun by Cesar Chavez and it is fortunate as without those fundraising efforts, there would be no United Farm Workers.

Shame on the Los Angeles Times, Miriam Powell, and the journalism school which granted Ms. Powell a degree. My support for the UFW will be increased as a result of the biased reporting of the Los Angeles Times.

Allen Baldwin as a private citizen

Allen Peters Baldwin, Executive Director
Orange County Community Housing Corporation
Santa Ana, CA 92705-8629

Were the UFW disorganized or ineffectual, this resident of central Florida would not:
1) know anything about their organization,
2) have been afforded an opportunity by them to be a citizen lobbyist and armchair activist,
3) have concrete information that the lobbying and activism has had ongoing success.

Who, what, where, when, why, and how, with redundant resources; that's what I was taught to address in reporting in a high school journalism. My editor wouldn't have published Ms. Pawel's rant.

Susan Chandler
Fort Pierce, FL 34946

Dear Editor:

As a Los Angeles-based volunteer, I have had frequent contact with UFW leaders and staff on their efforts to help organize farm workers --- ranging from support for the successful strawberry workers union election at Coastal Berry, to the almost successful effort at the Giumarra farms, and the successful effort to support the Senator John Burton farm labor arbitration bill signed by Governor Davis, as well as other activities.

In my frequent contacts with Arturo Rodriquez and his staff, I have found them to be able, very hard working and committed to the organizing of farm workers. Their task is not easy. Agribusiness has been resolutely opposed to the union, but the UFW is about the business of leading the struggle to give farm workers and their families a better life.

Yours truly,

Rick Tuttle
Los Angeles City Controller. 1985-2001

In a message dated 1/11/2006 10:32:20 A.M. Pacific Standard Time

Dear Editor,

Pride At Work, AFL-CIO is disappointed with the insinuation that UFW's support of marriage equality is detrimental to farmworkers. Labor unions were founded to protect worker dignity and to ensure fair treatment of workers. Unfair treatment comes in many forms, and labor unions have made an effort to fight injustice on all fronts. Historically, labor unions have acted as a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice. To quote Julian Bond, NAACP chairman, "I know the mutual benefits that grew from the historic alliance between organized labor and the movement for civil rights*benefits we all must work to strengthen and extend today."

Labor unionists take their commitment to justice and fairness seriously. "An injury to one is an injury to all" is a -fundamental sentiment in the brotherhood and sisterhood of unionists. When our brothers and sisters are denied the right to marry their partners, and therefore prevented from protecting their families, unions have courageously denounced this discrimination. The UFW's commitment to justice is courageous and pioneering.

Other unions have also called for marriage equality, including Service Employees Int'l Union (SEIU), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Communication Workers of America (CWA), and the Office Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).

These unions support fairness not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it is their duty to represent their members, members that are farmworkers, janitors, social workers, teachers, telephone operators and administrative assistants of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

The UFW was right to stand up and demand an end to marriage discrimination in California. Particularly vulnerable to harassment, intimidation and exploitation, farmworkers rely on the trailblazing, dedicated and undaunted mission of the UFW: equality for all workers. Labor is proudly charged with achieving equal access, fair treatment and benefits equity for workers. Julian Bond said it best, that the is a "historic alliance between organized labor and the movement for civil rights. Toiling daily in the labor movement, we work for social and civil rights with this motive and mission: If labor won't stand up for the rights of all workers to receive the same benefits, then who will?

Thank you,

Pride At Work, AFL-CIO
Washington, DC 20006