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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1966)
SDS Speakers Cite Delano Slave System' By MAXINE KM.IOTT Associate Editor Four years ago this month, Co sar Chavez, then a member of Saul Alinsky's Community Serv ices Organization in Imh Angeles, quit his job and moved to De lano, Calif., to organize the farm workers. Chavez, who was then earning about $10,000 a year, chose De lano because he has relatives in the area who would support him when the going got tough. For 3'A years, Chavez worked with the migrants at the grass roots level- -in offering indivi dual services, developing a cred it union, a co-op, a group insur since program, and stressing the importance of a powerful com tnunity union. Then, in September, 1965, mem bers of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWO(') of the AFC-CIO, went out on strike against the growers in the area Two weeks later, Chavez’ workers joined the strike They've been on strike ever since. Early in the game, before the strike against grape* growers in Oregon Daily Emerald The (Jieviiii Dully hinrrald i» publuhed five time* in Sr|tirfttf»ef and five day* a week during I lie academic year. ri/rp t dtirinf rtarntnation nrn«4a, by the Student I’ufoli* cation* Komi of the t‘niveraity of Otr^on. Sec ond cla*» paid at Kii|ene, Ore* K m 974UJ. Subscription rate,* }S per *e*r. fper term. COBURN’S • CAMERAS • PHOTO SUPPLIES • TAPE RECORDERS Eugene's most complete photographic stores! Now Two Locations 76 W. Broadway 344-2201 698 Willamette 344-8241 (ho San Joaquin Valley started, Chavez insisted upon the com plete autonomy of his ((roup. It’s I lost some of this autonomy in bcin(( forced to make alliances with AWOC, other labor unions, church, civil rights, civic and student groups in strike support work. Without a certain amount of strike support work, however, the strike probably would have failed months ago. SDS Joins One of the student groups which entered into strike support is Students for a Democratic So ciety, through its San Francisco regional office. Other SDS chap ters, including the University chapter, are also providing sup port. Ken Kastner, member of SDS’ farm work committee, said that the main emphasis of the strike at present lies in keeping scab workers out of the fields “The growers bring them in from Texas and promise them high wages which they pay for a day or two, and they don’t tell them there's a strike," Kastner said. Hut the National Farm Work ers Association, the group leading the strike (NWFA has been rec ognized in California as the legal bargaining agent for the work ers) wants more than just high er wages—they want recognition, the pow'er to bargain. NFWA is demanding a mini mum wage of $1 40 per hour plus 25 cents per box. Prior to the strike, growers, who got $4 per box, were paying $1 15 per hour and 10 cents per box. Most of the workers live in the Delano area throughout the en tire year, but few are able to work all year. The average in come of workers' families is about $2,000 yearly, and with this poverty goes the usual medical consequences—bad teeth, uncor rected eyesight, chronic respira tory diseases, and low tolerance to other diseases. To be sure, the State of Cali fornia has enacted a series of laws designed to protect t h e worker—laws calling for free dom of choice of employer, choice of eating at the growers’ restau rant (for which a set amount is deducted from their pay) or cooking their own food, the op 4® cDONALD 7 MORE DAYS OUR MAN Wed. 8:20 Thurs. 6 30- 10:15 JAMES COBURN FLINT THE TOTAL MAN portunlty to shop for what they want where they want it at least once a week, Workmen’s Compensation, the right to elect bargaining representatives and to maintain contracts, and re course through the United States Department of Labor. Inoperative, Impotent But, Kastner says, these laws are “inoperative, impotent, and unenforceable." “Those that are there don’t mat ter,” Kastner charged, referring to the laws. “Most of them can be used against the workers to the growers’ advantage. 8DS will sponsor a panel dis cussion on the Delano situation at 7 p.m. today in the Student Union. Dan and Paige Knapp, mem bers of the VISTA training staff, and Gunnar Lundeberg and Greg Johnson, University vtudents who have visited the Delano area and observed the situation, will discuss the grape strike. "Take the small matter of where the workers eat. The grow er can say, ‘you either eat at my restaurant or you’re out of a job.’ What can a worker who makes only $2,000 a year do about that?” Organized in Hawaii Kastner said he believed the Delano situation to be “the per fect example of the slave system, based almost entirely upon na tionality, since most workers are Mexican or Filipino, and perpe trated with the aid of and de spite the existing laws.” Kastner said the agricultural industry has long been considered Library Contest Deadline Nears Deadline for applications for the University personal library contests has been extended until Monday, Bernice M. Rise, contest co-ordinator, said Tuesday. In order to enter a general or a specialized library in the contest, students must file an application of intent with Miss Rise in the Browsing Room. Duplicate lists of books in the student’s library must be filed at a later date. EVELYN WOOD READING DYNAMICS INSTITUTE EWRDI '(fXM* • an n|kM w»«k MMtfr M*r *t >n<lrt it Ite («!■(* t—M«t Oh-oh, better check the punch f** bowl, j i Ice-cold Coca-Cola makes any campus "get-together” a party. Coca-Cola has the taste you never get tired of... always refreshing. That’s why things go better With Coke... after Coke... aftor Coke. The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Eugene m*. fettled vnd«r lha ovthorlty of Th* Coca-Cola Company by. “unorganizable” but the Hawaiian pineapple induatry has been suc cessfully organized for some years. “You know how they did it?” he said. “The people in the pack ing houses organized, and after they organized, they refused to pack fruit picked by non-union workers. “The teamsters have been do ing the same thing very quietly in Delano,” Kastner confided. “Pretty soon, I think, you’ll see the same thing happening in Cal ifornia that happened in Ha waii.” Kastner is confident the work ers will win the strike. “We’ve got everything going for us — everything, that is, except for the growers. And they’ll have to come around sometime.” Lost Tremendously Kastner said growers have lost | “a tremendous amount" as a re sult of the strike. And one of the largest of them, Schenley, CROSSTOWN RACEWAYS SLOT CAR RACING Everyday from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. 171 Lawrence 345-9367 Inc., producer of several table wines and a number of distilled liquors, haa become the object of a nationwide boycott The University chapter of SDS is conducting a week of activity concerning the Delano strike this week. A table, maintained by SDS on the Student Union ter* distributes information regarding the Schenley boycott The table will continue through Friday. I I I SAVE YOUR MONEY THE ORIGINAL "OPERATION MATCH" COMPUTER DATING Watch for More Information 1. Is it true you're planning to get engaged? I’m on the brink of giving Jane my Beethoven sweatshirt. 2. How are you going to guarantee security to your family when you’re married? 1 have a rich aunt, you know. nw 8. What about money for your children's education? My Uncle Henry is very fond of me. He owns a steel mill. 4. \Vho’d pay off your mortgage if you should die? You never can tell. 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