Volume III, Nümber 3
Serving the hispanie community.
October 9, 1996
SECTION
See “Through our own
eyes" on page C3.
4
Dolores Huerta heartens
striking farmworkers
The former church that serves as the head­
quarters ofO regon’s farm worker labor union
movement in Woodburn was filled with cries
o f “ Lzvu Ct'.vur Chave:", "'Viva la Huelga"
and" Abajo NORPAC "’ on Sunday October 6
Dolores Huerta, the dim inutive woman with
the heart o f a lion and forty years o f front-line
organizing experience under her belt spoke
to an enthusiastic crowd gathered to honor
the memory o f the late Cipriano Ferrel.
M r Ferrel, who passed away last year, was
the revered leader o f PCUN, or the N orth­
west Treeplanters and Farmworkers Union
(Ptneros i f ampexinox Unidox del Noroexle).
Born into a farmworker family in Delano,
C a lifo rn ia , he d edicated his life to
permanantly improving working and living
conditions fo rcampexinox. M r Ferrel worked
with Ms Huerta and Cesar Chavez in the table
grape boycott campaign from 1972 to 1975.
FARMWORKERS LACK BASIC RIGHTS
PCUN has been w o rk in g to help
farmworkers gain the rights to organize and
negotiate for better working and living con­
ditions Unlike most workers, farm workers
have been systematically excluded over the
years from local, state and federal labor leg­
islation and thus have no vehicle or means
with which to bargain with employers.
Ms Huerta was a key co-founder o f the
United Farmworkers o f America, AFL-C IO .
along with the legendary Cesar Chavez, and
her presence here in Oregon underscored the
fact that the farmworkers' struggle for recog­
nition and basic bargaining rights is still
going on.
FARMWORKERS CONTINUE TO STRIKE
Farmworkers in the W illiamette Valley
strawberry industry staged 24 work stoppag­
es this past summer alone trying to win the
right to organize and negotiate, and to win
wage increases o f 2 to 4 cents a box. Pay in
the Oregon strawberry industry has been
stagnant for ten years.
NORPAC distributes its products prim arily
under the “ FLAV-R -PAC ” and “ Santiam”
labels. Kraemer Farms is also a target o f the
campaign. Striking farmworkers are asking
consumers to write to these companies and
urge them to negotiate with the workers re­
garding living and working conditions. So
far, the companies have refused to do so.
PUBLIC SUPPORT IS VITAL-BOYCOTT
UFW MADE HISTORY
The United Farm Workers Union was
born in Delano, California in the 1960s as
Cesar Chavez organized a nationwide boy­
cott o f table grapes that lasted three years and
led to the first labor union contract for
farmworkers in the nation’ s history.
WORKING CONDITIONS
ARE DEPLORABLE
The goals o f farmworkers and union orga­
nizers are to establish the rig h ts o f
farmworkers to organize and negotiate for
better working and living conditions, rights
that are now taken for granted in most other
industries, and to gain protection from the
use o f pesticides, some o f which are carcino­
genic. Growers apply I 10 tons o f 33 d iffer­
ent chemicals to the strawberry crop alone,
and farm workers receive neither protection
from exposure nor health benefits.
BOYCOTT TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE
PCUN organizers have asked consumers
to boycott NORPAC, Steinfeld'sand W hole­
some and Hearty (Gardenburger) products.
Boycott strategies are o f vital importance
to farm worker movements because their
picket lines are so far removed from public
view. Isolated even further by language,
poverty and the tactics o f agribusiness, farm
workers depend upon the ultimate consum­
ers o f their products to exert the pressure
required to reform unfair labor practices.
Ultimately, the power to change the living
and working conditions offarm workers rests
in the kitchens o f our cities and suburbs. The
table grape boycott forced growers to recog­
nize the rights o f farmworkers to organize,
but lax or weak enforcement o f laws, the huge
political contributions o f wealthy growers,
and the opposition o f the agribusiness indus­
try continue to create the necessity for
farmworkers to strike and call for boycotts
simply to win basic rights.
Workers are often paid less than the m in­
imum wage, and opportunities for advance­
ment are reduced by cronyism and tactics o f
moving workers from place to place to
eliminate seniority and hinder organizing
efforts.
PCUN organizers note that agribusiness
negotiates routinely with other labor unions,
but deny the same collective bargaining rights
to farm workers.
Hacienda Community Development Corporation Board Members accept the 1996 Portland Observador Community Betterment
Award at the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber o f Commerce's Fiesta at Nike World Headquarters, (from left) Luis Arvizu, Mary
Lucero, Dan Lucero, Gil Rodríguez, Sean Cruz.
Welcome to the Portland Observador
Bienvenida al Portland Observador
Read! Learn! Act!
The Observador is designed to address the interests o f Portland’s
growing and vital Hispanic communities, and w ill appear in The
Observer every other week. Some portions o f the newspaper w ill be
published in a bilingual format. Spanish-language text w ill appear in
grey-shaded sections.
Highlights
Among the high I ignis o f our first Observauor was the bestowing o f
the first annual Portland Observador Community Betterment Award,
intended to recognize a person or organization that during the previous
year benefited the Hispanic community in some singular way. The
award w ill be presented each year in the future during Hispanic
Heritage Month
Hacienda CDC was the winner
The Hacienda Community Development Corporation was our inau­
gural winner, honored for their stellar work at the V illa de Clara Vista,
located at 6706 NE Killingsw orth Street. We had the pleasure o f
presenting the Community Betterment Award at the Hispanic Metro­
politan Chamber o f Commerce meeting Tuesday night at the Nike
campus.
This issue o f The Observador w ill contain articles that are not
necessarily Hispanic, but are o f vital interest to the Hispanic commu­
nities.
I
Léalo! Apréndalo! Hazlo!
Este sección se aparecerá en El Obscrver cada otra semana.
Algunas porciónes del periódico estar imprimido en una
forma bilingüe. Texto en Español se aparecerá en secciones
grisáceos.
Puntos destacados
Entre de los puntos más destacados de nuestro primero
Obseivadoi estuvo el primero anual Portland Observador
Galardón de M ejora del Comunidad. Este premio prestigioso
la honra una persona o organización lo que ha mejorado la
comunidad Hispano durante del año previo en alguno modo
singular, y lo presentará cada año en el futuro durante del
Mes Herencia Hispano.
Hacienda CDC fue ganador
El Hacienda Conimunity Development Corporation fue
nuestro primero ganador, se ha honrado por su trabajo
estelar por la Villa de Clara Vista, 6706 NE Killingsworth
Street. Hacienda CDC le aceptó el Galardón de M ejora del
Comunidad durante de la reunión del C im era de Comercio
Hispano, 24 de Septiembre. Este edición de The Observador
los incluirá artículos que no necesariamente están Hispano,
pero los están de interés indispensable a los comunidades
Hispanos.
October 12 is
M A TI0N A L
ODA ©E
LA IRAZA
t
See Observando, page C3.
Large Moche Polychrome ja r in the shape o f a standing warrior, Northern Peru;
Moche lll-IV, circa 200-400 A.D. The warrior class played a vital role in Moche
society similar to that of the European Medieval knight. Distinctive garb
included an ornamental short tunic, a wide collar over shoulders and chest,
and a casque-shaped or flat helmet for protection when battling with clubs.
Photo Credit Abante Fine Arts
Mexican Congress approves
anti-Helms-Burton law
On Tuesday approved by 3 1 7 -to -l a
so-called “ a n tid o te " to the U.S anti-
Cuba law known as H elm s-B urto n, ra ti­
fy in g a s im ila r vote by the M exican Sen­
ate on September 19.
The new M exican law w ill fine M e x ­
ican companies that a llo w them selves to
be sanctioned by the U.S. H elm s-B urton
law, w hich seeks to discourage in ve st­
ment in Cuba
M e x ic o , along w ith other U.S. allies
lik e Canada and the European U nion,
condemned H elm s-B urto n as a v io la tio n
o f interna tion al law because it sought to
punish th ird countries inve sting in the
C om m un ist-rule d island
M e x ic o was p a rtic u la rly sensitive to
any perception that the U nited States
was m eddling in the a ffa irs o f its L atin
A m erican neighbours.
H elm s-B urton a llo w e d U.S. firm s to
sue foreign com panies that “ tr a ffic " in
p ro pe rtie s co nfisca ted by Cuba a fte r
Fidel C astro came to pow er 37 years
ago.
U.S. o ffic ia ls said there were o nly a
handful o f companies w o rld w id e in that
category.
The M e x ic a n c o n s o rtiu m G ru p o
Domos, w hich planned to operate te le ­
phone service in Cuba, was id e n tifie d as
one o f those companies.
Under the law approved on Tuesday,
M exican companies w ould be fined the
equivalent o f 100.000 days o f the m in i­
mum wage fo r s u b m ittin g to any sanc­
tions from foreign com panies, or about
$300,000 at present.
The law applied to any fo re ig n coun­
try , but was w ritte n in d ire ct response to
the U nited States and its H elm s-B urton
law.
M exican companies w o u ld be fined
about $150,000 fo r p ro v id in g in fo rm a ­
tio n about themselves to U.S. courts in
cases re la te d to H e lm s -B u rto n , and
w ould be fined about $3,000 fo r fa ilin g
to inform the M exican fo re ig n m in is try
that they are being targeted fo r sanc­
tions by the U.S. law.