European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 28, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Cesar Chavez and his grapes of Wrath by Robert Mcewen associated press its been nearly 12 years since a slightly built farm worker named Cesar Chavez organized his people in the Fields and vineyards of califor Nia to the Battle cry of Viva la looking Back today at the Long Chavez says 1 teamed what life teaches All Gener that one must fight for Justice and you cant sit around and youve got to get Down to it and make now Chavez has just weathered perhaps his most serious Challenge with the decision of the teamsters Union to leave the Field to his United farm since he first asked an entire nation to Stop eating grapes to help him win recognition from the grow Chavez farm workers have won new survived bloody Battles with the teamsters and brought a measure of social change to the farm to hit be is part port teach to his he is a demagogue who has damaged agriculture by divisive political alliances and National a labor Leader who cant run his own Union by professional his tactics and Zeal Are he has sacrificed his private life for the he cant remember when he last saw a his Credo is self discipline and there is no life apart from the he it is totally one recent sunday in thousands of the same filipino and Arab farm workers who joined his Ufa turned out to March behind their uneven columns of women and children formed along the Dusty shoulders of Highway ill near the Small Cali fornia desert they Sang religious shouted Viva la Causa und earned banners emblazoned with the Law Emblem Black Eagle on red Back the steady Buzz of the crowd increased to a Roar when burdened by a Back Brace and the effects of a 14day appeared at the end of the line and began trotting alongside the columns of March ers to take his place at the walking at the head of the column a few minutes he impatiently dismissed questions about the adulation he people fail to understand that its a Mutual what i have with these people developed during the formative stages of the weve been through a lot together and developed i know a lot of them 1 feel like in the same As any we Are All they shout Chavez but they might As Well shout Perezjr the affection people display for Chavez is More than brotherly they feel he brings a Coachella farm worker named Ramiro Gaste who brought his Young son and aged father to a Crossroads to watch Chavez pass explained in Spanish what the Ufa Means to sure i follow Chavez mesas Mare More while its hard to generalize about salaries and benefits which vary depending on the time contracts were the Ufa notes that before the Union struck the Delano grape workers were getting about 85 cents to an hour As they had for about is Delano area workers get on they also have medical holidays and employer contributions to an economic development fund that pays for clinics and educational none of these benefits existed in the Union the tamed Boycotts of the late 1960s and Early 1970s Are mostly memory Chavez says the Union officially still is boycotting Gallo grapes and non Ufa but he admits neither is being Pur sued very whether the Boycotts Are revived depends largely on events in where the Ufa Lour years ago passed through its darkest losing 30 of its 31 contracts to the those agreements have expired and with the teamsters out of the Chavez is trying to win his old contracts Back through state supervised elec the eyes of growers around the state Are on Coa says Well see How they treat us Unis time if things Arent shaping Well take them on with Boycotts Chavez first gained nationwide prominence when he struck table grape growers in Central California in after a five year Delano area grow ers agreed to sign a contract with the but in growers refused to renew Loose contracts and signed with the teamsters in they contended Chavez had mismanaged Ufa hiring conceding some Chavez Laid them to inexperience on his Chavez organizing protests that resulted in arrests for violating court ordered limits on picketing at he ended the strike and resumed the Boycott after a Ufa member was shot to death on a picket the California spurred by Jerry enacted a Law in 197s to guarantee farm labor voting began during that Falls har and the Ufa won almost half of the 406 elections in the next four but the election process it talled in Early 1976 after the agricultural labor relations Board ran out of Chavez then began negotiating with the an agreement was announced that gave the Ufa sole jurisdiction in the Fields and left the teamsters in control of Cannery the Ufa had about 70 contracts in the state Early this Down from a 1973 High of 250 but better than the Low of 12 when the growers first switched to the Chavez says California will demand his at Tention for a Long Lime before be nun cars a National he will not forecast a it depends on Many we have to Consoli Date our gains Here and the recession has slowed us the two year drought gripping the West will become More of a problem to the workers As time goes he for hire a he is worried that farm workers who signed with teamsters will be afraid to join the Ufa no one will be turned let bygones be by were not concerned that they chose against us at East they joined a which is All to the its the growers who will get Chavez undivided attention once All the Money weve thrown into the fight with the team stats will now be used against the All the Legal Talent that was tied up in litigation is now tree for the main Page 14 the stars and stripes