FRIDA Y. MARCH 4. ""

40 besiegeALRB afterlosing vote

By JOHN NUNESImff writer

Forty United Farm Workers took overthe besieged Agricultural LaborRelations board office in El Centro forthe second straight night Thursday,minutes after losing a secret ballot elec­tion for employes of Royal Packing Co.

The grower firm's employes group,Agrupacion Independiente de Traba­jadores en Royal Packing Co., won theelection. by capturing 108 votes. UFWonly received 62 votes. The Indf!pendentUnion of Agricultural Workers, aTeamsters offshoot, got two votes and 14laborers cast ballots for' 'no union."

Jeering, shouting UFW supporterscaravaned to the state office from theImperial Irrigation District auditoriumin El Centro, where the ballots werecountf!d by ALRB agents.

: Two California State Police. in, plainclothes, stationed themselves in­; side the auditorium during the two-hour

election tally. Other State Police patroll­ed Broadway outside the building.

Tension mounted during the ballotcount. witnessed by 135 persons, as itbecame apparent UFW was going to losethe election. The voices of ALRB of­ficials conducting the proceeding weredrowned out by angry UFW sym­pathizers.

Cesar Chavez' union has conducted alarge-scale protest of the ALRB officeand its employes here since Mondaybecause the state agency allowed theRoyal employes group to petition for andtake part in the election. The UFWclaims it is company-sponsored.

State Police arrested 28 UFWdemonstrators Tuesday for refusing toleave the ALRB office. This touched offdemonstrations by the union at ALRB of­fices throughout the state.

The mass arrest was reportedly thefirst police action taken by the BrownAdministration.

On Wednesday, Chavez and company"invited arrest," commandeeringseveral state farm labor offices in thestate.

In fact. the ALRB obtained a courtorder late Tuesday night from SuperiorCourt Judge George R. Kir~ to limit theUFW to 10 persons at a time inside theEl Centro office.

But Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., orsomeone high in his administration.issued a '''hands off" order to StatePolice.

State and local law officers were in­structed to let the UFW demonstratorsinside the office Wednesday no matter ifmore than 10 at a time came in.

TIM! same thing happened Thursdaynight. State Police were attempting tokeep demonstrators in the entrance areawhen orders were given to allow theUFW personnel access to any part of theoffice.

'The special police then were orderedto leave. This happened within minutesafter the UFW caravan arrived about 9p.m.

The demonstrators proceeded to make.themselves at home, Some began mak­

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SECOND STRAIGHT NIGHT

UFW besieges AlRS againafte, losing Royal election

quartered in Salinas, iscurrently under a TeamstersUnion contract, which is goodfor another another 18 monthsor until the ALRB election iscertified. Then the employesgroup becomes the bargainingagent for Royal employes.

But election certification isexpected to be a long, drawnout process. UFW pians to fileobjections to the election.

In Sacramento, "a smallgroup" of Chavez supportersslept overnight Thursday atthe ALRB offices, and boardattorney Harry Delizonna saidthey would be allowed to stayas long as no disruptions takeplace.

"The law is clear" on theissue of the Royal Packing Co,election, Delizonna said in aninterview. "You don't have tobe a labor union to petition foran election or representworkers."

an Arizona-based farm com­pany - had to be rerunbecause Ganz and otherdemonstrators saw the colorof the ballots.

Lopez explained see{ngballots before the electionviolates a secrecy rule set bytheALRB.

The Royal Packing ballots,after the tally, were not lock­ed in the office safe. Instead,the documents had to be takento another office because ofthe UFW occupation, accor­4ing to Lopez.

When asked if the UFW willbe billed for making long dis­tance phone calls, Lopezreplied, "That's up tosacramento. "

Meanwhile, Don Hart, vicepresident of Royal Packing,was interviewed at the lIDauditorium just before theelection tally.

The grower executivedenied UFW charges that theemployes group that formedits own union was in reality acompany-backed organiza­tion.

"We know nothing aboutthese people" who formedtheir own union, Hart claim­ed. "We don't even know howit got started."

The demonstration has not ..slowed work in Royal's fields, 'according to Hart. The com- 'pany is harvesting lettuce inYuma and the Imperial ,Valley.

"We'll support whoeverwins the election," Hartremarked.

The f~rm company, head-

Porno children filmsillegal under new bill

SACRAMENTO (AP) ­Using children in po'r­nographic films would be afelony under a new bill in theCalifornia- Legislature.

It was introduced by Sen.Newton Russell, R-Glendale.

Said Russell in a statement:"I am outraged that anyonewould even considerstretching the First Amend­ment constitutional right tofree speech to include the kindof abuses to children that havebeen reported recently."

Roger Duerksen, an aide toRussell, said the hill wasprompted by revelations thatmany pornographic films us­ing children are being made inCalifornia.

It is SB 428.

fatigued this morning. The of­fice has been under unionsiege daily since Monday.State Police, scheduled toleave Thursday night, werestill standing guard this mor­ning.

"We will leave when theproblem is resolved," statedState Police Inspector RobertMcHale.

His state troopers workednine hours overtime Thurs­day, got four hours sleep andwere back on the job at 6 a.m.today.

Lopez said ballots that werebeing run off Thursday nightfor another election set for to­day in Winterhaven - Senini,

(Continued from page 1)ing telephone calls. MarshallGanz, UFW Valley director,said he called long distance toa union office in NorthernCalifornia.

He said he received long dis­tance calls from Chavez andGilbert Padilla, UFWtreasurer, during the officetakeovers Wednesday night.

Other demonstrators choseto lie on the floor, sit on desksand mill about. About 20marched in a circle outsidetheJront of the office, locatedat 582 State St.

By 2 a.m" the UFW aban­doned its sit-in. This morning,a UFW spokesperson said un­ion leaders were unsure ifdemonstrations would con­tinue today.

But this morning, FredLopez, in charge of the stateoffice here, said the courtorder will be enforced today ifnecessary,

The "hands off" order fromSacramento has confused andangered law enforcement of­ficials involved in theweeklong incident.

Lopez maintained, however,"We have been enforcing thecourt order. "

He said the attitude prior totoday was not to play into thedemonstrator's hands byarresting them,

Another source inside theoffice said ALRB and StatePolice are "fed up" with thedemonstrators and the courtorder would be enforced to­day,. ,

State. officials, particularlyLope\!, were obviously

Friday. March 4. 1977 _Imperial Valley Press-3