Neville HamiltonDIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

AND EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTTO THE PRESIDENT

./.

Canadian Paper\J 0 kers Union CLCSuite 320, 1010 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal, Quebec, (514) 871 -9350

June 6, 1975

Mr. Steph~n RobersonMontreal Boycott DirectorUnited Farm Workers. of America1196 Alexandre de SeveMontreal, Quebec

Dear Brother Stephen:

The following is a portfolio of newspaperclippings which were generated by the recent visitto Montreal by united Farm Workers President CesarCha'"vez.

They include the following:

From the Montreal Gazette of Saturday, May 31,an article based on Friday's news conference.

From the Montreal Matin of Saturday, May 31,an article and photo emanating from the news conferenceof Friday.

From Le Jour of Saturday, May 31, an articleand photo emanating from Friday's news conference.

From Le Devoir of Saturday, May 31, a photoemanating from Friday's news conference.

From The Gazette of Monday, June 2, a photoof the march and rally on Saturday.

From Le Jour of Monday, June 2, two articlesand a photo based on our interview at Le Jour (one ofthese articles appeared on page 1 with a turn to page 3for the second article)~

. .. cont I d

Stephen RobersonPage 2June 6, 1975

From Le Devoir of Tuesday, June 3, editorial pagecomment based on our interview with a representative of thenewspaper.

From The Gazette of Tuesday, June 3, an articleand cartoon based on an interview with a representativeof the newspaper (this was a full page break-page spread).

From The Gazette of Tuesday, June 3, a leadeditorial.

From The Gazette of Tuesday, June 3, a CanadianPress story from Vancouver based on a statement from theTeamsters in connection with Brother Chavez' proposedmeeting with Labour Minister John Munro.

From The Gazette of Wednesday, June 4, a CanadianPress story from Ottawa based on Brother Chavez' visitto Ottawa and his meeting with parliamentarians.

In addition, we got the following coverage onthe electronic media:

News reports on regular newscasts of CJADon Friday, May 30.

News reports on Radio Centre Ville (in Spanish)on Friday and Saturday, May 30 and 31.

On CBC Radio (CBM) a 20-minute interview withWayne Grigsby on "Sounds Unlikely", Friday May 30.

A taped interview for re-broadcast by the CBC'sInternational Service (in Spanish) directed to Mexico.

CBC television interview (CBMT-TV) with LaurierLapierre on his talk show "Midnight". This intervie\v willbe re-broadcast over other CBC television outlets acrossCanada at a later date.

On CFCF-TV, an interview filmed at the rally onSaturday, which was telecast Saturday, May 31.

. .. con t ' d

Stephen RobersonPage 3June 6, 1975

It may be that we have missed some items thatwere published or broadcast or telecast, but to the bestof our knowledge at this time, this is the extent ofour exposure.

Fraternally yours,

Neville Hamilton

NH/scdopeiu:57

Ene.

By BILL I<oKESCHof The Gazette

An injunction against the United FarmWorkers union (UFW), cffecLiYely eliminat­ing the right of members to picket Domin­ion Stores Ud. outlets here, was granted .yesterday as union president Cesar ChavezsougiJt support in IvlonLreal for a UfW,grape and lettuce boycott.

The boycoLt, aimed nt forcing settlementof a two-year-old strike against Californiaand Arizona· growers, involves Californiag rap e s and iceberg lettuce sold atDominion's 70 Montreal-area 'upennarkets.Other chains here have agreed lIot to stockthe produce.

Dominion was granted the injunction bySuperior Court Judge John A. Nolan as theunion made plans for a demonstration atnoon today at the chain's local headquarterson Cote des Neiges Rd.

Two pickets killed, In the wake of the court decision, theUFW vowed last night to expan:J. the cam­.paign against Dominion by asking shoppers.to boycott the sLore, not just the grapesand lettuce.

"If Dominion Stores agreed today 10boycott, tllen the slrike would be oyer to­morrow, That's how important Montreali"," Chavez told a group of labor leadershe·re yesterday.

l\oting Montreal is North America's fjfth'largest grape market, he said Dominion"nd Jewel Tea of Chicago "are the last twomajor dlains not to agree-to tile boycott,and if they did the growers would he ontheir l~necs,"

The UFW began the boycott in 1973,after two strikers were killed on picketlines in California during a dispute overalleged "sweetheart" contracts betweengrowers and the Teamsters Union.

Prayer bre kfast .\

Chavez, whose union saw as a landmarka bill just passed by the California jegisla­ture assuring secret-ballot union certifi­cation votes, is ill Montreal on a tour spon­sored by I:he Canadian Labor Congress.

At a morning prayer breakfast v.ithleaders of Montreal's Catholic, Protestantand Jewish religious communities yester­day, Chavez was presented with a l006-pagepetition signed by area clergy and denoun­cing Dominion's use of the injunction to"stifle l'he farm worker's right to freespeech in lhe bo/cotL"

Last night, the union premiered its docu­mentary film, "Fighting for Our Lives," ata fund-raising event at the Loyola Campus _of Concordia University.

The march past Dominion headquarterstoday wiil begin at college St. Jean Brebeufon Cote St. Catherine Rd.

~ontrea1-Matin, Samedi, 1e 31 mai 1975

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par Andre CHARIWN

Si Ia chaine d'ali.men­talion Dominion ,'cutcontinuer de yendre desraisins et des choux dela Cal jfornic. dIe dC\T3

a101's compter Ics rcli-.gieux p:ul1li ses adver­sa ires !

M, Cesar Ch<:lvez. pre­sident dl! syndicat destrai'ailleurs agricolesunis, a rec;u cctle assu­rance hier, au momentOll il 'an'j\ait ~l 1\10nlrblp 0 u r promollvoir Iacampagne dc· boycot tageentrcprise mila pres dedeux ans con Ire Don!'i­nion, Au-dela de 1,000religieux qu<~bccois, ap­partenant 1:1 diff;:'rentsculles, .Ollt en eHet si·gn': une petition deman­dant au.'\. ci[oyens eluQuebec de 11e pas ache·tel' les raisins et ia bitueyenclus pal' Ia puis~ante

chaine,

'. La "isite de M. Cl,avezsunicnt quelques ltl~U­

res 3\'ant que Ie lribu­n::tl se prononee sur 1:1demande, par Dominion,de l'em iss ion c!'une in­jonction in1erdisant Iepiquetagc: dc\ nt sesm3gasins, L'on se sou­Yiendra, a eel dfet, quedes "Toupes ::l\'ail:nt parIe passe dcmanclc aLLXclients de Dominion dene pas arllete1' Irs r::ti­sins cali[ornicns.

Pour mienx sensibili·ser la population quebe­coise, M, Chan.'z parLici.pcI'a ce midi .~ une, maonifestation qUl se deron­]e1'a devant Ie sil:ge so­cial des magasins Domi­nion, a MontrC'al.

~ Pour "mequilibre

Si la maison Domi­nion, qui demeure ias nie chaine au Qu(>b::::ea venclre ccs p1'odllitsamerieains, dcciclait elkaussi de lcs bO\Totl.::r,"Ie probkme se1'::<it ::lIorsnSglC'demain matin", ckcornrnente1' M. Chavez.Un prctre de\'ait aiou­tel' que "si Domiriionclonnai (' SOI1 appui, c;:ach::tngerait la babncc cIt!pOll voir",

Les producteur- agri­coles de la ·Cllifornie sc­raient alor obliges de

! ncgocier d 'cg::tl a cgal

~\\'I;:c lcs 2:~O,OOO tea·v3illcurs impliquc:>, Encc sellS. l';1PPlli du Que·bee est Ires utile puis·que Ie tiers de Ja pro·duel ion de raisins cali­[ornicl1s cst \'cndu iei.

J)'<1ulrc part. que eetappui soit dL'm~lilde parlks religiclI.': qucb":cois,dont certains sont en';­ques; dc'montrc nne va,lonte: commune des .Egli·ses ele sc prOiJOl1eer surles problL:mes sociaLix.

cont'd

Photo Monlreai~M{!11n - ,.,t~A. BEAUDIN

Cesar Chavez: n'est plus seul a combattre la chaine d'alimentation Dominion. les religieux du Quebec,dont Ie rrere Robert Gaudet (a roite sur !a photo), son derriere lui.

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(photo Claire Beaugrand-ehampagne)

Cesar Cha vez a 19appM,i deseli e re1igieo x e ]Jf!onflrealCesar Chavez, Ie celebre leader "chicano" du Syndicat destravailleurs agricoles unis des Etats -Unis, est arrive aMontreal, hier, pour promou\'oir la campagne de boycottagede la laitue et des raisins de Californie. II a d'abord ren­contre les chefs religieux de Montreal, a la salle paroissia­Ie de la Cathedrale Marie -Reine -du -Monde, Ceux -ci ontalors emis une declaration de solidarite assez speciale, Lecommunique, signe notamment par Ie vicaire general dudiocese de Montreal, Jean -Marie Lafontaine, et l'eveque deSaint -Jean, Gerard -Marie Coderre. denonce "la tentativedes magasins Dominion d'etouffer la voix libre des travail­leurs agricoles. En demandant une injonction empechantles comites de soutien de piqueter ses magasins et de par­ler aux clients, la chaine Dominion se fait complice descorporations agricoles qui cherchent a detruire Ie syndicatet a ramener les ouvriers a Ja servitude des temps pas­ses". Aujourd'hui, a midi, M. Chavez participe aune mani­festation qui p rtira du college Jean -de -Brebeuf, chemin dela Cote Sainte -Catherine, pour sc rendre au siege social desMagasins Dominion, 6825 Cote-des-Neiges.

Le Jour, samedi Ie 31 mai 1975

Cesar Chavez, Ie president des Travailleurs agricoles unis de la Californie, a rencontreles chefs religieux de la region metropolitaine hiera Montreal alin de promouvoir lacampagne de. boycoltage des raisins et de la laitue de Callfornie. M. Chavez ellectuepresentement une tournee a travers Ie Canada. II quilte Montreal demain.

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Le Devoir, samedi 31 mai 1975

THE HONTREAL GAZETTE, MONDAY, June 2, 1975

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Gazette, Michael Dugas

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With United Farm 'Workers' president Cesar Chavez Stores Ltd. Dominion remains the only area foodincluded among the marchers, some 600 Montreal- chain that has not agreed to honor the boycott,area supporters of the California grape and lettuce resulting from ;the use of non·union labor in thebovcott head west on Cote St. Catherine Satmelav fields. The protesters marched past Dominion'sto\vard the Quebec headquarters or" Dominioll IKtin office on Cote des Neiges Rd.

-------------

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Every state in this union us migrants has been,And we'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win,

-iYoodyGuthrie, Paslures of Plenly

By ROBERT S, , 'EALof The Gazette

That song was written in the early 1940s to dl amatize theplight of California's migrant workers, Another 20 yearspassed before a movement developed to attempt to overcometheir plight.

The man at. the head of the United Farm Workers ofAmerica (UFWi seems an unlikely leader of a social mo\'e­ment. Small and Wiry, straight black hair coerced into a per­fect. part along the left ridge of his brown head, Deep eyes thatsparkle when he laughs,

The hand offered in greeting has lost the callouses of t.wodecades in the fields: the small hand seems hardly strongenough t.o have twisted thousands of bunches of grapes fromtheir vines, But his dres~ i' the habit of the fields-brownchino pants, blue checkered shirt. white socks, crepe soulbrown ankle bonts .

He is said to be uncomfortable in fancier clothes and jit·tery 111 large cities bu t Cesar Chavez was relaxed during an SOminute interview here Saturday.

Chavez had cause to relax: On Thursday the CaJifomiaGeneral Assemblv passed bv 54 to 10 a bill enabling all farmworkers to vote for a union to represent them or for no union.The law, which takes effect Aug. 28, could be Chavez' greatesttriumph since he began orrranizing t.he UFW in 1962. And itcould be the end of the two veal' struggle with t.he Internation­al Brotherhood of Teamsters for the right to represent 250,OOGfarm workers.

Victory or no, Chavez isn't relaXing the strike against Ca­lifornia growers of iceberg lettuce and table and wine grapes.And he isn't easing the boycott of their products in supermar­kr-ts across the continent al d in Europe and Latin America.ca.

"Between now and then (Aug 281 the boycott will stay onbc('ause if we \l'Jn the electIOn then we've got to negotiate andwrite a contract.

"SO we want to keep the pressure on so that if we win andwhen we win. we'l! be able to negotIate a contract for theworkers. If we win tl e elect ions and we can't get contract:,the bovcott will stav on until we do

"Sut if we do get a contract. of course, the moment thecontra('L signed, we'l] cal] off the bovcott."

UntilJ the bovcolt ends, Chavez and his supporters urgeconsumers to avoid iceberg let tuce. Rut how do you give upiceberg lettuce" The UFW says ubstilule other types of let­

_JI}e.e,

"If you move away from iceberg, you hurt the industry,The industry can't Sl bstitute other things for iceberg. Wewere worried t.hat when we get ail the people t.o eat romaine,well, t.hey·d plant romaine.

"But they can't becau 'e t.hose other lettuces don't last aslong. The'adv'antage of iceberg is that il has lasting power andit's easier to pack: it's round so you can pack!t Romaine IS

harder to grow and takes longer. Iceberg grows in allweather" -

Dig the beets from your ground, pick the grapes lrom'uur vine.

To place on your table the light sparkling wine."You know there are grov;ers in Delano (Calif.) vho sell

lOG per cent of their grapes in Canada for winemaking. espe­ciallv in Toronto and 1\1ontreaL And because of the boycott,grap'c concentrate has become cheaper than grapes forwillemaking...

The boycott of grapes in Canada has focused on DominionStores Ltd .. t.he only large Montreal chain that has refused tokeep off its . helves the grapes that will start coming insoon Wit.11 the I"lav harvest in California. Much of Chavez' timein Montreal-ceritred on the first Canadian shOWing of Fight­ing For Our Lives, a documentary film about the 1973 strikethat arose with rhe dispute with the teamsters-was given toorganizing and demonstrating against Dominion.

The effort against Dominion was set back with a SuperiorCourt injunction Friday prohibiting UFW backers from takingthe boycott within 100 feel of any Dominion property. About600 marchers Saturday protested Dominion's refusal to keepgrapes off its shelves.

AChavez aide believes Dominion's position IS linked to Itscorporate ownership. Dominion is owned by Argus Corpora­tion of Toronto wbich owns Massey Ferguson, a farm ma­chinery manufacturer dependant on growers for its income,

"Or they're just stubborn," Chavez adds.Chavez and the growers disagree on the boycott's effect.

But last month as California Governor Jerry Brown was act­ing as mediator among UFW, Teamsters ana the growers, 35agribusiness leaders in Brown's oHice applauded Chavez'voice on the telephone accepting the compromises that led toenactment of the farm labor lmv. .

"Brown wanted the law and he began to push for it andthe boycott helped," Chavez said here, "The !-Tfowers were fedup with the boycott and they were fpd up with the teamsters,One of the growers told Jerry, 'You know we're going to havea rough time with you guys WFWl. we know how sticky youarc but after abollt three or fOilr ~'e- rs, after we get the roughspots off. we'll be able to live with you like other growers arel!ying with you now.

cont'd

':Besides, the teamsters don't represent the workers andthey don't know what the hell's going on in the fields, theydon't know what's happening."

Chavez' UFW charged that growers who signed contractswith the union in 1967 ,lDd 1970 brought the teamsters in during1973 negotiations and signed contracts with the teamsters torepresent farm workers, illegal contracts because the team­sters weren't invited in by the workers. One poll by a churchgroup showed about a seven to one preference among workers

,for the UFW over the teamsters.Sitting on a sofa in the living room of a Montreal labor

leader. Chavez dominates wi~h his clear but soft voice a room­ful of people coming. going, sitling, listening. His hands leadhim into his statements, his voice sometimes trails off leavinga thought unsaid bu t understood. Twice in 80 minutes he getsup and pilces briefly then returns to the sofa. He takes hisbreakfast during the interview-a cup of tea with two spoon­fuls of hone v, rejecting all offers for a meal of more sub­sl<mce.

He talks about the dreams of farm workers."The.v're just like any other workers: they wanna have a

little security. I think their big dream is to have ecurity intheir jobs.

"We go nuts if somebody gets fired: somebody gets fired,to us that's the death penalty. We poll his fellow l'iorkers and ifthev say the firing \ras unjust, we'll go through everything,we'll get him back one way or the other. \Ve'll raise holy hellwith the employer until he puts the man back on."

So for many agricultural workers it isn't necessary tomove around looking for work unless cheaper workers arebrought in to underbid tile rp<~;rlpr1t ]iloorers. That's what hi'Shappened for veal'S through the institution of the labor con­tractors, who provide growers with an agreed on number ofworkers. The contractor collects a fee from the grower andusually from the worker. As merchants of labor, they con­stantly bid down the price of farm work.

"We can replace them almost any t.ime," Chavez says ofthe contractors. "In grapes they have ji!!ions of labor contrac­(Drs, small gu~'s. A guy will start out as a worker and after,say, two or three seasons, the employer will say. 'Look if youbring me 10 or 15 \Vorker~, I'll give you a commission. Thatmakes him a contractor. So all over there are gu,'s with 10\'iorkers, i5. 25: some people are bosses with six workers.

"In lhe first years of the contract in grapes, we couldn'tunderstand why the growE'rs fought so hard for the contrac­tors. Here's what we found Oil,:

"If you're a resident of Delano working grapes for 20

veal's. there's compelition for your job. The contractor bringsin his crew, the local people are going to tell him 'Go to hell. Ihave to do the winter job of pruning and tying and do aii thedirtv work for the hourl~' rale. When the piece rate work (pick­ing grapes) comes, I want a better deal. I want to be first.'

"That was the number one reason for the fight for hiringhalls. "

With the seniority system guaranteeing first jobs to thelocal members who :ita\' home to work. rnigrati(\!1 is reduced.When contract.ors or gi'owl'r~ undercut the crmtract IChavezsa~'s growers sometimes do so llilknowmglv I b~; getting non­seniorit\' workers into the fields. (.;FW stewards "raise holyhell v;ith them. stop the crew. fight back"

At the heigl t of picking nei ther the grower nor the workercan afford lost time nul' to such disputes. Chavez advocatesinstant arbitration: "Have a full time arbitrator so that ifthere's a beef in the field the arbitrator goes to the field rightnow and get.- it worked out.

"We have it have in one ranch and it's working perfect­Iv." He tells of a Delano gr(lwer who laid off lJFW membersand thl' next dav hrought in 30 other workers at a lower wagerate. The arbitl:atllr was calleel ill nnder the terms 01 the con­tract and ordered a full (1;1\"S pay for 80 lJFW members let goto make room for t.he 8U illegal Immigrants.

~aljf(Jn~ia, Arizona, we make all your crops,I hen It s up no.rlh 10 Oregon to gather your hops,

- Reducing the travel of farm workers also reduces thene;d for rnJgr~nl camps, which Chavez calls "company hous­tng of t!le \ OJ,st sort. Slarlmg with John Steinbeck's brutalnovel. fhe Grapes of Wrath, public awareness of farmworkers CIrcumstances has been focused on the migrantlabor camps.

. Yet. Chavez says, eliminating the camps may be imposs­Ible because seasonal peaks in agriculture mean some~~orkers will always have to travel to meet labor demands.

No ot~~r unIOn has the problem we have as severely as wehave 11. he says. . .

Chavez, when the new law takes effect and the UFWstarts negotiating new contracts, says the union will have

three pri?rity demands the growers must meet.. "Messingaround WI h the 11!rltlg, not contributing to the welfare fundand messing around with safety measures have to be" prohi­bIted m the contract.. If he wins these demands, the UFW may have establishedItself an;ong industri.al trade unions. After 13 years organizingand stnkmg and boycottmg and, once, gomg on a fast to dra­malize to members his insistence on nonviolence, has Chavezever considered abandoning nonviolence?

"1\0 just consider the pragmatic side, let alone the philo­sophical. One of the pressures of nonviolrnce we discoveredafter a while is that it's so single minded. \lie don't spend timeer lll.oncy defending ourselves fronl crirninal charges, V/f;spend all our time fighting the good battle.

"For inslance, the union has spent very lillIe defendingme or other u!llon leaders: othe'r ;!roups get caught in all these

problems. It becomes a big 'Frc(~ Cesar' movement so youspend t\\'o veal'. freeing me but wnat happens to the orgalliz­ing drive? Then also when the other side commits violenceagainst us. we document it. Fighting For Our Li 'cs started outas documentation of teamst.er and police actions against us.

"Nonviolence puts us on the offensi\'e immediately and itgives us concc:ltration, We don't have to worry about defend­ing people. Ali the charge are dropped eventually so we'vegot time to just do nothing bu t figh t."

Time to fight. At one point in the film, Chavez t.ells team­ster organizers: "We can be here 10 years, 30, five." Time hasbeen Chavez' chief ally, his most. potent weapon.

"\ve got time: the. r got money, That was the biggest les­son i learned early in the game. 1 told the workers, 'Look, wecan \vin with time,' People tend to be impatient but one thingwe've been able to show our people is that patience reaily paysoff.

"Today they understand by experience that time is ourbest friend. 'Oh yeah, it'll take lime but we'll win.' So younever get yourself into this demoralizing spiral (of impa­lience) that can be 0 disastrous.

"Dolores (Huerta, UFW vice president) and rdid years ofresearch. We read everything that was IlTiltcn about strikesin California: we must have talked to 1,000 people who wereinvolved in strikes. We brgan to see some real patterns. Sowhen we started organizing workers we had an idea what thepatterns were and we were trying to fight against them and,by go h, most of the lime we were right.

"For instance, we found out that in the strikes from 1913to 1960 never was there an organizing drive before a strike.The workers would just get fed up and walk out on strike andthe unions would rush to support 'em and it. was like walkingon thin ice,

"We said ,0. In the beginning we said OK, no strikes. ThL...union doesn't strike until we're readv: We did an awful lot. oforganizing, just patient organizing alid cducatinr.."

\ hen on strike, the lesson of time was applied again. "Welearned that a strike is a . even day fe\·er. It rbes then it'sgone after seven davs. Our theory was to find a way to make itrise a second time and not go dowll." .

cont'd

With the new California law. Chavez and the UFW lookforward to a farm worker who lives in his own horne-his se­niority can be used as collateral to buy a house-most of theyear instead of living on the road. which means his chMrencan go to school. the same school, all year. The worker will bepaid a \yagc Chavez says will be "three or four times" the 85and 90 cents an hour he was paid in the early daT oi the UFW,The farm worker will work a standard work week.

Some o[ the workers arc celebrating the law while Chavezis in Canada pushing the boycott.

"You should see what's happening, They've been having afiesta out there, I came by Coachella last SundaY and the mo­ment I got there sUddeniy there were 200 p apie there justjumping up with joy- carrot workers, date workers, citrusworkers-and Ihey would come say. 'Does the law apply to us,can we have a union?' And we said 'Sure,' They were mightyhappy"

\Vith the law, the workers may !Jecome, as Chavez says,"just like any other worker,"

!l's a mightly mighty rough row that my poor hands

h:W€ hoed,My poor feet have travelled one h'lt dusty road.

ITS 11Alr~LYBECAUSE OFWE GRAPES..... or> ~AY

NAME IStfTCESARl

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Tuesday, June 3, 1975

Tllings are finally ItJl)kil1g up for CesarChavez. in Montreal last weekend to press bisindefatigable carnpiJigr. on behalf of Califor­nia farm workers. Last week tl~e Californialegislature passed a bill thnt essentially givesfarm labor in that state the rights enjoyed bymdustrial workers In other sections of theCllunt rv, Tlte hi II IS an important victorv for lr.

('II~\et. IllS fullowers and I he people of Caii­!oi'niCi. for'it will hring StJllW ordel' and jus·Ut'P Intll an arcCl where IJtJtll h;'I\'(' been COil­

'111\'OI)U;;I\' ahsen: 8tll th(' victor\, rioes nolend lhe W'lI. and 11 IS noll' more 111lpoi'tJnltl':an ever I'DI' Mr C/i;lVez's supporters lu cun,linlle Ihelr bo~'CotJ of Calilorl!ia grapes andIceherg lettuce until the i:-;sue is brought toconclusion

A decisive battle seems to be shaping lipat the time of the fall harvest That is whenthe secret-ballot eleCl!nn will be held. to in­sure maximum participatIOn. Elections willbe held only on pet!lIOn of the workers. and no

union carl begin negotiating;;j contract until itis ('ertIlip.O The elections should settle theissue of union legitimacy and help reduce thesweetheart contracts of the sort negotiatedbv g-rowers and Teamsters to freeze out theUnited Farm Workers.

The UFW still has the big job of winningthe eled inns and negoti<Jting contracts. OnlytllPn will it be in a position tu call off the boy­colts

Canada is important to tile UFW becausei\1t1ntreal <Inri TortJllln are t\Yo of the fiveI<li'gest NIlI t.1I ,c\merican markets [or Calil'or­lua grapes and lettuce. Blit must large stores-Dumininn is tile except ion-are going alongand not even stocking California grapes. Asfor the iceberg lettuce. surely it is among theworld's easiest items not to buy. It is a prod-'Ucl developed soiely for producers' conve­nience, and it tastes like cardooard. A futureproblem may be \\'ho will eat it after the boy­cott is over.

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VANCOUVER- (CP) -TheTeamsters Union sent a tele­gram yesterday to P r i 111 e

,Minister Pierre Trudeau pro­testing Labor Minister John1\lunt'o's pIa n to officiallygreet Cesar Chavez; spokes­man for the United Far mWorkers union, at the begin­ning of an eastern Canadas,peaking tour.

If liVlunro goes ahead withthe greeting at the Parlia­ment buiidings tad a y withMPs from other parties "w·~

expect to fa 110 IV with a de­mand he (l\funro) 'be removedas minister of ,lahar," saidSenator Ed Lawson, a Team­sters official.

The Teamsters are in dis­pute with the United Farm\Vorkers J'egarding represent­ation of California agricultur­al field workers.

The Montreal Gazette

Tuesday, June 3, 1975

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pill" Paule Beaugrand­Champagne

Les marches Dominionsont maintenant les seuIs, sur1200 entreprises d'alimentationa Montreal, a refuser de boy­cotter les raisins et la laituede la Californie. S'ils accep­taient, 1a cause des ouvriersagricoles de cet Etat americainserait gagnee comme eUe 1'aetc en 1970. C'est Dominion quimaintient ouvert Ie marche ca­nadien pour les employeurs desranchs dont les ouvriers se bat­tent, depuis pres de 25 ans,pour leur reconnaissance syn­dicale.

"Dominion achete les rai­sins rouges de 1a vallee de Coa­chella, situ&? au coeur du de­sert a 130 milles all sud de LosAngeles; ces raisins se vendentsurtout au Canada. Si Dominionne maintenait pas son attitudeagressive a regard de noiresyndicat, Ie marche du rai,\;inserait ferme et les industriels

. agricoles vaincu."

C'est ce que nous deda­rait hier, lars d'une entrevueau JOUR, Ie president des Uni­ted Farm Workers of Ameri­ca, Cesar Chavez, I actuellementen tournee au Canada pour une

dizaine de jours. nest venudefendre aupres des Canadiensla cause des mi1liers de tra­vaiBeurs des ranchs agricolesde la Californie, du Texas, dela Floride, de l'Arizona et dela Caroline du Nord, entre au­tres.

Samedi, M. Chavez a par- .ticipe a Cote-des-Neiges a nnemanifestation silencieuse dev~mt

les bureaux de Dominion, donIe siege social est en Ontario.Le silence des SCD a 1000 par­ticipants a, parait-il, fortementimpressionne les policiers quine sont pas intervenus malgre

Ie fait que Dominion ait obtenu'une injonction interdis?nt toutpiquetage ou manifestation amoins de 100 pieds de ses pro­prietes.

Montreal est la cinquie­me ville en Amerique du Nord(apres trois villes amerieaineset Toronto) qui achete Ie plusde raisins de la CaJifornie. En1970, les ouvriers agricoles deeet Etat ant gagne la signaturd'une convention collective gra­ce au SUCcE~s du boycottage ca­nadien de leurs prodllil~. Lapresente bataille dure depuis1973.

Cesar Chavez est un ou-

vrier agricole qui s'est lancedans I'organisation syndicale deses confreres en 1962; apresavoir tente d'organiser politi­queme:1t les "Chicanos" (im­migres mexicains), i.l s'est ren­du compte que leur probJemeetait d'abord Cconomique et qu'ilfaUait vaincre leur pauvreteavant d'aborder la politique. En1970, Chavez devenaitdirect'2urde Ia nouvelle union, les UnitedFarm Workers of Aneric2;apres l'affiJiation a l' ..\FL-CIOen 1972, il en devenait Ie prc-si­dent.

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Photo Pierre Boir..clair

A draite, Cesar Chavez lors de sa vi:site au JOUR bier. Au fond, a gauche, lin sympatbisant et militant quebecois,et adroite, un des confreres californiens de Chavez.

Le Jour, 1undi, 1e 2 juin 1975

larrnelt"t'se sf les ouvriers agricoles ont

• vo wreCOllDImfJt 1!}§Saf1Ce synf1liCa oe

cont'd

Le Jour1undi, 1e 2 juin

par Paule Beaugrand­Champagne

Si les industriels a­gricoles de Ia Californiesont dorenavant obliges depegocier avec Ie syndicatrepresentant leurs employesdes ranchs de raisins et delaHue, ils ne sont quandmeme \Jas obiiges de signerdes conventions collectives

'avec eux. C'est ponrquoi iIest important que Ie boy­:cottage de ces produits con­tinue: pour faire pressionencore plus avant sur cesemployeurs.

L'Etat de Caiifornievient tout juste d'adopterune loi autorisant les em­ployes agricoJes a se syn­diquer comme iis 1'enten­dent et obligeant les em­ployeurs ales reconnaitreet a ncgocier avec eux.

n y avait 24 ans que{;es travailleurs - pour laplupart des Chicanos (im­migres mexicains), desPorto-Ricains et des Noirs- se battaient pour etresyndicalement reconnus.Lorsque, la semaine der­ni€re, l'Etat a adopte cet­te loi ) . .1 precedent dansl'histoire des Etats-Unis),

·'ils en sont restes bouche­bee. Hien n'annony.1it un'tel revirement.

"Je crois que lesemployeurs agricoles en

,avaient assez des gl'eveset des boycottages de leursproduit.s, nous cteclaraithier Cesar Chavez, presi..dent des United Farm Wor­kers of America (AFL..CIO), qui mene lui..memecette lutte depuis quelque13 ans.

"Us en avaient aus..si aSSC'l des Teamsters,meme S1 ce lX·~j ont tentede representer nos travail­leurs en parfaite ententeavec ces memes employ ul's.Ils ne s'y attendaient pas10rsqu'iJ.s ont fait venir lesTeamsters, mais depuis15 ans, nous aviolls faitun assez bon travail aupres

des travailleurs pour queceux-ci rejettent les Teams­ters, cette union pourrieque l'AFL..CIO a I'eniee.Nos travailleurs sont par­mi les plus militants desEtats-Uni.s. Je crois quec'est la premiere fois queles Teamsters connaissentune telle defaite".

Meme les "scabs"Tous les travailleurs

agricoles, au travail aumoment ou on demanderaa l'Etat de tenir un voted'accreditation, auront droitde vote. Meme les "scabs",venant du Mexique, queles industriels ont fait en­IreI' illegalement auxEtats-Unis.

M. Chavez estimeque si la demande est de­posee fin aoUt - au plusfort de la recolte - Ie voteau scrutin secret pour Iechoix d'lln syndical devraitpouvoir se tenir vers Ie 4ou Ie 5 septembre. LesTeamsters ont d "a an­nonce leur intention de de­poser aussi une demanded' accreditation syndicale;Ie vote se tiendra donc en­tre eux et les United F:mnWorkers.

"Nous avons plus,d'organisateurs que lesTeamsters mais mainsd'argent. La lutte sera du­re et il ne nous sera pasfacile de gagner, menle sinous sommes a pen prescertain de l'emporter", di­sait hier M. Chavez. LesTeamsters ant armoncequ'its mettraient '1000 or­ganisateurs syndicalix dansIe coup, et $10 millions.Les United Farm Workerspeuvent cependant compteI'sur l'aide d'organi.sateufssyndicau,x d'autres unionsamericaines et rneme cana­cliennes. Plusieurs se sontdeja offerts.

Les United FarmWorkers of America sontconvaincus, s'ils gagnentce vote, de pouvoir ensuite

syndiquer 11 peu pres tousles autrcs ouvriers agrico­les des Etat.s-Unis, surtoutceux qui travaiJlent aussisur des ranchs de culturedes raisills et de laitne. TIsn'ont pour l'instaat que280,000 membres sur unepossibilite de 3,COO,OOO, etsurtout dans l'Etat de Ca­lifamie, alors que de teIstravailleurs se retrouventdans au mains huit autresetat.s america ins.

I

Le premier gail'! afaire dans les conventionscollectives, apres Ie voted'accreditatiol1, sera lareconnaissance de 1'an­ciennete pour que les tra..vailleurs "illegaux" et les"scabs" retournent chezeux et Jaissent la place auxtravailleurs agricolcs ame­ricains dont c'est Ie pre­mier et Ie seul metier,etce, souvent depuis troisau quatre generations.

AI'ecole du mouvement de en ,avezLe passage de Cesar Chavez a Mon­

treaJ aura marque un sommet ici dansla campagne de boycottage du raisinet de la laitue de Californie, Depuisune douzaine d'annees que Ies travail­leurs agricoles pomslllvent leur tutleavec une patience et line resolutioninebranlables, malgre les coups par­fois'sanglants qu'ils durent essuyer,non seulement leur cause s'est acquisdes appuis croissants, mais leurs me­thodes en imposent a plus d'un mili­tant de I'action syndicale et politique,

Hien n'est definitif (!<Ins ces luttes,mais les acquis recents valent d'Ctresoulignes, En Californie meme, sousdiverses pressions, Ie gouverneur de1'Etat a dli intervenir et Ie compromislegislatif qui a Cle vote en session spe­ciale vendredi passe marque a. n'enpas douter une victoire pour Ies Tra­vailleurs agricoles unis,

Les ClectlOns qui doivent avoir lieusont ouverles, certes, aussi bien auxmililiints de Chavez qu'aux organisa­teurs des Teamsters, que les planteursavaient fait entre!' dans Ies champspour saper Ie mouvement mexicain,

Mais Ie president des TAU ne cachepas sa fenne conviction que si les elec­tions peu\'ent se derouler librement,son syndical va l'empol'ter aisemenlsur Ies Teamsters, La raison en sauteaux yeux: les Teamsters sont desetrangers pour ces tra\'aillcurs ruraux,principalement mexicains, qui onl dlise regrouper entre.eux a tous egards,comme d'autres minorites ethniques,pour survivre dans la jungle ameri­caine,

Mais independamment du conflit in­tersyndical qui se pose, Ia loi califor­nienne est un precedent en faveur destravailleurs agricoles, Que Ie syndica­Iisme ail ete reconnu si tard confirmeIes difficultes d'organisation dans cemilieu. Le succesremporte ne metque davantage en lumiere les metho­des de Chavez,

A Montreal, cinquieme marche enimportance d'Amerique du Nord pourIes compagnies du raisin, Ie succes eutete complet si Ies l\lagasins Dominionavaient accepte de se joindre au mou­vement sui vi par la majorite des mar-

. chands ddaiilants du Quebec Celtecompagnie a prefere ia ligne dure et Ierecours a J'injonction contre les pique­leurs pacifiques attires par son pro­pre refus, Loin de briser Ie mOllve­ment, cette clifficulte, importante en

r<1ison de Ia place prise par ceHechaine alimenlaire, a donne lieu a unelargissement du cercle des appuis,

Plus de mille personnes des milieuxrcligieux les plus divers et de pIu­sieur's confessions onl enclosse en effetla declaration emise Ie mois dcmierpar six dirigeanls spiritueis dtJ Canadainvilant au boycott et deplorant I'in­compn'hension manifestee par Domi­nion. La compagnie n'avait SJ.ns doutepas envisage une semblabJe tOUl'nuredes evenements, II n'en lient qu'a eilede reviser sa position et de hater Ie re­glement californien en faisant elle assisentiI' aux planteurs que 1'ancien re­gime ne peut plus tcnil'.

Entre-temps, s'il faut pour boycot­ter Ie raisin et Ia laitue, boycottercompletement les Magasins' Domi­nion, nul ne devrait avair d'hesitationa Ie faire,

On pOlll'ait entretenir bien des dou­tes sur Ies chances lic succes d'unecampagne syndicale essentiellementfoneJee sur Ia persuasion et les mam­festations non violentes. Alnsi queChavez I'a explique ces jours demiers,son syndicat a mis en oeuvre dwersmoyens, dont Ja greve, !'action juridi:que, la persuasion d'homme ahomme, qui ne sont pas negligeablE;smeme si les conditions locales s'y pre­tent difficilement, Mais de tous, c'estIe moyen du boycott qui s'est revele Ieplus puissant.Manifestement, I'anne de Ia consom­

mation est pour ainsi dire "absolue':,mais justement. c'dait la plus elOl­gnee des travailleurs mexicains de laCalifornie que leur culture, Ia diS­tance, Ies conditions de vie eloignaientdes grands marches de Ia prospere elinsouciante Amerique, '

Or Ie succi~s est venu, Loin d'etreephemere il grandit avec les difficul­tes; et les resultats sont a la mesurede 1'effort d'education et de persua­sion qu'il a fallu deployer. Nombre desyndicats, evidemment, appuient Iemouvemenl. Les milieux religieux,qui condamnent d'ordinaire les proce­des violents sans toujours etreprompts a endosser Jes moyens pacifi­ques, ont donne une reponse fort sa­tisfaisante Meme Ia menagere de Iaclasse moyenne, qui devait etre amille lieux d'une telle cause, s'estprise de sympathie pour cesimmi­grants bafoues de 1'Amerique contem­pOl'aine,

Inspire par Gandhi et par les succesde Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavezavoue qu'il n'avait pas non plus Iechoix et que la necessile imposa aussiaux travailleurs du raisin et de la Iai­tue Ie recours aux methodes non vio­Ientes, Ce courant, on 1'imagine, n'estpas majeur dans Ies forces qui s'af­frontent en Amerique du nord, Qu'el­les se deroulent aux portes des usinesou·devant les tribunaux, les epreuvesde force prennent Ie plus souvent pouracquis que les protagonistes sont seulset solitaires dans leur lutte Et que lescitoyens ordinaires y sont indifferentssinon hostiles,

Ceux qui pourlant, ici comme ail­leurs, ont fait 1'effort d'un travail d'e­ducation a la solidarite ont sOlll'entCle surpris par l'ampleur et Ia chaleurdes reponses recueillies, On parle avecraison dela passivite et de I'impuis­sance dans Iesquelles se sentent em­prisonnes Ies "gens ordinaires", Mais,une fois precise un objectif valable etcomprehensible a ]a maial'ite, i'on sesurprend du potentiel qu'elle cache,

Pour s'astremdre a cette dlsclpuneexigeante, il fallait cependant que Iemouvement des (ravailleurs agricolesmexicains soit davantage qu'un simplesyndicalisme d'affaires, Le mouve­ment, explique Chavez, fait un avecses membres, I! ne se contente pas deleur indiquer ou defendre leurs droits,il va les reclamer avec eux, aux bu­reaux d'immigration, aux postes depolice, dans les services de sante, etc,Contre Ia discrimination Iatente oumanifeste qui accueille les Chicanoscomme d'autres travailleurs "de cou­leur", l'organisation syndicale tendnalurellement it s'identifier avec lesaspirations de ses membres et de leursfamilles,

En appuyant pareil mouvement,ron n'aide pas seulement un peuplede quelques millions de travailleursagricoles a enfin obtenir justice, maisI'on puise tout autant a sa sagesse,Chavez, un brin de maligne fierte dansl'oeil, avec aussi la sereine assuranceque les Chicanos ont acquis des In­diens du SUd, raconte une piquanteanecdote de celte reconquete en Ame- .rique democratique, Aux com­mer~ants qui e,perent un effondre­ment de Ia deternlination des travail­leurs agricoles, Ie gouverneur de l'E­tat adresse un amical avertissement:ils ne Lkheront pas, "Why?"delnandent-ils, "You just can'l beatthe Vietcong", Ils comprennent etn'en demandent pas davantage, lln 'enlient qu'aux c:onsommateurs d'ici d'in­culquer la meme conviction aux maga­sins Dominion,

Le Devoir, mardi 3 juin 1975

THE GAZETTE WEDNESDAY, June 4, 1975~!;~":~YJ'-'~;:'~~?:-.;-:,?,::;::%%:::-;.~:;.-:.....,.,..~··;7··:<~. "''Y?'~~:..~:~~ -;';:,,< ;...~~;.

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Uniied Farlll \\'orkl'l's' RC}ll'l'SClll,Jth'c Cesar Cb'lVCL. ri~~ht. mel ,.. iLb federalLabor }linhLer .lOllll ,'hllll'\! and :-';J)P lcm[er Ed l\I'o,lilbeill, lert. dllriug a ,isi~to Otta\I<I,

OTTAWA - (CP) - TheUniled Farill \,"orkrs ofAmerica (UF\\, , lIould sup­porl allY attempls i;~, Cana~i­

an agrjcultural worKers, lo[orm unions, UI<'W pl'csldcntCesar Chal'ez said \'estcl'dCl~,

Chal'ez, louring e~lslern

Canada lo publicize [licUF\\"s bo\co t of Califol'lliagrapes and leiluce, told an('II'S \'()lIrcr('ncc tkl[ ~uch

support GIn lakc Ihe form ofI mOlley Jrul1\ the UFW an:1

help in organizing a Unit('dStales boycolt of Canadianproduce,

HOII'ever. he said he Il'asnot familial' with the farllllabor situalion in Canada ,lnc!the Canadian farlll '.I'orke:'sII'0uld hClI'C to du t.beir OIl'll

org(lnizing,"J( Iloule! be presumptullus

of us to impose ow'selvcs Oil

ihC'm , lo tell ihem thallilC\' necd ,<1 union,"

C'llavez' visit lo Ulla W,l in-

eluded .1 lunch meeling wiUtLabor I\Jinisler John I\,lunroand a group of }!Ps and ademonstration at a local Do­minion Stores Lld, super­lllClrkel. Dominion is the chiefl,\rgcL of the bo~'coa in cusl­ern CanCIlla,

:\t a brC'akfasl lllccling illHull Il'ilh loc(ll ctcrg~;, Bishop!\rlolphe Proulx, of theHoman Cal holic Hun diocese.c~lllec! Oil his parishiollCl~S toboycoll Don\jnion :sl.ol'es,

Bishop Proulx said later inan interviclV he was prompl­ed 10 make the plea becauseDominion acquired a court in­junclion la:;l week in Quebecwhich prohibilS picl;eting ofits stores,

"Dominion sl()res are help­ing Ihe \;ig California growersexpluit the fmlll worLers , . ,r am asking all Chrisl.i~llls

who are u\\"are of the injus­tices and I'. hu Ir<lnt 10 presentSOllle solidarit~, with lhe pOOl'

f;lrlll 1\(lrkcrs , nol lu shojlal Dominion"

Ch;II'CZ s,lld :\']L1!!1'O indical­cd gcneral SPj'lDPI'l for tilE' ,d­lCll~ph II) ill1p'n.l\'l' l!lc l;lI'nl'w (l r Kt' l' S condllIOns,