June-July 97

JUSTICE AND DIGNITY
FOR STRAWBERRY WORKERS

"Our mission is a safe and just food supply."
--Cesar Chavez, Founder, United Farm Workers AFL-CIO

Strawberries-rightly named La Fruita Del Diablo, 'the Fruit of the Devil'-are not "safe and just" for anyone. They are number one on the Environmental Working Group's list of the top twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables on the American market. They are contaminated with vinclozolin, which blocks the normal functioning of the male hormone androgen, as well as high levels of fungicides, including captan and iprodione, both classified by the EPA as human carcinogens. The fruit is also routinely contaminated with endosulfan, a relative of DDT that interferes with normal hormone function by imitating the hormone estrogen.

The consuming public is led to believe that the ingestion of these elements is merely an acceptable risk, the price one must pay for the flawless red sweet on one's dessert. There is no incentive to boycott a product that is not perceived as a threat to health. And why demand organic growing methods which triple the price?

No one but the United Farmworkers and a few anti-pesticide associations raised a voice against the continuation of the use of methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting nerve gas routinely injected into the soil of strawberry fields before planting. The scheduled March 1995 phase-out of this toxic substance was interrupted by an unprecedented special session called by Governor Pete Wilson "for the sake of the economy." Must farmworkers continue to handle methyl bromide to produce the tainted fruit of a $650 million industry?

Because the fragile berry grows on plants close to the earth, picking the fruit remains a back-breaking process of continual stoop labor, taking a brutal toll on what journalist Eric Schlosser calls the "imported peasantry which characterizes so much of American agriculture" ("In The Strawberry Fields," Atlantic Monthly, November 1995). In a land where it is a crime to be an illegal immigrant but not a crime to employ one, the so-called "unskilled" labor of farmworkers actually involves considerable skill. Schlosser describes the complexity of the work that can take weeks to learn: "Workers must select only berries of the proper size, firmness, shape and color. They must arrange the berries neatly in baskets to catch the shopper's eye":

The worker is often responsible not only for gathering and packing the fruit but also for tending the plants. The drip-irrigation system has to be checked continually. Shoots and runners have to be removed. Rotting berries have to be tossed or they will spoil the rest.

Schlosser notes that when workers are paid by the piece, the necessary speed adds a "strong undercurrent of anxiety" as workers push small wheelbarrows down the furrows:

. . . they pause, bend over, brush away leaves to their left and right, pick berries, place them in boxes, check the plants and move on, all in one fluid motion. Once their boxes are filled, they rush to have them tallied at the end of the field, rush back and begin the process again.

There are 20,000 strawberry workers in California. This industry employs more farm workers than the production of all the vegetables grown in the valley and supplies 80% of the nation's demand. Unprecedented support for the UFW organizing struggle was pledged by AFL-CIO president John Sweeney at the 13th Annual Union de Campesinos de America Constitutional Convention in Fresno last August.

Two weeks later in Watsonville, on September 15, 1996, Dolores Huerta and Arturo Rodriguez of the UFW, accompanied by the valiant, much beloved Father Boyle, announced the Strawberry Campaign. There was not to be a boycott this time. The priority was to be for the human rights and dignity of farmworkers laboring in the strawberry fields.

The potential for coalition-building to sustain this campaign is enormous. Those working against corporate control of our food supply, those concerned about the contamination of underground water by run-off from pesticides and other environmental protection issues, can join forces in the fight for the human rights of farm workers whose struggles are at the heart of all these issues. Sin fronteras, 'without borders'-the struggle is the same.

At first, only a few reporters gathered behind the UFW truck to hear the voices of the fields come alive with stories of hardship. Several months later, a small victory-Ralph's Grocery, Southern California's number one grocery chain, supported the call for "justicia y dignidad." Ralph's Vice President, Darius Anderson, agreed that "This is not an unrealistic request to make of someone in l996. All working men and women should have clean water and bathrooms, and sexual harassment has no place."

Although a lawsuit complaining of dangerously high exposures of farmworkers to captan may be doomed because FIFRA, the federal law governing pesticide registration, preempts Prop 65 warning statements, the force of will behind the struggle cannot be denied.

By April of l997, many thousands from all walks of life marched in the streets of Watsonville. National media showed up. Speeches and luminaries were plentiful. On Tuesday, April 29th, Martin Sheen, and Father Boyle of the Catholic Diocese of San Jose, along with religious leaders of various denominations were arrested in front of Gargiulo, Inc., a subsidiary of Monsanto, the largest strawberry operation in the Watsonville area.
Father Boyle presented a simple pledge to Gargiulo, which they refused to sign:

1. Recall all workers and pay lost wages to those discriminated against.

2. End all threats and harassment of workers who support the UFW.

3. Obey California's law, which encourages and protects unionization by farm workers.

4. Negotiate in good faith for a union contract after the workers vote for the UFW and the election is certified by the state.

5. Do not shut down or threaten to shut down operations while workers are organizing.

For me, Martin Sheen said it all when he was asked why he was there. "I am here for justice," he said, "por justicia."

"There can be no peace without justice! " says El Gavilan of the Chicano Moratorium in San Francisco.

Peace without justice?

Nunca! (Never!)

As we go to press, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney are scheduled to meet soon with an undesignated official of Monsanto, owner of Gargiulo, Inc. Monsanto markets herbicides with friendly sounding Western names like "Roundup" and "Lasso" in a constant effort to ro-Monsanto-cize their industry as a sustainable one. Monsanto's operations include genetic engineering of seeds, plants, and food crops. For more information, contact:

·UFW, P.O. Box 62 Keene, CA 93531, ( 805) 822-5571

·Pure Food Campaign, 860 Highway 61, Little Marais, Minnesota  55614, (800) 253-0681

·Political Ecology Group, PEG@econet.org

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