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Hispanic Americans - Progress Review, (posted 4/29/98) HISPANIC AMERICANS - PROGRESS REVIEW In 1997 the Deputy Secretary, Kevin Thurm and the former Acting Assistant Secretary for Health Jo Ivey Boufford jointly chaired the second Healthy People 2000 progress review on subobjectives for Hispanic Americans. The progress review was organized around three themes: improving Hispanic data, development of Healthy People 2010, and improving access to quality health care. The Deputy Secretary shared information on the HHS Hispanic Agenda for Action, noting areas of overlap with existing Healthy People 2000 subobjectives for Hispanics. There are now 118 subobjectives for Hispanics, 82 of which were added during the 1995 Midcourse Review. Progress on selected Healthy People 2000 subobjectives which target Hispanics is described below. Objectives Closing the Gap 14.1c Although Puerto Rican infant mortality rates are closing the gap with the total US population, they are still high--9.7 per 1,000 live births (1991). The target is to reduce the infant mortality rate for Puerto Ricans to no more than 8 per 1,000 live births. 14.11c Pregnant Hispanic women receiving prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy increased from 61 percent in 1987 to 70 percent in 1995. 15.14b and 15.14d The proportion of Mexican Americans ages 18-74 years who have ever had their blood cholesterol checked was 55 percent in 1993, compared to 42 percent in 1991. The proportion who had it checked within the preceding 2 years was 38 percent, compared to 33 percent in 1991. The year 2000 targets are 75 percent. 16.11a The proportion of Hispanic women 50 years and older who have had mammograms continues to move toward the 2000 target of 60 percent. Data from the National Health Interview Survey indicate that, in 1994, 50 percent of Hispanic women 50 years and older had received a clinical breast examination and a mammogram. 16.12a The proportion of Hispanic women ages 18 years and over that have ever received a pap test has increased from 75 percent in 1987 to 91 percent in 1994--fast approaching the Year 2000 target of 95 percent. There has also been an increase in the proportion of Hispanic women ages 17 years and over that have received a pap test during the previous 3 years from 66 percent in 1987 to 74 percent in 1994. 21.3a There has been an increase from the 1991 baseline of 63 percent in the proportion of Hispanic 18 years of age and older who have a regular source of primary care. The 1994 data indicate 71 percent, of Hispanic adults had a regular source of primary care, yet this was lower than the 84 percent for the total population. The year 2000 targets are 95 percent. Among Hispanics, Mexican Americans are least likely to have a regular source of primary care. Improving but Not Closing the Gap 20.4c The objective is to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis among Hispanics to no more than 5 cases per 100,000 people. In 1995, there were 18 cases per 100,000, a small decrease from the 1988 baseline of 18.3 but a large decrease from the peak of 22.8 in 1991. Hispanics are twice as likely to have tuberculosis as the total population (8.7 cases per 100,000). 20.11b The percentages of Hispanic adults ages 65 years and older receiving pneumococcal and influenza immunizations increased in 1994 to 14 and 38 percent, respectively as compared with the baseline year 1989 (11 and 28 percent respectively). The year 2000 target is 60 percent. However, the rate for influenza immunizations decreased from 47 percent in 1993 to 38 percent in 1994. Moving Away from the Target 1.2c Overweight prevalence among Hispanic women ages 20 and older increased from 27 percent in 1985 to 33 percent in 1993. The year 2000 target is 25 percent. 5.1b In 1991, there were 180 pregnancies per 1,000 Hispanic adolescent females ages 15-19 years compared with 143 per 1,000 in 1985. Hispanic adolescent females were significantly more likely than the total population (74.6 per 1,000) to have been pregnant. 7.1d In 1994, the homicide rate among Hispanic males ages 15-34 years increased to 52.2 per 100,000 from the 1987 baseline of 41.3 per 100,000. The year 2000 target is 33 per 100,000. 13.14d and e In 1993, the proportion of Mexican Americans ages 35 and older using an oral health care system increased to 45 percent from 38 percent in 1991. The rate for Puerto Ricans decreased to 37 percent from the 1991 baseline of 51 percent. The year 2000 target for Puerto Ricans ages 35 and older is 60 percent. 17.11c While the prevalence of diabetes among the total population increased from 28 per 1,000 in 1986 to 30 cases per 1,000 in 1994, among Mexican-Americans, the prevalence increased from 54 to 66 cases per 1,000 during the same period. 18.1c Hispanics are disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 1994, there were 49.9 AIDS cases per 100,000 Hispanics, as compared with 29.9 cases per 100,000 for the total population. 21.4b In 1994, the proportion of Hispanics under 65 years of age (32.9 percent) who were without health care coverage was twice that for the total population (17.8 percent). Among Hispanics, the proportion of Mexican-Americans without coverage in 1994 was 37.2 percent; for Puerto Ricans it was 17.4 percent, and for Cubans it was 27.4 percent. Highlights
As a part of this initiative, the National Association of Hispanic-Serving Health Professions Schools was established to strengthen the Nation's capacity to educate and expand the availability of Hispanic health care providers. FOLLOW-UP The progress review concluded with a summary of action items; these include: 1. Development of a Hispanic data collection strategy: To address the need to reevaluate data collection priorities and related funding decisions, to provide information on data system funding and the ability to make estimates for Hispanics. To increase knowledge about Hispanic subgroups and address the need for county and city level data, provide information on the advantages and practice of over-sampling for specific Hispanic subgroups (e.g., Mexican Americans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Central and South Americans) and the use of regional surveys in those States that have the largest number of Hispanics. Identify surveys which have adequate numbers of Hispanics and/or Hispanic subgroups for analysis, as well as surveys which are conducted in Spanish and specify the methods used (e.g., oral or written translation from English to Spanish, use of bicultural/bilingual interviewers). Develop a strategy to conduct research studies on attributes of ethnic groups which will enable more effective interventions to support healthy behavior and families and to address socioeconomic disparities. Ensure the collection of data on victims and perpetrators of violent acts. 2. Development of Healthy People 2010: Review objectives and targets relevant to Hispanics (not just those specifically identified for Hispanics) to draft 2010 objectives that eliminate, not just reduce, disparities. Targets for Hispanic Americans should be the same as for the total population. Draft 2010 Hispanic objectives addressing mental health, substance abuse, occupational health, environmental health, and the effects of violence, focusing on morbidity. Engage the Health Care Financing Administration in priority area working groups to develop Hispanic data and objectives. 3. Access to quality health care: Develop a strategy to reduce financial barriers that impede delivery of health services to Hispanics. Identify health professional training programs which can be expanded to train a broader spectrum of Hispanic health and social service professionals.
Website: http://odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/pubs/hp2000/prog_rvw.htm Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Healthy People 2010 Initiative, Iintroduction and Background, (posted 4/29/98) Healthy People is the prevention agenda for the Nation. It is a statement of national opportunities and a tool that identifies the most significant preventable threats to health and focuses public and private sector efforts to address those threats. Healthy People offers a simple but powerful idea: provide the information and knowledge about how to improve health in a format that enables diverse groups to combine their efforts and work as a team. It is a road map to better health for all that can be used by many different people, States and communities, professional organizations, groups whose concern is a particular threat to health, or a particular population group. Healthy People is based on the best scientific knowledge and is used for decision making and for action. Healthy People 2000, which was released in 1990, is a comprehensive agenda with 319 objectives organized into 22 priority areas. The overarching goals are to increase years of healthy life, reduce disparities in health among different population groups, and achieve access to preventive health services. Healthy People 2000 was built on comments from more than 10,000 individuals and organizations. Ongoing involvement is ensured through the Healthy People Consortium, an alliance of 350 national membership organizations and 300 State health, mental health, substance abuse, and environmental agencies. To date, 47 States, the District of Columbia, and Guam have developed their own Healthy People plans. Most States have emulated national objectives, but virtually all have tailored them to their specific needs. Within the Federal Government, Healthy People provides a framework for measuring performance by outcomes. It is a strategic management tool for the Federal Government, States, communities, and our many private sector partners. Success is measured by positive changes in health status or reductions in risk factors, as well as improved provision of certain services. Progress reviews are periodically conducted on each of the 22 priority areas and on population groups, including women, adolescents, and racial/ethnic groups. Development of national health objectives for 2010 has already begun. Through focus group sessions, public meetings, and a web site, people from across the country have been able to make their voices heard. To be forward looking and positive, Healthy People 2010 will address emerging issues such as changing demographics, advances in preventive therapies, and new technologies. Public involvement in Healthy People 2010 development will continue through the next 18 months. The first round of comments on Healthy People 2010 is available on the Healthy People 2010 web site: http://web.health.gov/healthypeople. Information on future events will be posted there. Healthy People 2010 will be released in January 2000. A Celebration Of Life: What It Means To Be Human, from Universal Press Syndicate (posted 4/29/98) FOR RELEASE: WEEK OF APRIL 24, 1998 It's a long road from Aguascalientes, Mexico, to East Los Angeles-from a provincial town in the heart of Mexico to the largest barrio in the United States. It's the journey our parents (Roberto's) made, and as they celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at the end of April, we are humbled by their example of selflessness. This journey culminated with the purchase of a home in Whittier, Calif., a community known as the home of Richard M. Nixon. Their union in both countries produced seven children and more than a dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren. None of us children could begin to compare ourselves to our parents, Ricardo and Juanita. In the best of all possible worlds, they would receive calls from Washington, D.C., for embodying family values. They are from the era of courtship in the plaza: Dolores Del Rio on the big screen and the love songs of Agustin Lara. They honeymooned in the floating gardens of Xochimilco outside Mexico City. Then they uprooted and became migrants in "El Norte." After crossing the border, they faced daily denigration and dehumanization, giving their entire lives, just so that we children could be better off. We can find no greater act of love and selflessness. Our sister Maria says, "They saw the future for us." Both taught us the meaning of work. We saw our father, who had been a cliff diver in Acapulco, a rail-yard worker and a carpenter, almost work himself to death in Los Angeles several times. They also taught us the meaning of honor and courage. Our father first migrated to Chicago, then to Los Angeles, leaving us behind in Tijuana, Mexico. Then he honored his familial commitment by bringing us several years later to a little alley house on Whittier Boulevard in East L.A. Our mother's courage was to raise us while our father worked three jobs, while neighbor and stranger alike viciously taunted her and all of us because we were "dirty Mexicans." Her kindness and devotion to her family won them over. One memorable example of her courage was when she was severely burned after throwing out a Christmas tree that had accidently caught fire, rather than see us harmed. The sacrifices never ended. They both went to school, where they became bilingual and eventually citizens. In later life, our mother wrote books of religious poems that she passed out free to people from all walks of life. We've often said that this society should honor its elders not at funerals, but at special times-the way native communities do-where they can see and hear those closest to them pay tribute to their lives. We feel fortunate that our parents have reached this milestone and can be honored while still alive. A 50th anniversary is an amazing testament to staying together, for better or worse, in sickness and in health. While we have searched the world over for the essence of what it means to be human and have interviewed great women and men in the process, we have found the truest expression within our very home. For it is they who raised us with stories of Azteca warriors, and it was they who ingrained in us the value of "el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz" (respect among peoples and nations is peace). These words come from Benito Juarez, Mexico's first Indian president. Our parents taught us to love and respect both countries, both cultures and languages, and to always stand up for our rights. A bit of advice they gave us as children has always guided us as human beings. When we were called "wetbacks" daily, they reassured us: "Tell them we didn't swim across the ocean." We took that to heart, and precisely because of those experiences, we could never humiliate anyone. Nor would we want to. We were raised to respect all individuals as part of our family called humanity. Our oldest brother, John, says our parents are tenacious enough to surprise us with more accomplishments. "Maybe they will last another 25 years." For instilling all this in us, we have but one word (in the Nahuatl or Mexican language) for our parents: "tlazocamati," or gracias, thanks. This tribute is our honoring song. COPYRIGHT 1998 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE Both writers are authors of Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut & Uncensored (ISBN 0-918520-22-3 UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library, Publications Unit. Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A Question of Race (Cloth ISBN 0-927534-69-X paper ISBN 0-927534-68-1 Bilingual Review Press) and the antibook, The X in La Raza II. They can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7904, 505-247-3888 or XColumn@aol.com Travel: April 28 University of San Diego We're on the road, but e-accessible Guatemala's Struggle for Human Rights: Labor Organizing Continues in One of America's Most Politically Violent Countries (posted 4/29/98) Guatemalan labor leader Vinicio Hernandez will give an update on labor struggles and the effects of free trade on Thursday, May 7, 1998, at the Communication Workers of America Hall at 2725 El Camino, in Sacramento, at 7:00pm. For more information, call Sacramentans for International Labor Rights, (916) 456-1420. Mr. Hernandez is with the Labor Federation of Guatemalan Workers (UNSITRAGUA) which has been organizing factory and farm workers in Guatemala since the mid-1980s. Labor organizers have risked their lives in Guatemala; the Guatemalan Archbishop's Office of Human Rights reported 100 assassinations of organizers and political activists in 1997. Currently, about 80% of all Guatamalans live in poverty, with most farm and factory workers earning below subsistence level wages. Mr. Hernandez is on a speaking tour organized by the California Trade Unionists in Support of Guatemala. His appearance in Sacramento is being coordinated by Sacramentans for International Labor Rights with the support of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, Communication Workers of America, Coalition of Labor Union Women, and the Central America Action Committee. Berkeley Faculty Press Conference, Admission pool at University of California Berkeley (posted 4/29/98)
A broadly represented group of faculty from the University of California at Berkeley will give a formal response to the newly released admissions figures at a press conference scheduled for Thursday, April 23 at the Faculty Club at 10:30 a.m. in the heart of the Berkeley campus. According to the latest admission figures released by the University administration, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans together made up only 10.4 percent of the total pool of admitted freshmen for 1998. In comparison with the 1997 freshmen, the latest figures showed a dramatic decline of 57 percent for African Americans, 39 percent of Native Americans and 40 percent of Chicano/Latino Americans. The UCLA campus reported similar outcomes: a 43 percent drop for African Americans; 43 percent for Native Americans; and 33 percent for Chicano/Latino. In response to these figures, Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl recently said,"My own personal emotions are a mixture of disappointment, anger, frustration, hope and resolve. To the extent this leaves us a less diverse campus, it diminishes us." (The New York Times, April 1, 1998) The Berkeley faculty too have been in shock. Since the release of the fall admission data, many across the campus have been analyzing and discussing the causes and the long-term implications of the sharp decline, what is installed for the institution recognized nationwide for both its diversity and excellence. These same faculty have also raised questions like what a public university like Berkeley should do to advance educational opportunity and diversity and what steps should be taken to reverse the trend and maintain its credibility and accountability to the California tax-paying public. Calling themselves the Berkeley Faculty for Educational Opportunity and Diversity (BFEOD), they will share their analyses of the latest admission data and present their recommendations to the campus and the public at large.
Survey Finds Hispanics Optimistic About Direction of the Country and Their Futures; Hispanics Say Democrats Represent Their Views (posted 4/29/98) LOS ANGELES -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- April 22, 1998 -- Republican Candidates Who Court Hispanics Win High Approval Ratings In what may be the first major bipartisan poll of registered Hispanic voters in major markets nationwide, Hispanics in the United States reveal strong optimism about their futures and by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, express confidence that the country is on the right track. Democratic pollster Mark Penn and Republican pollster Mike Deaver authored the survey for Univision Communications Inc. (NYSE:UNV) a nonpartisan television-broadcasting company. The results of the study will be presented at "The Power of the Hispanic Vote," a conference sponsored by Univision at the ANA Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 23. Outpacing the positive attitudes of the country as a whole, the majority of Hispanics express satisfaction with both the economy (68 percent vs. 60 percent for the country as a whole, according to previously published polls) and their personal economic situations (78 percent). They also give a strong vote of confidence to President Clinton (82 percent job approval) and say they intend to vote in the 1998 election (94 percent). More Hispanics feel that the Democratic Party reaches out to them (47 percent) and represents their views (62 percent). Many Hispanics feel the Republican Party ignores them (41 percent). However, they also identify with traditionally Republican issues, such as crime and violence (most important to 17 percent), the weakening of traditional family values (most important to 16 percent) and the quest for economic opportunity (most important to 11 percent). The study reveals high approval numbers for Republicans who have aggressively courted Hispanics, such as Texas Governor George W. Bush (81 percent) and Illinois Governor Jim Edgar (66 percent). By contrast, California Governor Pete Wilson, who has aggressively fought illegal immigration, has an approval rating of 26 percent. The findings suggest that Republicans can make inroads to Hispanics in time for the 1998 elections but must reach out to them. Other Highlights of the Poll:
Penn, president of Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates and co-author of the survey, said that the findings demonstrate the growing importance of Hispanics in the American political process. "Hispanics provide a crucial swing vote in some of the nation's biggest states. Our findings about their optimism and confidence regarding their future reveal a clear opportunity for political candidates to broaden their base of support." Added Michael K. Deaver, Edelman Worldwide vice chairman and former deputy chief-of-staff to President Reagan: "Despite Hispanics' overwhelmingly bright outlook, these numbers clearly show that both parties need to work for their votes. I don't think Hispanics are predestined to vote for any particular party, but each party must show that they care about issues important to Hispanics." Penn and Deaver will present the full results of the poll at "The Power of the Hispanic Vote" conference to be hosted by Univision on April 23. For more information on the conference, call Scott Roskowski at 212/455-5266. The Univision poll of 750 respondents of Hispanic origin in seven major U.S. media markets was conducted between April 5 and 18, by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates and Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.6 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. Univision Communications is the leading Spanish-language television broadcaster in the United States. Its operations include the Univision Network, the most popular Spanish-language broadcast network in the United States; the Univision Television Group, which owns and operates 13 full-power and eight low-power television stations, including full-power stations in 12 of the top 15 Hispanic markets; and Galavision, the most-watched Spanish-language cable network in the country. Covering 92 percent of all U.S. Hispanic households through its owned-and-operated stations, 27 broadcast affiliates and 832 cable affiliates, Univision airs 20 of the top 20 national programs as ranked by Nielsen Hispanic Television Index. Univision will broadcast all 64 games of the 1998 World Cup. Children's Defense Fund Update, (posted 4/28/98) *** Juvenile Justice *** ---PREVENTION AND LIMITS ON GUNS A MUST IN ANY YOUTH VIOLENCE BILL --- Just before the recess began, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) indicated that he wants the Senate to consider a juvenile crime bill. And Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced legislation to ban the high capacity clips used in assault weapons, while Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and John Chafee (R-RI) introduced a bill that would require gun owners to limit children's access to their guns. Because of the strong interest in moving a youth violence bill, heightened since the tragic Jonesboro, AR killings several weeks ago of 4 school children and a teacher by two boys, we need to continue to urge Senators to oppose S. 10. We need to tell them to oppose S.10 and any other bill that destroys the core protections for children (such as keeping them separate from adult inmates), fails to invest in prevention, and does not limit children's access to guns. Contact your Senators now, as they return to Washington. There could be a vote on a youth violence bill at any time. Tell your Senators not to support any youth violence bill that doesn't include significant investments in prevention and strong limits on children's access to guns. Note: There has been some confusion about a statement the President made earlier this week. In announcing the release of a study on school crime, the President said, "Congress can help lead the way by passing the anti-gang and youth violence strategy that I sent to them more than a year ago..." Some reports have suggested he called for passage of S. 10. This is wrong, as reflected in his statement. The President did not call for passage of S.10, but rather, the bill he sent to Congress last year. *** Family Income *** --- CDF STUDY FINDS $130 BILLION COST OF CHILD POVERTY --- For every year that America allows 14.5 million children to experience poverty, their future productive capacity will decline by an estimated $130 billion, according to a new CDF study titled POVERTY MATTERS. The study also finds that: Poor children score lower on reading and math tests, suffer more mental and physical disabilities, and earn 25 percent lower wages as young adults. A baby born to a poor mother in America is more likely to die before its first birthday than a baby born to a high school dropout, an unwed mother, or a mother who smoked during pregnancy. Poverty puts children at greater risk of falling behind in school than does living in a single parent home or being born to teenage parents, according to findings from the U.S. Department of Education during the Reagan Administration. The report traces poor children's problems back to countless poverty-related disadvantages, such as high rates of iron deficiency, lead poisoning, and frequent moving from home to home. The emotional strains of poverty also have been found to interfere with proper parenting and to weaken many families. While many Americans are tempted to blame poor children's worse educational and job trajectories not on poverty but on character flaws ingrained in poor parents, POVERTY MATTERS cites major new academic studies that contradict such scapegoating-including studies of siblings born several years apart who experience different amounts of poverty. The finding that poverty matters even for these siblings- who are raised by the same parents-shows that parental traits are not the cause of the poor outcomes. POVERTY MATTERS concludes with a "pro-work, pro-family" plan for ending child poverty. *** Child Care *** --- STAND FOR CHILDREN DAY '98: STAND FOR QUALITY CHILD CARE HAPPENING ON JUNE 1 IN YOUR HOMETOWN! --- Stand For Children helps grassroots activists organize to improve the lives of children in their communities through successful policy change, awareness-raising and service initiatives. This year's Stand For Children Day will highlight the need for quality, affordable child care and after-school activities. Already, there are hundreds of events planned around the country. Stand For Children Day is 6 weeks away, but there is still time to get involved. The Stand For Children staff is here to help you organize or get in involved with an activity in your community to improve the quality and affordability of child care and after-school activities. To find out about Stand For Children Day activities being planned in your community, visit the Stand For Children web site at: <www.stand.org>, email <tellstand@stand.org>, or call (202) 234-0095. COMMISSION REFUSES TO DEAL WITH ORIGINAL SIN, from Universal Press Syndicate, (posted April 28, 1998) FOR RELEASE: WEEK OF APRIL 17, 1998 COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS When American Indians and Chicanos disrupted President Clinton's Race Commission hearing last month in Denver, the nation was perplexed and at a loss to explain the disruption of the president's "dog and pony show," as some protesters called it. They wanted to know why there were no American Indians on the commission, why no American Indian issues were being discussed, and why issues such as immigration were being ignored. Judging by the recent ESPN-sponsored race forum in Houston, that protest seemed to have had little impact. Once again, it was virtually a black-white affair, though this one resembled a love-fest between millionaires, hardly touching upon substantive issues facing the multiracial America of the next millennium. Though the subject was sports, it failed to address the continued use of racially offensive Indian mascots by college and professional teams. Despite the existence of the president's race commission, ESPN claimed it couldn't find any Latinos, except at the last moment. "We speak of leveling the playing field. We're not even on the field," said Johnnie Mata, a Houston member of the League of United Latin American Citizens and one of those critical of the race initiative. The race initiative lacks credibility because it's exclusive and does not involve genuine dialogue. "Instead of bringing us together, it's creating more dissension," said Linda Yardley, a Taos Indian and one of the protesters in Denver. She noted that the protesters favor the creation of a "red" ribbon panel and a cabinet-level position to examine issues affecting American Indians. America cannot have a genuine racial dialogue if this nation's original racial wounds are ignored. If an American Indian had been appointed, the issue of sovereignty, tribal rights and broken treaties would have been addressed, Yardley said. When President Clinton announced his race initiative, we wrote then that if the focus was going to be black-white, then we should simply dust off the 1968 Kerner Commission report because all the problems and solutions are already in there-in black and white. However, our opposition to a black-white dialogue is not simply about demographics. That focus simply conforms to the East-to-West-biased view of U.S. history, and it actually ignores the fundamental race problem in this country that this society was founded upon land theft and genocide. Admittedly, this is not a comfortable subject, but neither is slavery nor reparations, which are being addressed. Clinton spoke to the issue of slavery on his recent trip to Africa. Professor Molefi Asante of Temple University, the leading Afrocentric scholar in the nation, recently told us that reparations may not necessarily be in the form of money, but rather, possibly through free tuition to universities and free housing allowances for descendants of slaves-paid for by 246 years of free labor. Many whites tell blacks to "get over it," he said, but they want blacks to do this without society paying the remedy. Discussing land theft and treaties-issues that affect Native Americans, Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans-would open up a can of worms. And limiting the commission to seven members has virtually left these same groups, plus Arab Americans, Central Americans, Asian Americans and Eastern European immigrants, without voice or representation. "Out of sight. Out of mind," said Mata. An apology for American Indians would not be enough, said Suzanne Harjo, director of the Morning Star Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based American Indian civil rights organization. Reparations for American Indians would be to honor the treaties: "We have them and they broke them." A true race dialogue would examine not only conflict between whites and all people of color, but also the economic disparities and the politics of blame that pit people of color against each other. A genteel agenda-with pre-selected guests and closed-door meetings-will produce the disruption that occurred in Denver. It will also produce distrust as happened when the commission met in Phoenix, yet refused to discuss the racially divisive issue of immigration and the recent raids there by the U.S. Border Patrol. And it will produce discontent as has occurred in cities such as Houston and Dallas where people who are not black or white are excluded. Incidentally, an American Indian would not only help raise American Indian issues, but would also humanize the issue of immigration and would place it in its proper context. Until America faces this issue, or at least understands immigration from this point of view, public relations dialogues involving multimillionaires will accomplish little in addressing this nation's festering racial problems. COPYRIGHT 1998 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE Both writers are authors of Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut & Uncensored (ISBN 0-918520-22-3 UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library, Publications Unit. Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A Question of Race (Cloth ISBN 0-927534-69-X paper ISBN 0-927534-68-1 Bilingual Review Press) and the antibook, The X in La Raza II. They can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7904, 505-247-3888 or XColumn@aol.com. We're e-mail accessible. We Caucasians Would Prefer to Ignore Our Preferences, The Riverfront Times, (posted 4/28/98) By Roy Hartmann The U.S. Supreme Court, which is 89 at percent white, declined Monday to consider a challenge to California's anti-affirmative action Proposition 209. Voters in California, which is 81 percent white, last year passed the measure, which bans "preferential treatment" on the basis of race or gender in state and local government programs. Supporters of the measure praised the justices for letting stand an April ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit), which is 89 percent white, which found Proposition 209 was not unconstitutional. "This decision takes California another step closer to achieving a true, color-blind equal-opportunity society," said Gov. Pete Wilson, who, like 100 percent of the nation's governors, is white. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the proposition is its ban on race-based admission policies in California's state university system, which is overseen by a Board of Regents, which is 82 percent white. As of 1994, an estimated 82 percent of America's resident college students were white, surprisingly low in a country that is 80 percent white, and it is believed that race-based admission policies have kept the number down. Just 16 years earlier, the college population was 87 percent white. At the college-faculty level, where race-conscious programs are also now forbidden by Proposition 209, whites nationally held 86.8 percent of the positions in 1992 (according to the American Association of University Professors). This, too, reflects a drop in white representation because of affirmative-action programs of recent decades. Whites have fared better in other professional categories, however, where the color-blind, equal-opportunity society has not been affected by race-conscious programs:
These statistics were cobbled together from federal Bureau of Labor Statistics information, and they are presented here in a form not normally seen. Customarily, the bureau breaks out only categories such as "female, "black" and "Hispanic," whereas figures for whites are not specified. This is not unlike the reporting of affirmative-action issues, wherein the major newspapers, all of which are primarily owned by whites, and the major TV networks and cable companies, all of which are primarily owned by whites, debate the merits of "preferences" for blacks and women. Even if the subject were, say, the scarcity of black airplane pilots, the experts discussing the numbers and the media reporting them-even those supportive of affirmative action -- would come at the subject from the vantage point of how few blacks were pilots. They would never characterize as a "preference" the fact that 98.3 percent of pilots are white. I discussed twisted perspective about all this with a friend who, like me, is white. She partly irritated but mainly puzzled: "What's your point?" Here's my point: We live in a largely white country. The white majority enjoys a disproportionate share of its wealth and comfort and an even greater share of control over its most [important] institutions. But white power is so pervasive that it's never perceived, or even considered, white power. It's just the way things are. Racial percentages aren't tallied from the white side, only from the "minority" point of view. Thus, when 20 percent of public contracts on a building project are "set aside" for minority contractors, it is a "racial" or "gender-based" issue, but when 100 percent goes to firms owned by white males, it's just, well, reality. Even many sympathetic to blacks and other people of color will find it quite reasonable that whites have 80-something or 90-something percent dominance of important institutions. After all, the country is 80 percent white, so the statistics are always going to seem racially tilted toward Caucasians, right? Well, not exactly. Only 37 percent of the nation's jail inmates were white in 1994 (as compared with 56 percent in 1978), and only 46 percent of the prisoners executed in the past six decades were white. Only 60 percent of the children living below the poverty line are white. In the same way that numbers can swing disproportionately white, so it is possible for whites to be under-represented statistically. But it never seems to happen when it's a good statistic. Now consider the happy words of Rep Charles Canady (R-Fla.), a white guy who has authored a federal bill that would eliminate affirmative action at the federal level the way Proposition 209 has in California. Celebrating the Supreme Court's "inaction" on Monday, Canady proclaimed: "The people of California rightly decided to end the divisive race and gender preferences in their state, and it's, time Congress to do the same thing for the whole nation." We're going to end race "preferences" as a nation, eh? By a "nonracial" vote of the 90 percent white House of Representatives and the 97 percent white Senate, who will then (presumably) have to mount enough "color-blind" votes to override our 42nd consecutive Caucasian president? Yes, we're a color-blind society when it comes to "preferences," all right. We can't see the white. New Tide of Latino Activism Stung by Props. 187 and 209 (posted 4/24/98) A New Tide of Latino Activism Stung by Props. 187 and 209 and emboldened by their growing numbers, immigrants in the Southland are shifting political focus from their homelands to their own backyards. Los Angeles Times, Monday, April 13, 1998, page 1 By HECTOR TOBAR, Times Staff Writer
The political awakening of the new immigrant barrios of Southern California began with the enduring dreams of an exiled Mexican college student whose travels took him to a crowded town hall meeting in Watts. It began, too, with a small group of former Salvadoran revolutionaries who one day found themselves, against all expectations, pledging allegiance to a country they had once despised. And it began with an anti-Proposition 187 leaflet placed in the hand of a 15-year-old girl. Those events, and countless more during the past several years, have led to a slow but steady march forward for American democratic institutions in communities where Spanish is still the dominant language. Behind this profound change are hundreds of individuals who have formed or joined fledgling grass-roots organizations and political action committees, often despite economic, cultural and personal obstacles. The fruit of their labor is a 30% increase in voter registration in the Latino communities of central Los Angeles County since 1994 -- a rate six times higher than the countywide increase. Many of these organizers are giving voice to a new civic consciousness that combines Latin American traditions of collective action with Jeffersonian ideas about participatory democracy-opening a window on what the political life of Southern California may feel like in the next century. On a Sunday last month, a group of local Salvadoran activists did something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago: They held a fund-raiser for an American political candidate, Assemblywoman Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont), the Legislature's only Salvadoran American, now running for the state Senate. It was a seminal event among men and women whose concerns had traditionally been focused almost solely on their homeland, in a part of Los Angeles where so few people were U.S. citizens that, politically speaking, their neighborhoods were in another country. "I'm proud to be a Centroamericano," said Carlos Vaquerano, one of the activists behind the effort. "Our people are assertive. We don't want to depend on anyone. That's why we have to win political representation." A group of Guatemalans have launched a similar effort, led by Julio Villasenor, a real estate agent and building contractor who is president of the recently formed Guatemalan Unity Information Agency (GUIA), a new civic organization. "In the long term, the role of GUIA is to build and guarantee a place for Guatemalans within the democratic institutions of the United States," the organization's World Wide Web site proclaims in Spanish.
New Plans for Funds GUIA was an outgrowth of local clubs, called fraternidades, that for decades have raised funds for humanitarian needs in Guatemala. Typically the fraternidades-formed by expatriates from a given town or province-would help build medical clinics, schools and fire stations back in Guatemala. Now, GUIA is channeling at least some of those resources to community empowerment in Los Angeles. "I am an American citizen, all of us [in GUIA] are," says Villasenor, 46. "Personally, my goal is that the Guatemalan community grow and become active in civic matters." Along the same lines, Vaquerano and others have formed the fledgling Salvadoran Leadership and Education Fund (SALEF), a group whose origins lie in the end of El Salvador's long civil war in 1992. The signing of that peace treaty coincided with the riots that ravaged Pico-Union and other Los Angeles neighborhoods that are home to Central Americans. Together, the two events led many Salvadoran activists to reassess the focus of their work. "We did a complete about-face," says Vaquerano, 37. "We were always thinking of going back home. Then all of a sudden, the nightmare of the war was over. We started thinking of channeling our energies to domestic matters." It was emotionally difficult for Vaquerano to apply for citizenship when he came to the United States as a teenager in 1980. Back in El Salvador, he had lost three brothers to a violent dictatorship whose chief ally was the U.S. government. Like many Salvadoran radicals, he had once known America's stars and stripes as a symbol of injustice. Years later, he found himself pledging allegiance to that flag. Today, stacked on a table in SALEF's sparsely furnished one-room office in Pico-Union is a pile of photocopied voter-registration forms-about 100 in all-from Salvadorans who, like Vaquerano, completed them just moments after taking the oath. Many participants in the new civic activism can trace their political consciousness to other struggles that are part of the long and rich history of Latin American and Chicano radicalism. Arturo Ybarra, 54, was exiled from his native Mexico after being detained and tortured during the 1968 student protests against the government, then a de facto one-party dictatorship. Eventually, the student movement was crushed by a Tiananmen-style massacre. Traumatized by his experiences, Ybarra lived quietly in the neighborhoods in and around South-Central Los Angeles for many years, working in a factory and becoming a union shop steward. In 1989, he heard that the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency would hold a public meeting to discuss a controversial plan to revitalize nearby Watts. He noticed a few other Latinos in the mostly African American audience, despite the fact that Latinos by then made up more than a third of South-Central. "We were a group so small that we would look at each other with kind of a hunger to communicate with someone who could relate to us," Ybarra says. Soon afterward, the Watts Century Latino Organization was formed. Since then, the organization has done everything from filing class-action lawsuits claiming racist practices by the housing authority to staging boisterous protests for improved water service. Its goal: to pressure legislators to take note of South Los Angeles' new Latino majority. "In this country, it's easier to have a meeting with a congressman or a high elected official than it is to meet with some petty bureaucrat in Mexico," Ybarra says. "We're beginning to realize that our vote can really be the difference between living oppressed and having an opportunity for our children." Ybarra and others who are building organizations in what has been, until now, the undeveloped hinterland of local politics, face many difficulties. Distrust of government and authority remains widespread, and poverty feeds a deep apathy. "All these decades of repressive and corrupt governments [in Latin America] have contributed to a trauma that prevents our people from participating in civic activities," Ybarra says. "People are frustrated, they're skeptical of governments and organizations." And yet, the new activists have been presented in recent years with the perfect antidote to such attitudes: the anti-immigration policies championed by Gov. Pete Wilson. The 1994 campaign to pass Proposition 187, which made many government services off-limits to undocumented immigrants, is almost universally described as a watershed moment in Latino political history. The initiative sparked a sharper interest in the political process among many Latinos, who saw Proposition 187 as an assault not merely on illegal immigrants, but on their entire community. Although Latinos did not vote in dramatically larger numbers in 1994, the legacy of the anti-187 movement can be felt today in the increasing number of young people growing into new roles as community advocates. Ana Soto was a ninth-grader at Jefferson High School when teenage activists slipped through the halls and classrooms, passing out leaflets urging students to join a protest against the voter initiative. The "walkouts," which took place throughout Southern California, were an echo of the 1968 demonstrations at Eastside schools during the height of the "Chicano Power" movement. Soto found herself walking out of Jefferson High with hundreds of others, so many students that they barely fit though the open gates. They marched north toward City Hall, a moment of collective power unlike anything she'd felt before. It would change her life. "You feel pride, you're standing up for it," says Soto, the daughter of Mexican immigrants whose mother is a seamstress. "You're doing something about it. You're not the person that's sitting there waiting for the decision to be made." Despite working a part-time job to help support her five siblings, Soto was elected student body president at Jefferson last July and became a vocal critic of conditions at the South-Central campus. She wants to be "like Gloria Molina," the Los Angeles County supervisor who is California's most recognizable Latina politician. Another veteran of the marches, 17-year-old Marvin Rodas, is now a member of a South-Central youth empowerment committee that seeks to channel more Los Angeles school district repair bond funds to inner-city schools. His optimism, like Soto's, is tempered by another, more pragmatic lesson learned on the fall day in 1994 when most of Jefferson High took to the streets. "We were walking toward City Hall, but some of [the marchers] decided to go home," Rodas says. "That walkout wasn't organized."
Immigrants Still Facing Hurdles The image of protesters deserting a march that's hardly begun remains something of a metaphor for the perils and pitfalls that face Latino activists trying to build political and civic institutions in the barrio. Language barriers still prevent meaningful political participation among legions of Latino immigrants. In the barrios of central Los Angeles and Orange counties, high poverty rates and significantly lower rates of education do not bode well for future political development. Despite such obstacles, for Latino activists the worst years of voter apathy may be behind them. A Times analysis of voter registration patterns in Los Angeles County shows that the local Assembly districts that are home to the largest numbers of immigrants have shown the fastest rise in registration, fueled by increased naturalization, opposition to Proposition 187 and strong Latino support last year for the Los Angeles school repair bond, Proposition BB. In Democrat Martha M. Escutia's 50th Assembly District, centered in the southeast county cities of Huntington Park, Bell and Bell Gardens, voter registration has increased 28% since 1994, about six times the rate of increase for the county as a whole. In the unincorporated Florence district, just east of South-Central Los Angeles, registration has increased 47% during the same time period. (The rates of increase are high, in part, because before the recent surge, the number of voters in inner-city barrios was abysmally low). Whether political parties and candidates will intensify their efforts to court the new Latino voters remains to be seen. In the past, California politicians have rarely put substantial resources into voter registration and other efforts aimed at expanding the number of immigrant voters. Still, there is little doubt that the surge in Latino registration is good news for Democrats-Latinos voted more than 3 to 1 for the party's candidates in 1996, according to exit polls. The increased number of Latino citizens and voters also bodes well for organizations hoping to build a long-term presence in communities where "the voter" has been something of an endangered species. At the Watts Century Latino Organization, Ybarra estimates that a third of the group's 600 registered members are U.S. citizens. Under Ybarra's leadership, WCLO has taken a holistic approach to the idea of community empowerment. It has helped needy Watts residents find work. It stages the annual Watts Cinco de Mayo parade. At this week's quarterly town meeting, group members will discuss, among other things, the implications of the Alameda Corridor project. At WCLO events, Ybarra says, organizers provide free child care because most members bring their children. ("You know how Latinos are, when we go to an event, we have to bring the whole family, even the parrot and the dog," he quips in Spanish.) Indeed, there is much about the group that is a cultural hybrid, like the patchwork of posters and notes that cover the wall of Ybarra's office. There is an Aztec calendar and an American flag next to the exhortation to "pledge allegiance, become a U.S. citizen now." On a chalkboard, there is a scribbled reminder to "Call [Mayor] Riordan for gardeners," a reference to the recent controversy over the City Council's decision to ban gas-operated leaf blowers. When Ybarra talks about the history of the organization, Latin American political terms like "organizaciones de base" pepper his speech. Mexican residents of Watts call the group "Wacelo," following the Spanish-language custom of transforming acronyms into pronounceable words. And yet, the goals of "Wacelo" are little different from those of Irish and Italian immigrant groups in the first half of this century, groups that eventually completed a total assimilation into the American political process. "Our children are American citizens," Ybarra says. "We can't tell them to hate their country. But we can't tell them to hate Spanish either. On the contrary, we feel obliged to teach them the history of the two cultures, the true history of their two countries."
About This Series The most dramatic change in Southern California's political landscape is sharply increased participation by Latino immigrants. During this election year, Times staff writer Hector Tobar will examine how this trend will play out at the grass-roots level. Future stories will describe how the interaction between Latino culture and American civic institutions may help shape the region's future. Foreign-Born Population Reaches 25.8 Million, According to Census Bureau (posted 4/24/98) In 1997, nearly 1 in 10 residents of the United States (25.8 million) was foreign-born and almost 1 in 3 of these foreign-born residents was a naturalized citizen, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. The data can be accessed at this Internet address [under the heading <CPS March 1997>]: http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign.html "The biggest influx of foreign born was from the Americas Central and South America and the Caribbean," said Dianne Schmidley, author of the report, The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: March 1997 (Update) . "About 7 million people, or 1 in 4 of the total foreign-born population in the United States in 1997, were born in Mexico." The report includes these highlights:
The data presented were collected in the Current Population Survey and, therefore, are subject to sampling variability, as well as reporting and coverage errors. Country of origin and year of entry into the United States of the foreign born: March 1997 (Numbers in thousands) TOTAL FOREIGN BORN: All countries 25,779 Mexico 7,017 Philippines 1,132 China and Hong Kong 1,107 Cuba 913 Vietnam 770 India 748 Dominican Republic 632 El Salvador 607 Great Britain 606 Korea 591 Elsewhere 11,655 CAME TO THE UNITED STATE: Before 1970 4,749 1970 to 1979 4,935 1980 to 1989 8,555 Since 1990 7,539 Source: March 1997 Current Population Survey, U.S. Census Bureau U.S. Foreign-Born Population Grows - The Associated Press , April 9, 1998 By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Not since the flood of European immigrants early in this century have there been so many residents of the United States who were born somewhere else. But this time, instead of Russia and Poland, Italy and Ireland, the new arrivals are more likely to be from Latin America, the origin of half the nation's foreign-born residents. "It's quite different now. The nationalities now contributing to the growth are Mexican, Latin American and the Asian countries and that has been the picture since World War II," said Manuel de la Puente, a sociologist who heads the Census Bureau's ethnic statistics branch. Some see the change as a threat to America. Some see it as a continuation of history for a nation of immigrants. With nearly one in 10 residents foreign-born, the influx is changing the look and sound of large parts of the nation as politicians and advertisers practice their Spanish, Latin food sections join Chinese, Italian and kosher in supermarkets and the airwaves add the sounds of salsa music and the action of soccer. In a nation where Cuban-born Ricky Ricardo was once a television novelty, viewers now can watch the all-Spanish Univision network, and cable and satellite channels provide programming in Greek, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, Arabic, German, French and other languages. The 9.6 percent foreign-born in America today is the most since 1930, when 11.6 percent of U.S. residents were natives of another country. The share peaked at 14.7 percent in 1910 in the wake of the massive European immigration in the late 19th century. To K. C. McAlpin, deputy director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the rapid influx is a problem affecting such things as crowded schools, crime rates, urban sprawl and increased government costs. In addition, he said, after the flood of immigrants at the turn of the century Congress effectively closed the doors in the 1920s, taking a 40-year timeout to digest the new arrivals. "Nothing on the horizon at the moment suggests we are going to do the same thing," he observed. "It's fair to say that the immigrants now are coming from different origins than most of the rest of the population comes from and, as a consequence, it's also fair to say that the United States will change as a result of that," said Jeffrey Passel, a population expert at the Urban Institute. But, he added, that's just what was happening nearly a century ago. Many people at that time worried that the country couldn't absorb the newcomers, just as many people do now, he said. "It's important to remember that the country always is changing. Immigrants coming today are coming for the same reason immigrants have always come, to make a better life for themselves. It may be a different country in 50 years, but it will still be based on the same set of principles," Passel said. The goal of a better life has always spurred immigrants, whether seeking land and fortune or fleeing political, religious or other persecution. Today the influence of the new arrivals is felt most strongly in five states, where the foreign-born population topped the national percentage. California leads the way with 24.9 percent, nearly one-quarter of its residents, being foreign-born. New York was second at 19.6 percent followed by Florida, 16.4 percent; New Jersey, 15.4 percent; and Texas, 11.3 percent. Other findings of the new report:
Hispanics object to race panel, (posted 4/23/98) HOUSTON, April 13 (UPI) Hispanic activists are upset that they have only one representative on the panel assembled for President Clinton's town hall meeting Tuesday night in Houston. Johnny Mata, a spokesman for the League of United Latin American Citizens, is characterizing the inclusion Saturday of Felipe Lopez, a St. John's University basketball player, as an "afterthought" and "token." There are six blacks and three whites on the panel to discuss race and sports during the 7 p.m. CDT town hall meeting on ESPN. The event is scheduled as part of the president's initiative on racial issues. http://my.excite.com/news/u/980413/07/ California Agriculture, (posted 4/23/98) For the past 50 years, California farm sales have topped those of every other state, and in 1996, they were a record $24.5 billion, up from $23 billion in 1995. California exported farm commodities worth $12 billion in 1996. Milk and cream worth $3.1 billion topped the list of commodities in 1996, followed by grapes worth $1.9 billion, nursery products worth $1.5 billion, cattle and calves worth $1.3 billion and cotton worth $1 billion. The US expects to export a record $11 billion worth of FVH commodities in 1998, nearly double 1990 exports; 98 percent of FVH trade is fruits and vegetables. Farm Land. The amount of farm land in the Central Valley is decreasing, but the value of farm output continues to increase as farmers switch to higher value crops such as fruits and vegetables. Harvested vegetable acreage in the 24-county Central Valley increased from about 420,000 acres in 1982 to 480,000 acres in 1992. Statewide, vegetable acreage increased by 123,000 between 1982 and 1992, and fruit and nut acreage by 87,000 acres. Most experts attribute the increased fruit and vegetable acreage to rising costs for inputs such as water and the prospects of increasing profits by switching from low-cost and low-revenue field crops such as cotton to higher-cost and higher-revenue peaches or melons. Farm land used for tree fruits, nuts and grapes in the San Joaquin Valley increased in value in 1996, to between $7,000 and $8,000 an acre for good quality tree fruit land, $7,000 to $8,000 an acre for almonds, $5,000 to $7,000 an acre for table grape land, and $6,000 to $9,000 an acre for vineyards. There is a wide range in prices of row crop land used for cotton, alfalfa and vegetables, with most sales in the $1,000 to $6,000 an acre range. Citrus land prices fell, from the $9,000 to $12,000 an acre range to $6,000 to $9,000. The California Land Conservation Act of 1965, the Williamson Act, permitted farmers to sign 10-year agreements promising not to develop their farmland in exchange for significant tax relief. About 16 million of California's 30 million acres of privately held open-space land is protected by the Williamson Act. Farms. Limoneria, a Ventura citrus operation founded in 1893, had 10,000 acres of lemons, oranges and avocados in 1997, and 600 directly hired employees. Limoneria owned 8,000 of these acres. Limoneria has been adding acreage: 1,872 acres from Edwards and Associates in 1985 and 685 acres from McKevett Corp in 1995, giving Limoneria 6,000 acres in the Ventura area, including almost 500 acres in an area that the city of Santa Paula is considering annexing and developing. Santa Paula has a population of 25,000. Limoneria also bought 1,400 acres in Porterville in the Central Valley in 1997. Limoneria's 1,900 acres of lemons are about seven percent of Ventura county's acreage and its 1,100 acres of avocados make it California's second largest avocado grower. Limoneria has a development subsidiary, Limoneria Land Company, that is working on plans for 900 homes near Santa Paula, complete with a school. Santa Paula is considered the poorest city in Ventura county. Carrot consumption increased sharply in the 1990s, from about 10 pounds a person per year to 14 pounds. Kern county, California dominates US carrot production, and two firms control 90 percent of California fresh carrots-most growers produce carrots under contract for these firms. Carrots are mechanically harvested. Shifting lettuce consumption is reflected in bagged salads, introduced in 1989, and projected to reach $1 billion in supermarket sales in 1997. Salinas-based Fresh Express is the market leader, with about 36 percent of the bagged salad market. Fresh Express is owned by the Taylor family, which also controls Bruce Church. Dole Food Company has about 27 percent of the bagged-salad market, followed by Irwindale, California-based Ready Pac Produce Inc, with 14 percent of the market. California has three major producers and processors of garlic: Rogers Foods, Gilroy Foods and Christopher Ranch, the nation's largest garlic grower. In San Francisco, Fresh Start Farms, which hired homeless people for $8 to $10 an hour to grow designer vegetables on some of the city's 200 vacant lots, closed in August 1997. Fresh Start had sales of $100,000 in 1996 but expenses of $150,000. Mechanization. A new tomato harvester, the Golden Valley 12-P, offers operators better views of both the tomatoes being harvested and the trucks into which they are loaded. The $240,000 machine includes two advanced color sorters to separate red and green tomatoes and devices that identify and remove dirt clods. Israel's El-Op Fruitronics subsidiary has developed a $30,000-a-lane Optigrade II fruit sorter that can sort up to 10 apples or peaches a second by comparing each piece to stored images of different grades of fruit; one machine replaces 15 hand sorters and uses neural network (artificial intelligence) systems to learn how to separate good and bad fruit. In October 1984, Fruit Grower magazine had an article, "Advances in Apple Harvesting," that described two approaches to mechanically harvesting apples: adaptations of the wine grape harvester that uses circulating rods to move through the tree and shake off fruit and adaptations of the nut harvester that grasps the tree trunk and shakes the fruit off, either all at once, or after two or three progressively harder shakes. Grapes. California grape growers broke records in both prices and production in 1997. The 3.9 million tons of crushed grapes in 1997 topped the previous record by 10 percent and passed the 1996 total by 33 percent. About 55 percent of the grapes produced in the US in 1996 were used to make wine, and wine grapes in 1996 had a farm value of $1.2 billion; the value of all grapes was $2 billion. Growers of the grapes received a record average price of $ 488.02 per ton, up eight percent from the average price in 1996, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture. The world's largest single vineyard operation is the 7,408-acre San Bernabe operation in Monterey county owned by Delicato Vineyards of Manteca. Some 30,000 tons of grapes are harvested each year, harvested by machine from about 1 am to 11 am in order to keep the grapes cool for the crushers. Some 20,000 of the 70,000 new acres of wine grapes planted in California in 1995-96 were planted in the Lodi area between Sacramento and Stockton, and most were planted to be harvested by machine. Wine grape harvesters cost $100,000 to $200,000 each, but they can harvest wine grapes for $15 to $25 a ton, compared to $35 to $50 a ton for hand harvesting. Herzog Co. of Courtland, which farms about 640 acres of wine grapes in the Delta area, elected to buy another mechanical harvester rather than build a new labor camp. Americans consume an average of less than one case of wine a person each year. Wine consumption is measured in hectoliters-one hectoliter is 100 liters, or slightly more than 11 cases-and Americans consumed 22 million hectoliters of wine in 1996. Horticultural Specialties. The US "green" industry had receipts of $11.3 billion in 1997, making green products one-third of the value of total value of fruits and nuts, vegetables and melons and horticultural specialties such as mushrooms and greenhouse/nursery crops. A total of $53 billion was spent on green products and associated services in 1997. The floriculture sector of the green industry-cut flowers, bedding plants, and potted flowering plants-had 1997 sales of $4 billion. The environmental horticulture sector-trees, shrubs, sod, Christmas trees, and nurseries-had sales of $7 billion in 1997. The US imported green products worth $1 billion in 1997, and exported green products worth $250 million. In the US, about 52 percent of flowers purchased are fresh cut, 29 percent are flowering pot plants and 19 percent are dry or artificial. US consumers spend less than Europeans on flowers and more than average on outdoor landscaping. US consumers bought about 1.1 billion rose stems in 1996, an average four each, but spent almost $140 each on landscaping plants and services. Sanford Nax, "California growers saw increases of 33% in grapes crushed, 8% in price compared with previous year," Fresno Bee, February 11, 1998. Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, "Automatic fruit-sorting system replaces unskilled laborers," Jerusalem Post, November 30, 1997. David Oltman, "Harvesting Intensity," California Farmer, November 1997. Mexican Migrants, (posted 4/23/98) The Valley of San Quintin in Mexico produces $65 million worth of tomatoes, green onions, strawberries, cucumbers and celery annually from 19,000 acres. About 80 percent of the produce is exported to the US. San Quintin, about four hours south of Tijuana, boomed after 1980, when drip irrigation was introduced, tripling yields. The largest growers include ABC, owned by Alejandro and Constantino Canelos and based in Sinaloa, and Los Pinos, owned by the Rodriguez family of San Quintin. San Quintin imported Mixtec Indian workers from Oaxaca and Guerrero and a majority of the 70,000 population are now Indians. There are 36 migrant worker camps in San Quintin. At ABC's Francisco Villa labor camp, migrant Indian workers said they were promised 70 pesos (about $8.50) for an eight-hour day, rooms with electricity and running water, work for children 10 and up and round-trip bus transportation with three meals a day included. However, the workers complained that work days are often 10 to 12 hours and that the camp frequently has no electricity. Food prices in the camp are reportedly 50 percent more than regular prices. Most of the camps were built to house seasonal male workers, but an estimated 4,200 families now live in the camps year round. The best camps are reportedly reserved for migrant packing house workers from Sinaloa. Many Mexican villages in west central Mexico are better integrated into the US than the Mexican economies. This means that peak periods of business activity are in the winter months, from December to February, when many Mexican-born residents return from the US, reopen their closed modern houses, and spend money on weddings and at local festivals. However, in some of the most migrant-dependent communities, there are few young men, turning rural villages into "nurseries and nursing homes." Sam Quinones, "Grapes of Wrath south of the border, "San Francisco Examiner, January 11, 1998. Congress: Guest Workers, (posted 4/23/98) H-2Cs. The House immigration subcommittee on March 12 voted 7-2 in support of a pilot guest worker program that would permit US farmers to hire foreign workers with H-2C visas if the farmer "attested" that he tried and failed to find US workers. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) chairman of the House immigration subcommittee, supported the bill (HR3410, the Temporary Agricultural Worker Act, is a replacement for HR2377). Farmers argue that they need to test a pilot noncertification alternative to the H-2A program because of (1) local labor shortages and (2) the "inflexibility" of the H-2A program. Under HR3410, up to 20,000 nonimmigrant workers could be admitted at the request of US farmers each year for two years to fill vacant jobs. The workers could stay in the US for up to ten months each year; the families of H-2C workers could not join them in the US. To encourage the H-2C workers to return to Mexico or other countries of origin, 25 percent of their wages would be deducted and repaid only in the country of origin if the worker appears in person. Farmers would initiate admissions and employment by filing a one-page attestation form with their local Employment Service office that promises to pay all workers the prevailing or minimum wage, whichever is higher. The farmer would simultaneously file a request for H-2C workers with the INS and, before the H-2C workers arrive in the US, the employer would file a job order with the ES. Employers would not have to provide housing, and would be obliged to pay housing allowances to workers if that is prevailing practice in the area. The legislation would reduce the number of certain immigrant visas by 50 percent of the number of H-2C workers admitted. If all 20,000 H-2C workers are admitted as expected, the number of immigrant visas for unskilled workers would drop from 10,000 to 5,000 a year and the number of diversity visas would decrease from 55,000 to 50,000 a year. Three "Smiths" are involved in this latest push for guest workers, including Rep. Bob Smith (R-OR) who introduced HR 3410/2377, Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) who has introduced a companion bill in the Senate, S 1563, and Rep. Lamar Smith, (R-TX), chair of the House immigration subcommittee. The Clinton administration opposes the pilot guest worker program. In a March 12, 1998 letter to Lamar Smith, DOL Secretary Alexis Herman said "the Administration strongly opposes enactment of HR 3410" and that, if enacted, Herman "would recommend that [Clinton] veto the bill." Unions and their allies argued that the pilot program marks a return to the discredited Bracero program, which involved "incredible corruption on the Mexican side and incredible exploitation on the U.S. side." Most newspaper editorials called on Congress to implement the GAO recommendations to modify the H-2A program rather than to launch a new pilot guest worker program for agriculture. Growers countered that they need the pilot guest worker program as an insurance policy in the event that the INS develops effective plans that prevent workers who present false documents from being hired. Farm worker advocates argue that guest workers are not needed and that three federal commissions have reached this conclusion. http://www.crlaf.org/gworkers.htm As farmers press their case for a pilot guest worker program modeled on the H-1B program, the UFW is calling for a second amnesty for unauthorized farm workers. For example, Dolores Huerta said in February 1998: "If they (farmers) actually need people, give them (unauthorized workers) full immigration rights so they do not have the constant fear of deportation when they are here as undocumented workers." H-2A. The Labor Department's inspector general issued a report on April 1, 1998 that concluded that the H-2A program was ineffective. DOL certified that 18,000 US farm jobs should be filled by H-2A workers in 1996, i.e., US farmers were unable to find US workers for these jobs despite recruitment at DOL-set wages. The H-2 program through which farmers can request nonimmigrant farm workers was streamlined and restructured into the H-2A program by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. In April 1998, the US Department of Labor's inspector general found that the H-2A program was ineffective, in part because of continued illegal immigration: the IG criticized the H-2A program for its "extensive administrative requirements, paperwork and regulations that often seem dissociated with DOL's mandate of providing assurance that American workers' jobs are protected." The IG report concludes: "We found the H-2A certification process administered by the Employment and Training Administration to be ineffective," largely because DOL-funded State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) were able to find US workers to fill only two percent of the jobs for which H-2A workers were requested in 1996 despite a surplus of farm workers. The report recommended that DOL shift enforcement funds from ETA to the Employment Standards Administration. The Department of Labor published the 1998 AEWR for H-2A workers February 18, 1998 in the Federal Register (Vol. 63, p. 8218). The California AEWR for 1998 is $6.87, up five percent from $6.53 in 1997, and the AEWR for Washington and Oregon is $7.08, up three percent from $6.87. The push for a new guest worker program to hold down labor costs led at least one newspaper columnist to review the case for reparations for slavery in the US. In 1860, US slaves hand-picked two-thirds of the world's cotton, and economy of the southern US was the fourth largest in the world. Cotton was the raw ingredient for many of the textile and garment factories in the northern US, so that, by one estimate, one-sixth of the private assets in the 1860 economy was the value of slaves--$17 billion in 1983 dollars. Sun-Glo of Idaho, which packs fresh potatoes before shipping them to retail markets, became the first Idaho potato packing shed to be certified to hire 91 nonimmigrant H-2B workers at the prevailing wage of $5.60 an hour. Sun-Glo is not required to provide housing for the H-2B workers and said that it is not sure if it will locate housing for them. Six potato sheds have applied for 500 H-2Bs; there are about 3,500 workers employed in Idaho potato packing sheds. In 1997, the INS inspected 19 warehouses and removed 300 unauthorized workers. Kevin Galvin, "Inspector general's report finds guest worker program ineffective," AP, April 1, 1998. Marcus Stern, "Lobbying on guest workers bears fruit," San Diego Union Tribune, March 10, 1998. U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. 1998. Consolidation of Labor's Enforcement Responsibilities for the H-2A Program Could Better Protect U.S. Agricultural Workers. Report Number: 04-98-004-03-321. March 31 INS: Enforcement, Green Cards (posted 4/23/98) The INS will have 8,000 Border Patrol agents by the end of 1998, double the 4,000 in 1993, and 1,000 more than in 1997. INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said that the INS has achieved control over illegal entries in the San Diego sector, so that two-thirds of the 1,000 agents to be added in 1998 will be sent to Texas and New Mexico. About 284,000 foreigners were apprehended in the San Diego sector in 1997, down from 532,000 in 1993. Meanwhile, in the second California INS sector, El Centro, apprehensions rose from 30,100 in 1993 to 146,200 in 1997. The INS argues that since the drop in San Diego exceeded the increase in El Centro, illegal immigration into California has declined. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) countered that the US needs 20,000 Border Patrol agents and a triple fence along the entire Mexico-US border to control illegal immigration. The INS is constructing an "electronic wall" to augment the steel fences and Border Patrol agents in place along the Mexico-US border. Cameras and heat sensors are mounted on 60-foot high platforms and underground sensors detect entrants, whom Border Patrol agents can then apprehend. The Justice Department Inspector General criticized the INS for not using its IDENT system effectively, saying that, in many cases, fingerprints and photos were not entered into the data base or the data base was not checked. The INS countered that the analysis was old: the IDENT system is now in place in all Border Patrol stations on the Mexico-US border. The IDENT system electronically fingerprints and photographs all persons apprehended at the border. The United States Attorney for the district covering the California stretch of the border, Alan Bersin, was appointed superintendent of the San Diego school system in March. A third of the system's 137,000 pupils are Hispanic, and several Hispanic groups opposed the selection of Bersin because of his role in fighting illegal immigration. On March 12, 1998, seven INS employees and 26 others were charged with selling fraudulent immigration papers for more than $100,000 in bribes, the third "greenbacks-for-green-cards" case in recent years. In March, four southern California men were arrested and charged with planning to kill illegal immigrants attempting to enter the US. The alleged ringleader of "Operation Run for the Border" is a reserve police officer; he said he knew nothing of plans to engage in private border enforcement activities. Green Cards. The INS plans to issue more fraud-resistant green cards. The new cards, off-white with a green stripe, has the holder's photograph, date of birth and signature embedded into it. A machine that makes the new green cards is reportedly not functioning properly, delaying the issuance of new cards for thousands of immigrants. Until the machine is fixed, immigrants will receive only a stamp in their passports, which some employers are reluctant to accept because of the ease with which the INS stamp can be forged. The new green card will include secret security features and holograms in an effort to thwart the now-widespread counterfeiting. The new green cards will be given to new immigrants and to current holders as they turn in expiring documents. The INS annually issues about three million green cards, work authorization permits, border crossing cards and other such documents. Organization. The Clinton administration requested $4.2 billion for the INS in FY99, up from $3.8 billion in FY98, and $1.6 billion in FY94. Beginning March 29, 1998, all applicants for immigration benefits must be fingerprinted by the INS and pay a $25 fee for the service. In March 1998, the INS unveiled a reorganization plan that would split the INS into separate enforcement and benefits sub-agencies. Under the proposed reorganization, the INS would have three parts: one for enforcement, one for benefits and a support services unit that would provide databases and technology to both benefits and enforcement agencies. The INS currently has 33 districts and each INS district director has a great deal of authority for both enforcement and benefits such as naturalization. Under the proposed reorganization, a smaller number of INS districts would be created, and each would have separate directors for enforcement and benefits. Current district directors oppose the reorganization. The Commission on Immigration Reform in 1997 proposed a reorganization that would make the INS an enforcement agency and shift the granting of immigration benefits such as naturalization to the State Department. The chair of the House appropriations subcommittee favors the CIR's breakup proposal over the INS's reorganization. Jodi Wilgoren, "Skeptical Panel Hears INS Chief Vow Reform," Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1998. William Branigin, "INS Offers Reorganization Plan," Washington Post, March 26, 1998. Patrick McDonnell, "More Fraud-Proof 'Green Card' Due Soon, INS Says," Los Angeles Times, March 25, 1998. Workers Compensation, Safety, (posted 4/23/98) COA 1992 Data. In new report published by the USDA, Jack Runyan examined data from the 1992 Census of Agriculture that asked farm operators if there were any injuries on their farms in 1992. In 1992, there were 673 work-related fatalities and 64,800 farm-related injuries. Hired farm workers were victims of about two-thirds of the injuries and one-third of the fatalities. In 1992, 693,000 US farms reported expenditures to hired farm labor and 18,000, or three percent, reported that farm workers suffered injuries during the year on their farms. States. Idaho required farm employers to provide workers compensation for farm workers in 1996, but also required that the previous 12 months wages be divided by 50 to determine average weekly earnings, which in turn determines workers compensation benefits. This means that the two-thirds of Idaho's 34,000 seasonal farm workers can have very low average weekly earnings. In 1997, some 270 farm workers in Idaho requested workers compensation payments for on-the-job injuries, including 26 whose average weekly earnings were determined to be less than $50. In California, tractors must have drivers. Between 1990 and 1997, Cal-OSHA issued 92 citations to growers for having driverless tractors and levied penalties of $117,000 that were reduced to $13,000. Vegetable growers would like to obtain a variance from the tractor driver rule for slow-moving tractors that pull conveyor belts on which workers put harvested produce. UC Davis agricultural engineers have worked with several nurseries to develop tools that help nursery workers avoid injuries while moving plants in containers. For more information: www.engr.ucdavis.edu/~ergo/ "Driverless tractors," Fresno Bee, February 8, 1998. Warren Cornwall, "A question of compensation - Seasonal workers feel pain of workers' insurance program," Post Register, January 18, 1998. Runyan, Jack L. 1998. Injuries and Fatalities on U.S. Farms. Washington. USDA. Economic Research Service. AIB-739. January. contact: jrunyan@econ.ag.gov Unions: US, Global US. In January 1998, the US Department of Labor reported that, based on CPS data, there were 16.1 million union members among 114.5 million wage and salary workers in 1997--14 percent of wage and salary workers were union members. By race and ethnicity, 13 million union members were whites, 2.4 million were Black and 1.4 million were Hispanic. Unions represented 18 million workers; not all workers covered by collective bargaining agreements are union members. Those with farming occupations, and wage and salary workers employed in agriculture, had some of the lowest rates of unionization. According to the CPS, 88,000, under five percent of the 1.9 million workers with farming occupations, were union members; union members with farming occupations earned a median $505 a week, about 70 percent more than the median $290 earned by non-union workers, and the largest union premium in the data. About 36,000, or two percent of the 1.7 million wage and salary workers employed in agriculture, were union members. In February 1998, there were 19 initiatives on the ballots of 15 states that would curb the ability of US unions to use members dues payments for political activities. On June 2, 1998, California voters will vote on Proposition 226, an initiative that, effective July 1, 1998, would require unions to obtain permission each year to use member payments for political activities. The AFL-CIO and member unions receive about $60 million a year in fees from an affinity credit card. Global. The ILO estimates that one-fourth of the world's 1.3 billion nonfarm workers are union members; an additional 1.3 billion workers are employed in agriculture. There were 164 million union members in the 92 countries surveyed by the International Labor Organization in 1995. In 14 countries, more than half of all workers were in the labor force; in 70 countries, union membership fell between 1985 and 1995 due to declines in public sector employment, globalization and deregulation, and changes in government. For example, some of the sharpest declines in union membership occurred in Eastern Europe. US and California: Earnings, ALRB, (posted 4/23/98) Hourly Earnings. USDA's NASS reported that 800,000 hired workers were employed on US farms during the second week of January 1998. About one-sixth were brought to farms by intermediaries such as farm labor contractors. About 80 percent of the 660,000 workers hired directly by farmers were year round, which means that employers expected to employ them for 150 or more days. All directly hired workers had average hourly earnings of $7.60, even though both field and livestock earnings averaged about $7 an hour. The reason why all directly hired workers have average hourly earnings that are almost 10 percent higher than field and livestock workers is because about 20 percent of directly hired workers are supervisory and other workers, and their wages are much higher than those of field and livestock workers. For example, in April 1996, supervisors hourly earnings were $10.62 compared to $6.28 for field and livestock. On March 1, 1998, California's minimum wage rose to $5.75 an hour; the federal minimum wage has been $5.15 an hour since September 1, 1997. California's minimum wage was $4.25 an hour in September 1996, so that the minimum wage has increased by $1.50 an hour, or 35 percent in 15 months. The California Industrial Welfare Commission voted to end daily overtime in 1997 and was defunded by the Legislature. On January 1, 1998, most nonfarm employers were no longer required to pay 1.5 times the normal wage after eight hours a day, or two times normal pay after 12 hours a day. The eight million California workers subject to the overtime repeal are still entitled to 1.5 times their usual wage after 40 hours of work per week under federal law. The Wall Street Journal on March 4, 1998 reported that the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reduced its inspections of farm operations from almost 600 in 1994 to 300 in 1996, and fewer than 200 in 1997. The number of citations issued fell from 750 in 1994 to 460 in 1996, and 250 in 1997. About half of the inspections show that farms are in full compliance. Driscoll Strawberry Associates Inc. has begun a private audit program to ensure that the growers who produce berries for Driscoll are in compliance with state labor laws. Democrats attacked an Assembly bill, AB 2399, that would have required FLCs to pass a course to obtain or renew a license; Democrats wanted both the FLC and the grower to be jointly liable for FLC violations. Under current law, FLC pay $350 to obtain or renew a FLC license. ALRB. The ALRB continued to discuss changes in its regulations, especially the 1975 access rule, which permits union organizers to have access for up to three hours a day for four-30 day periods a year to the farm workers on a farm. Many of the cases decided by the ALRB in 1997 involved employer charges that union organizers abused their access privileges. Employers would like the ALRB to adopt regulations that parallel those of the NRLB. The NLRB presumes that union organizers can find off-work sites to discuss the benefits of unions with workers and grants work place access to union organizers only after the union petitions the NLRB and demonstrates that it has no other means of communicating with workers, as on a ship or in a logging camp. Marc Lifscher, "California's Farms Face Pressure To Improve Sanitary Conditions," Wall Street Journal, March 4, 1998. Susan Duerksen, "Food safety a priority for border health plan," San Diego Union-Tribune, February 7, 1998. Washington/Oregon: Teamsters Lose, Housing Apple packinghouse workers voted against Teamster representation at Stemilt Growers Inc. by a 290-205 vote and workers at Washington Fruit and Produce voted against the Teamsters 161-121. The Teamsters had nine organizers in Wenatchee and Yakima during the campaign. Both companies hired anti-union consultants; Stemilt reportedly spent $300,000 to hire Steve Highfill's Ag-Relate of Salinas, California to run an anti-union campaign. The Washington Growers League coordinated a $100,000 effort to monitor union activity and to be "prepared to respond on behalf of the industry to actions by the Teamsters and the United Farm Workers unions." The Teamsters filed 20 charges against the companies, alleging that they interfered with the workers' free choice by threatening that, if the union won, the INS would be brought in to check documentation. As a result of one complaint, Stemilt was forced to rehire six workers it fired and provide them nearly $20,000 in back pay. In the run-up to the January 1998 vote at Stemilt Growers Inc., owner Bob Mathison was quoted in the Seattle Times on January 4, 1998 as saying: "We are blessed with a bountiful labor supply. If there is something we want done, we throw bodies at it and they cost $7.50 an hour...You saw those people turning apples in the same direction? If we have to pay $ 12 an hour, those people are gone," replaced by apple-sorting machines. Japan and several other industrial countries have highly automated apple packinghouses.There are about 15,000 workers employed in 120 apple warehouses in Washington, and 30,000 to 35,000 apple harvesters. A Washington Grower's League survey of the state's 100 apple packing warehouses found that the average hourly wage was $7.50 in 1997. Most apple growers pay a piecerate wage of $11 per 1,000-pound bin, or about one cent per pound of apples picked. Fears of labor shortages in 1997 proved groundless-a few growers raised piecerates to $13 a bin near the end of the season. Washington produces about half of US apples, and exports about one-third of its apples. The UFW made its first pension payments to Washington farm workers, paying $200 a month to a 66-year old woman who retired from Chateau Ste. Michelle winery. Housing. Washington for the fifth year debated temporary housing for migrant workers. Farm-worker advocates have agreed to accept tent-housing for migrant cherry and other short season workers if Washington will spend at least $2 million on additional permanent housing for farm workers through the state Housing Trust Fund. In 1997, a bill to permit tent housing was approved by the Legislature, but vetoed by the governor. Washington's Health Department estimates more than half of the farm workers in Washington -- 37,700 of the 62,300 who pick cherries, apples and other crops each year on about 1,000 farms-are without suitable shelter. Some sleep in their cars or in squatter camps along riverbanks. Oregon. US Department of Labor ended a year-long investigation of labor practices in the nursery industry after 60 inspections failed to find significant violations of FLSA and MSPA. According to DOL, most Oregon nurseries pay more than the minimum wage and many offer health insurance and bonuses.DOL reportedly has 48 agents checking out labor practices in vineyard pruning crews in January and February 1998. Jonathan Martin, "Migrant housing plan outlawed," Spokesman-Review, January 14, 1998. Rick Steigmeyer, "Stemilt workers reject Teamsters," Wenatchee World, January 9, 1998. Lynda Mapes, "Its high noon in campaign to unionize apple workers," Seattle Times, January 4, 1998 UFW: Contracts, CRLA Contracts. The UFW signed 17 contracts with California growers between 1994 and 1997. In December 1997, the UFW signed its first agreement with L.E. Cooke Co., a Visalia-based firm that supplies rose, flower and tree fruit plants to growers across California. L.E. Cooke employs about 100 year-round workers and 150 seasonal workers. The UFW now represents a majority of the Central Valley's rose workers. In November 1997, the UFW signed an agreement with table grape grower Nash de Camp Farms in Visalia, California, the first contract since the UFW's previous 1981-84 contract expired. The UFW won an election at Nash de Camp in 1977; Nash de Camp has about 240 employees. The new contract raises wages by five percent and adds Nash de Camp workers to the UFW's pension plan. It also permits Nash de Camp the use of farm labor contractors to secure workers, and retains the company's health insurance rather than shifting workers to the UFW-run RFK plan. Nash DeCamp is a sister operation of Minneapolis-based grocery store operator Nash-Finch. On January 1, 1997, the UFW signed a two-year agreement covering 40 to 60 tractor drivers and irrigators employed by Oceanview Produce Co., a Ventura County subsidiary of Dole Food. The agreement also settled an unfair labor practice complaint, with Dole paying $246,000 to 200 displaced celery workers. The UFW was certified as the bargaining agent for Oceanview workers in 1994. There was a decertification vote at Oceanview on February 3, 1998 among the 40 to 60 workers covered by the agreement. The UFW asked the ALRB not to count the ballots, alleging that Oceanview "instigated, supported and financed the decertification campaign." Dole Food, with 1997 revenue of $4.3 billion, is the largest US producer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables. The ALRB delayed a decertification election at Scheid Vineyards after the UFW charged that Scheid had added anti-union employees to influence the outcome. The decertification vote was reportedly prompted by worker dissatisfaction with the UFW's RFK health insurance program. The UFW held a protest in Modesto on December 31, 1997, bringing to 14 the number of cities in which the UFW protested what it called the slowness of E.&J. Gallo to negotiate a contract for 300 farm workers in its Sonoma County vineyards. The UFW won a July 1994 election to represent Gallo farm workers in Sonoma. There are reports that BCI is planning to stop growing lettuce and harvesting it with workers hired directly and switch to obtaining lettuce from growers who produce lettuce for BCI. It is not clear what such a switch would mean to the five-year contract signed between the UFW and BCI in May 1996. Teamsters 890 has about 4,650 members who fill an average 2,000 field worker jobs at Bud, 300 field jobs with other growers and 250 equipment operators and mechanics. Strawberries. On March 28, 1998, the UFW led a march in New York City protesting poor working conditions for the women whom the UFW says are half of the strawberry workers. On March 29, some 1,000 marchers in Los Angeles joined a march to commemorate Chavez's birthday, March 31, 1927. Chavez died in April 1993. The rallies featured denunciations of wages and working conditions for strawberry workers. In response, Driscoll Strawberry Associates called on the UFW to demand secret ballot elections to determine if strawberry workers wanted to be represented by the UFW. Dolores Huerta, 67, was profiled in a February 22, 1998 Chicago Tribune article. According to Huerta, Cesar Chavez wanted the 1966 grape boycott to be a potato boycott. CRLA. James D. Lorenz Jr., founder of California Rural Legal Assistance in 1966, has filed several suits against the UFW in recent years, charging (in a case later dismissed) that the UFW sexually exploited its female organizers and helped mushroom workers in Santa Cruz county protest the UFW's RFK health insurance plan. Lorenz plans to file a case charging that the UFW did not pay overtime wages to its organizers involved in the strawberry campaign. Lorenz headed the state's Employment Development Department in 1974, moved to Washington DC to work for Ralph Nader, and then returned to Berkeley and to the CRLA Foundation. According to newspaper reports, his companion, Guadalupe Lucio, a former radio reporter who turned against the UFW, helped Lorenz find Salinas-area clients dissatisfied with the UFW. Mexico Office. At the suggestion of the Michoacan governor, the UFW has requested Mexican government permission to open an office in Michoacan to serve farm workers while they are in Mexico during the winter months. If approved, the UFW would be the first foreign union with an office in Mexico. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney visited Mexico in January 1998, the first visit by a US labor leader since 1924. Sweeney met with several leaders of independent unions and discussed possible cooperation to organize Mexican workers in the US. The Mexican government is discouraging US union ties with non-Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) unions. Filipino Farm Workers. October 1997 was Filipino American History Month, which prompted several stories on the "forgotten legacy" of Filipino farm workers in California. In 1965, some 1,500 Filipino grape pickers in the AFL-CIO-affiliated Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee went on strike in Delano and Cesar Chavez's National Farm Workers Association joined the strike 11 days later. Most historians say that Filipinos were squeezed out of Chavez's union. Historian Alex Fabros of San Francisco State says that "Filipinos were margina |
