Organizing Ag Labor ICondnutd from >Pa|t 14J welfare of farm worker* A deprived worker is just ax deprived working for a giant corporation ax he would lie if he were employed by a small farmer The .structure of the industry does have some relevance to the possibilities of effective ly unionizing agriculture, and for the influence of such measures as product boycotts in achieving that end Although large corporate enterprises do exist in agriculture, they are definitely the exception In 1970 there were ap proximately 17 million "commercial farms" in the United States Only about 52,000 of these, or about 3°!„ had gross sales (not net profits) of $lOO,OOO or more Only 1,586 farms in (he United States had gross sales of $1 million or more (A business with gross sales of $1 mil’ion is still relatively small ) These 1,586 farms with gross sale-, of $1 million or more collectively accounted for only 11 percent of the nation’s value of agri cultural output Of the 52,000 farms with gross sales of $lOO,OOO or more, 8,049 were owned by corporations, mostly family corporations Only 858 were owned by corporations with ten or more stockholders. Farm worker organization Attempts to organize farm workers in this country have occurred for more than a century In what is now the United States, the first recorded farm-worker strike took place in Hawaii in 1841 There were several short-lived organiza tions of agricultural workers during the latter part of the nineteenth century and early in the twentieth Efforts were made by the Industrial Workers of the World about 1912, the Communist Party's Trade Union Unity League in the earlv 1930’5, and both the AFL and CIO in the late 1930’5. There were also some independent unions formed A few of these early Chops Fast and Fine At Low Cost Per Ton 720 Forager Field Harvester THE 720 FORAGER field harvester makes high-quality silage and haylage, chopped the way you want it, at a cost that can build your livestock profits. 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A ALLIS-CHALMERS unions have survived, su< h as those at Scabrook Farms in New Jersey and the Butler Countv Mushroom Farms in Western Pennsylvania Later, workers were successfully organized on some sugar-cane and pineapple plantations in Hawaii and on some dairy farms in southern California These unions also are still in existence A number of these early agricultural-worker unions were affiliated with the Teamsters For the most part however, agricultural organiz ing efforts were unsuccessful because of such factors as seasonality and short duration of jobs, high worker mobility and low labor-force attachment, and a general surplus of unskilled” labor at low wage rates The lack of supportive legis lation has also undoubtedly been a fac tor The latest attempts at farm-worker organizations began in California in 1959 when the AFL-CIO established the Ag ricultural Worker’s Organizing Commit tee (AWOC) This group was largely un successful in obtaining recognition until after 1965 At that time the “Bracero Program," under whuh Mexican workers were brought in to the United States for seasonal farm work and which had been initiated due to war-time labor shortages, was terminated At about the same time, AWOC was joined by a small, indepen dent union the National Farm Workers Association, which had been founded about 4 years earlier and was led by Cesar Chavez This largely Mexican- Amencan union combined the traditional trade-union approach with the cohesive force of a common cultural background based largely on the Catholic faith Co hesiveness was lacking in most previous attempts to organize farm workers The two unions later merged as the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee and are now the United Farm Workers, a chartered union of the AFL-CIO. The Western Conference of Teamsters ■’ BHM Farm Equipment, Inc. Annville, R.D.I, Pa. Roy H. Buck, Inc. Ephrata, R.D.2 was also active throughout this period This group had organized many of the hauling and pro< essmg workers, and at tempted from time to time l to extend this organization hack to the field workers A number of jurisdictional disputes be tween UFW and the Teamsters erupted Many attempts to resolve these through inter-union negotiations have been made, hut have not been successful Juris dictional problems have been especially troublesome among lettuce workers, be cause technological changes in methods of harvesting and packing have resulted in many functions, formerly performed in the packing sheds under Teamsters’ contracts, now being performed in the fields During the past few years, quite a number of contracts in grapes, lettuce, citrus fruits and other commodities have been signed with both UFW and the* Teamsters Some remain in force while others are lapsing or changing jurisdic tions The situation remains in a state of flux It seems fairly clear that the dispute between the Teamsters and UFW is a jurisdictional dispute similar to manv which have plagued the labor movement The Teamsters have had a long history of interest in organising agricultural workers, often an extension of their or ganization cf packing shed and transfer worker. It would be difficult to label their long-standing dairy farm contracts in California and contracts at Seabrook Farms in New Jersey as “sweetheart” contracts Neithei the Teamsters nor UFW contracts with lettuce growers have resulted from NLRB supervised worker elections Thus, it is difficult to determine objectively what the woikers’ real sentiments are Lettuce growers ap pear to have shown an inclination toward the Teamsters because, in some eases, their other workers were already repre sented by the Teamsters. The Teamsters also represent a more established and “traditional” union that the growers ap pear to be more comfortable with Labor legislation One of the major factors in perpetuating the turmoil in farm-worker organizing efforts is the absence of a legal frame work— uch as exists in non-agncultural industry—for settling these disputes Ag gnculture was specifically exempted from the provisions of the National La bor Relations Act (NLRA) and its sub sequent amendments This Act provides a mechanism, through the National La bor Relations Board (NLRB), for de termining whether workers wish to be represented bv a union, who is eligible to vote on representation, what tactics *” Agway will giv» " your oil heating system a new heart for only > You re burning up money every winter £ A ff* if your oil burner won t hold its tune J mII needs constant repairs frequent ▼I m w w _ service For only $179 95 plus tax I ■ ■! m Agway s expert servicemen can install I ■ B plus tax a new Model 40J burner including a ' new primary control in just a couple of And this is a quality burner that s generous with beat and miserly •*- with fuel It quickly pays tor itself with what it saves you on fuel | repairs service calls 1 Call Agway today and modernize with a new oil burner package You’ll bring down the cost of winter. _ Phone 397-4954 for FREE Estimate on Boiler & Furance Replacements Our men are experts in their Field. | AG WAY I Call Agway Petroleum today. And bring down the cost of winter J Lancaster Farming. Saturday, Oct. 12.1974 AGWAY PETROLEUM CORP. Dillerville Rd, Lancaster are legal for workers to use in inducing an employer to bargain, what tactics are legal for employers to use in attempting to discourage workers from organizing, what union may represent the workers, and other aspects of the organizing pro cess The NLRB also defines legitimate areas for negotiation, assists in adjudi cating labor disputes, and conducts and polices elections The exclusion of agriculture from the NLRA does not mean farm labor unions are illegal, they are perfectly legal. It does mean that none of the rules govern ing employer and union behavior speci fied in the NLRA or the services of the NLRB are applicable in agricultural labor disputes This has led to the use of tactics by both employers and workers that would be illegal or of dubious le gality if agriculture was subject to the NLRA The most effective weapon of unions in organizing is the strike However, in many of the agricultural organizing at tempts the strike has proved rather in effective Employers claim this is be cause the workers have not supported the strike calls, while unions claim it is because employers have used coercive practices on employees and replaced strikes with non-union (“scab”) labor Irrespective of the reason, it is difficult for a strike to be effective, particularly in a generally surplus labor situation, without the support of the NLRB mechanism At least in part because of the fectiveness of the strike, agricultural organizing efforts in recent years havC". made extensive use of boycotts as an organizing tool In this case they have been used to coerce employers into ne gotiating contracts by drying up the markets for their products Nationwide boycotts have been attempted in table grapes, iceburg lettuce, and other pro ducts with some success Product boy cotts have also been used in the inter union jurisdictional disputes. Although product and secondary boy cotts are not illegal in agriculture, some of the tactics being employed would be illegal or of questionable legality as “un fair” labor practices in industries cov ered by the NLRA Among the reasons for this are: (a) that they can harm third parties which are not involved in the disputes (namely other producers than those being struck, including in the case of agriculture many small producers who hire little or no labor and whole salers and retailers of the product), and (b) if successful, they can force an em ployer into signing an agreement without the consent of his workers In the pres- [Continued On Page 17] Ph. 717-397-4954 15
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers