—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 23,1978
18
Farmworkers taking union to court
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Twelve California farm
workers are suing their
union, the United Farm-
workers of America (UFW),
charging the UFW with
oppression, fraud, malice,
and violation of their con-
stitutional rights. They are
also asking the court to
strike down a California law
that allows the union to have
almost absolute power over
'farmworkers by requiring
full membership in the union
as a condition of em
ployment.
Headed by Cervando
Perez and Giles Breaux, the
workers filed their com
plaint September 5 in
Superior Court for the
of Monterey. They
charge the UFW, headed by
Cesar Chavez, with forcing
them to pay money to the
union to use for political
purposes with they disagree.
They claim that in doing so -
and in the way it was done -
the UFW violated their
rights of free speech and
association.
The workers are supported
in their suit by the National
Right to Work Legal Defense
Foundation. In addition to
two of the workers asking for
damages of $1 million each,
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the plaintiffs are asking tne
court to require the UFW to
cease confiscation of their
money for political pur
poses.
The suit is the result of a
UFW procedure to raise
money for its political
treasury - the Citizenship
Participation Day Fund
(CPD Fund). The CPD Fund
provides money to can
didates, propositions, and
legislative initiatives backed
by the UFW.
UFW
Previously,
tracts with employers
provided that the first
Sunday of every June would
be “Citizenship Par
ticipation Day.” Workers
would receive holiday pay
for that day and could either
remit it to the CPD Fund or
keep it for their own use.
In August 1977, however,
the union leadership passed
Resolution 45 requiring all
employees working under
CPD provisions to remit, or
have the employer remit for
them, the holiday pay to the
CPD Fund.
While Resolution 45 did not
change union contracts
saying workers may keep
their holiday pay, Section
1153 (c) of the California
Agricultural Labor
Relations Act gives union
leaders the tools they need to
force workers to comply
with their commands.
Section 1153 (c) permits
unions to have contracts
with employers requiring
agricultural workers to be
members in good standing of
the union to keep their jobs.
The union is the sole judge of
whether a member is in good
standing.
Beginning in June 1978, the
UFW began a campaign
against independent-minded
workers to enforce its
authority. One of the
plaintiffs, Cervando Perez,
was charged by the UFW
with failing to give his
holiday pay to the CPD
Fund. The union leadership
declared him not to be a
member in good standing
and ordered his employer,
West Coast Farms, to fire
him. On July 26, West Coast
Farms fired Perez.
con-
On August 31, Giles
Breaux was also expelled
from the union and is faced
with imminent loss of his
job. Other plaintiffs in the
case also refused to give
their holiday money to the
union political fund. They
are now threatened with
being thrown out of the
UFW, which will mean
discharge from their jobs.
The workers are asking!
the court to restore them tof
their jobs and to remedy the;
union contracts and
California law that brought
'about their situation. They
want the court to declare
Section 1153 (c) un
constitutional since it allows
the union to absolutely
control whether an employee
is a member in good stan
ding and therefore entitled to
keep his job. This, they
charge, abridges their right
of free speech and
association guaranteed by
the First and Fourteenth
Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution and Article 1,
Section 9 and 10 of the
California Constitution.
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WORK SMARTER
The Union policy, they
say, forcing them to support
with their money political
causes they don’t approve of,
violates the same con
stitutional guarantees. The
workers want the court to
order the UFW to rescind
Resolution 45, which enacted
confiscation of their holiday
pay, and to return all money
collected under the
resolution.
Finally, two of the workers
charge the UFW with
“oppression, fraud, and
malice” m its treatment of
them. They are asking the
court to award them each $1
million exemplary damages
to discourage the union from
attempting similar schemes
in the future.
Commenting on the case
Chairman Thomas J. Harris
of the National Right to
Work Legal Defense
Foundation compared UFW
bosses to slaveholders.
“Many of these workers are
unskilled. If they can’t work
as farm laborers, they can’t
work at all. Under the
arrangements the UFW has
with employers, the union
officers have absolute
mastery over the lives and
livelihood of workers. That’s
slavery.
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“We’ll do all we can to
reinstate these workers in
their jobs and to overturn the
California law that permits
such outrages.”
The National Right to
Work Legal Defense
Foundation, established in
1968, is a charitable
EVENING SESSION - 7:30 P.M.
Talk and Slide Presentation to show prospective
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organization. It provides
free legal aid to wage ear
ners whose rights have been
violated as a result of
compulsory members from
all over the country and is
presently supporting more
than 80 court cases involving
employees’ rights.
NOT HARPER