[Mb-civic] L.A. Times attacks farm workers with lies

[Barbara Siomos]

This is a disgrace these workers need all of the help they can get, Cesar Chavez fought long and hard for these workers....

peace,
barbara


-----Original Message-----
From: United Farm Workers
Sent: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 11:51:03 -0800
To: Barbara Siomos
Subject: L.A. Times attacks farm workers with lies

L.A. Times attacks farm workers with lies
Please send a letter to the editor today

The Los Angeles Times is running a series of inaccurate,
dishonest and untrue stories by reporter Miriam Pawel viciously
attacking the Farm Worker Movement and Cesar Chavez.

We know the conditions farm workers endure on a daily basis and
recognize much work remains. Despite supplying extensive,
detailed information and unparalleled access over many months
refuting specific inaccuracies and misleading charges, L.A.
Times reporter Pawel refused to include the Farm Worker
Movement's side in her stories. These initial points will be
followed by a much more detailed response.

The UFW's commitment to organizing farm workers is unwavering.
Less than 150 union members are non-farm workers. Our limited
resources mean we can't be every place the need is desperate in
California. So our focus has been the Central Valley and Central
Coast, the greatest concentration of farm workers in America.

Thousands of farm workers benefit daily from the United Farm
Workers' efforts:

* 32 election victories, most in California, since the current
organizing drive began.
* Dozens of UFW contracts including the largest strawberry,
rose, winery and mushroom firms in California and the nation
plus victories in other states.
* Over the last decade, the UFW has dedicated up to 50% of its
resources to organizing, among the highest of all unions.
Donations provide key support for organizing.
* Ongoing UFW organizing faces stiff resistance, as evidenced by
the state of California's ruling that last summer's election at
Giumarra table grape vineyards could be thrown out because of
the grower's illegal actions.
* The UFW has helped tens of thousands of farm workers through
recent legislative gains: the 2005 regulation to prevent heat
deaths; seat belts in farm labor vehicles; remedies for workers
cheated by farm labor contractors; new pesticide protections;
the historic push for immigration reform could aid hundreds of
thousands in farm labor.

The Farm Worker Movement is continuing the legacy of its
founders, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, who believed the
movement had to go beyond the work place through non-profit,
independently-run groups with distinct missions and staff.
Annual independent financial audits give all the organizations
clean bills of health.
* The nine-station, three-state Radio Campesina network mixes
Mexican music with extensive educational programs for 300,000
daily listeners. Radio Campesina blankets the highest
concentrations of farm workers in the nation.
* More than 1,900 of 3,500 amenity-rich affordable housing units
serving about 10,000 people are in farm worker areas in the
Central Valley, Arizona and Texas.
* Community organizing efforts where farm workers live are
improving the lives of thousands in the Salinas and Central
valleys and in South Texas'Rio Grande Valley.
* The Cesar E. Chavez Foundation empowers and equips tens of
thousands of young people to carry on Cesar's life and work.

It is natural for members of Cesar's family to be inspired by
his example. Less than a dozen of 400 committed movement
employees are family members; just four hold policy-making
positions. Many spent decades as full-time volunteers, work hard
for modest pay. They all serve without compensation as board
members. Arturo Rodriguez was elected UFW president directly by
farm workers.

You can help! These facts and much more that didn't appear in
the L.A. Times are why we ask you to help us bring balance to
these unjust stories. Please write down your own feelings and
send a letter to the L.A. Times.

Sign your letter to the editor with your full name, street
address and phone number, and send it today to:
letters at latimes.com or Letters to the Editor, 202 West First
Street, Los Angeles, CA. 90012 

If you send a letter-to-the editor, please cc us a copy at:
ufwofamer at aol.com.

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

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United Farm Workers, 29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Rd., P.O. Box 62,
Keene, CA, 93531 http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/r7AhqB61Vu5Q/ufw

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