University of Virginia Library

Grape Clarification

I would like to respond to a
letter written by a Mr. Kramm and
appearing in this paper on October
15th.

I first wish to clarify the situation
somewhat. The Cavalier Daily
seems to have given many of its
readers the impression that the local
chapter of SSOC is spearheading
the California grape boycott here in
Charlottesville (Oct. 10 issue). It is
actually the Human Relations
Council which is pushing the boycott.
The chairman of SSOC has
informed me that at the time The
Cavalier Daily article came out his
organization hadn't even discussed
the boycott, much less endorsed it.

As for Mr. Kramm. The notion
that farm workers are not underpaid
is ludicrous. According to the
Monthly Labor Review put out by
the U.S. Department of Labor the
average farm worker was paid $1.23
an hour in 1966. Add to this the
fact that only 30% of all farm
workers work year round and it
becomes apparent that annual
wages for farm workers are, on the
average, drastically low. And the
state of California is no exception
to such statistics.

Mr. Kramm states that farm
workers in the San Joaquin Valley
earn a base pay of $1.50 an hour.
Under recent contracts the two
biggest growers in this area (Schenley
and DiGiorgio) have actually
raised their minimum hourly wages
higher than this - to $1.75 and
$1.70 respectively. The new contracts
did not just happen, however.
They were brought about by the
persistent efforts of the United
Farm Workers Organizing Committee
(UFWOC). It was only through
a national boycott of Schenley's
products and the threat of the same
against DiGiorgio that the workers
were guaranteed pay raises.

One grower which has repeatedly
refused to recognize the UFWOC
as a rightful bargaining agent has
been the Guimarra Vineyards
Corp., California's biggest producer
of grapes. The present boycott originally
covered only grapes of this
company, the other growers having
agreed to bargain with the UFWOC.
The boycott was extended to cover
all California table grapes when it
was discovered that Guimarra was
marketing its grapes under the labels
of the other growers, Schenley
and DiGiorgio among them.

Supporters of the strike and
boycott do not necessarily think of
the farm growers as oppressive,
insensitive, or money-hungry as Mr.
Kramm implies they do. They are
simply being realistic. Seldom does
a man choose to improve another's
lot at the expense of his own. To
expect the growers to willingly upgrade
the conditions of the workers
at their own expense is to expect
more of the growers than one normally
expects of himself. The sad
truth of the matter is that men
usually must be forced to settle for
less in order that the lives of those
not so fortunate may be improved.
Unfortunately, there presently
exists no way in which the growers
can be forced to bargain with the
workers. Farm workers are specifically
excluded from the National
Labor Relations Act and are therefore
not guaranteed the right of
collective bargaining by law as are
workers in non-agricultural industries.

The real issue, then, is not
whether the AFL-CIO will be able
to "get its paws on millions of

Mr. Kramm claims. Nor is the real
issue that of poor working conditions.
The issue here is far more
basic than that. What is at stake
here is whether or not farm workers
- not just in California, but
throughout the country - are going
to have a very fundamental right,
the right to bargain with their
employers. That's what all the
shouting's about. And it's going to
continue until that right is secured.