Union organizer urges action in Festival Latino keynote

Shouts of "AViva just'cia!" filled Steinberg-Dietrich Hall last night as Dolores Huerta -- co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America -- stressed gender equality and farm workers' rights. Huerta, currently secretary-treasurer of the UFW, organized the union after witnessing discrimination against the workers. The group's membership includes 26,000 farm workers with union contracts, in addition to workers with medical and pension benefits. "Somewhere out there, the farm workers are picking the food which we have on our table every night, and we take them for granted," Huerta said. "If you were lost on an island, who would you rather have with you -- an attorney or a farm worker?" Huerta charged that workers are not provided with toilets or fresh water on the fields, and that the products are shipped straight to the markets without being cleaned. "There are pesticides out there and the workers are picking the fruit and then eating their lunches with pesticides on their hands, since they have no water," Huerta said. She is leading a campaign called "Five Cents for Fairness," asking chain stores to pledge to support installing toilets and fresh water in the fields for the workers and to provide women freedom from sexual harassment. According to Huerta, "close to 1,000 stores have already signed the pledge," including American Foods, a company which owns the Lucky, Jewel and Acme supermarket chains. "We're asking growers to obey the law and not to intimidate or harass the workers, but to provide them with necessities," Huerta said. "It's all about pressure and power, and the issue is who's going to have more power right now," she added. She said the "secret of organizing" is simply to bring people together, adding that "since every time people come together they are met with violence, we have to learn how to make things happen." Huerta concluded by noting that the only thing students can leave behind is what changes they make in society. "I just want to impress upon you that each of us has the power to change things," she said. College freshman Andrew March --Ewho was born in a UFW boycott house --Esaid meeting Dolores Huerta was a "great honor." "My parents were organizers of the boycott, and Dolores Huerta was a big part of our discussions and my upbringing all my life," he said. The keynote address was co-sponsored by El Movimiento Estudiant'l Chicano De Aztl

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