United Farm Workers say: “VIVA HILLARY”

http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/ (Full text below)

SALINAS, California - Sen. Hillary Clinton won the endorsement of the United Farm Workers on Tuesday in Salinas, California, where she was greeted by supporters chanting “Viva Hillary, Viva Hillary.”

The farm workers union said it “believes Hillary Clinton to be the strongest, most experienced candidate for President of the United States. She will be able to tackle our nation’s toughest problems - health care, improving the economy for working people and repairing our country’s standing in the world.” Founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, the UFW now represents some 27,000 workers.

”The farmworkers are problem solvers and we’re together going to solve the problems facing agriculture, fixing our broken immigration system and giving people just wages and fair working conditions,” Clinton said at a rally in Salinas, an agricultural area immortalized in the novel “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck, who was born in Salinas.

”As Cesar Chavez said, the fight is never about grapes or about lettuce, it is always about people and that is what this campaign is about,” Clinton said.

Many of those in the enthusiastic crowd greeting Clinton were Hispanic, shouting chants of “Viva Hillary.” Clinton and her Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama have been vying for the support of Hispanic voters who could play a key role in nominating contests in such states such as Calfiornia and Arizona, where Clinton campaigned later on Tuesday.

:bounce:

So I do not know what this statement means.

But first let me say: Even after being given the truth that she did speak up for women and workers, people complain that she didn't say anything about unions. Even that claim is specious, but to give her NO CREDIT for anything and complain that she didn't do anything for unions is unfair. You seriously expect one board member of Walmart to make them unionize?

You have to start somewhere. She spoke up for women and worker conditions, against everyone else on the board. Organizing Walmart is a huge, daunting fight that even LABOR hasn't been able to begin an effective campaign to accomplish. Ultimately, labor needs to figure out how to wage an effective fight, and employees have to be behind it for anyone to be able to have an effective voice in aboard room.

The Farmworker's Union knows how hard it is, probably more then most, and they endorse her.


FROM 'THE NATION', 2004:

Asked what it will take to organize Wal-Mart, Al Zack, outgoing assistant director of strategic programs for the UFCW, points to Wal-Mart's stated commitment to remaining "union free." Says Zack, "When the labor movement...matches that commitment, then it will be successful."

It would be difficult to exaggerate the magnitude of this challenge. Wal-Mart's rhetoric is supported by diligent practice. The company screens out potential union supporters through its hiring process: In addition to excluding those with union histories, the company also administers personality tests to weed out those likely to be sympathetic to unions, and offers managers tips on how to spot such people.

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As the UFCW's humbling defeat in the California grocery strike showed, the union, after years of friendly relations with so many regional grocery stores, does not know how to conduct an antagonistic national campaign, or how to make use of nationwide publicity and public sympathy for workers. Many labor organizers, pointing to such failings, blame the UFCW for its failure to organize Wal-Mart.

But the mistakes of this particular union may almost be beside the point. While it is true--and sobering--that the UFCW devotes only 2 percent of its national budget to the Wal-Mart campaign, it is also true, as many in the labor movement are beginning to recognize, that there is no way any single union could tackle an opponent of this size and genius. As Mike Leonard, just-retired director of strategic programs for the UFCW, observes, if his union spent all its resources on organizing Wal-Mart workers, it would have to neglect the pressing needs of current members.

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Most people agree that any serious approach to forcing Wal-Mart to the bargaining table must eventually threaten the company's profits. Labor organizers used to think they could do this by asking the public not to shop at Wal-Mart, but now most concede that's impossible, given the retailer's low prices. Their own members shop at Wal-Mart, making at least 30 percent of union credit-card purchases at the retail giant. Even activists thinking seriously about how to oppose the retailer keep finding themselves in its parking lots. "I love that damn store," says Rathke, who recalls being a loyal customer when he lived in Arkansas and needed the discounts. "They had me. I wasn't making 2 cents to put together." Now he lives in New Orleans, and admits, "Damned if I don't go down to Sam's for a new tire! They do have something that works. You can't just convince people they're evil." Indeed, many rural and working-class women view Wal-Mart as an ally, an oasis of low prices in an unfriendly world. In her chart-topping paean to country pride, "Redneck Woman," Gretchen Wilson sums it up irresistibly: "Victoria's Secret, well their stuff's real nice/But I can buy the same damn thing on a Wal-Mart shelf half price/And still look sexy, just as sexy as those models on TV/No, I don't need no designer tag to make my man want me." The question of how to threaten profits, given such intense consumer loyalty, is one of many that the labor movement's current dialogue must engage.

Article link for anyone who wants to read the whole thing:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040628/featherstone