Dan Morain: Brown's break with UFW a sign of the times

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/30/3737473/browns-break-with-ufw-a-sign-of.html#storylink=scinlineshare

By Dan Morain, Senior editor
dmorain@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Thursday, Jun. 30, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 13A
Last Modified: Thursday, Jun. 30, 2011 - 8:04 am

Democrats take it as an article of faith that the United Farm Workers of America is sacrosanct, even as the labor organization founders.

So Democrats could be forgiven for believing Jerry Brown would sign the bill delivered to him by Senate leader Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez seeking to make it easier for the struggling union to organize farmworkers.

In his first six months back in the corner office, however, Brown has shown signs of becoming an apostate.

That he is less than enthralled with the union became abundantly clear shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday when Brown announced that he had vetoed the legislation, angering the more than 100 farmworkers, union leaders and sympathetic politicians who massed in the hallway outside his Capitol office.

"What never changes in politics is power," UFW President Arturo Rodriguez told the crowd after he had engaged in an animated hallway phone call with the governor after the veto.

Times are different now.

In his younger days, Brown marched with UFW founder Cesar Chavez, and signed landmark 1975 legislation granting farmworkers the right to collectively bargain. For his part, Chavez placed Brown's name into nomination for president at the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/30/3737473/browns-break-with-ufw-a-sign-of.html#ixzz1QntQnYHK

FULL story at link.