.Sons of ZapataA BRIEF PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY

OF THE FARM WORKERS STRIKE

. IN TEXAS

SONS OF ZAPATA

I

2/S0NS OF ZAPATA

Electricians: $6.00/hourPlumbers: $5.50/hourMechanics: $4.50/hourCarpenters: $3.50/hourTruck Drivers: $2.95/hourWaiters: $2.00/hourFarm Workers: SO.SO/hour

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The Underdog:sIn order to appreciate the sacrifices made by the Sons of Zapata in their

struggle for dignity and justice, it is necessary to know something of the land inwhich they I ive and the manner in which they have been ignored by their fellow Amer­icans.

The average tourist, whose destination is Old Mexico and who passes throughsouth Texas only incidentally, does not enter Starr County for it is not on the usu­al tourist routes. Starr County is an isolated backwater, outside the mainstream ofAmerican I ife. Virtually its sale distinction is that its 17,000 people, 90% ofwhom are of Mexican descent, are among the least well educated and the most unspeak­ably impoverished of any in the entire United States.

Except for a few oil and natural gas wells, industry is non - existent in StarrCounty. The only important means of livelihood available to the people is farm work,(prior to June, 1966, agricultural labor in Starr County drew 40e to a maximum of8Se an hour) and offers year-round jobs to but a few. The scarcity of jobs and themeagerness of the pay accounts for the large number of residents who migrate toother parts of the country in search of farm work during the summer of each year.From the valley of the Rio Grande, Mexican-American farm workers travel in theirrickety old cars and heavily laden pick - ups to gather in the harvests of Arizona,California, Oregon, Colorado, and other states. They return to Texas in the fall,and try to get through the winter on the strength of their summer earnings.

The single most important reason for the disparity between the several dollarsan hour paid to industrial workers in America and the 40-8Se an hour paid to farmworkers is that industrial workers are organized into labor unions. The NationalLabor Relations Act, which is regarded as a bill of rights for industrial workerorganizations, specifically excludes agricultural workers from its provisions. Thismeans that employers are under no obligation to bargain collectively with their em­ployees, even if everyone of them has signed an authorization card. There is noway in which an employer of farm workers can be forced to hold a representationelection. In addition to the exclusion of farm laborers from the NLRA, the organiz­ation of agricultural employees in Texas is made even more dif~icult by the failureof state law to protect workers who sign authorization cards from being dischargedor discriminated against by their employers. Organizing any union in Texas has al­ways been difficult; organizing a farm workers union has been thought impossibleheretofore.

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According to the U.S. census of 1960, almost one-third of the 3,339 familiesresiding in Starr County had annual incomes of under $1,000. About 70% earned lessthan $3,000, which was the cut-off level for defining the poverty-stricken when theI'War on Poverty" was launched in 1964. The average per capita income in 1960, $534,was so small as to rank the county as seventeenth poorest in the United States andas the most impoverished in Texas.

Portrait ofStarr County

..

An estimated 22% of adult Starr County residents are illiterate in both Spanishand English. The average number of years of school completed by Starr County citi­zens is considerably less than the 6.7 years attained by adult male Texans of Mexi­can descent as a whole. By comparison, Cal ifornians of Mexican descent have an av­erage of 10.8 years of school ing .

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"All We Want Is Justice"

Rally in San Juan Plaza,Rio Grande City , May,1966.

Eugene Nelson addressesworkers at a rally inRio Grande City in lateMay, 7,966. "You must bebrave. . . You are thesons of Zapata," hesaid. "In the tradi­tion of the American andMexican Revolutions, andas citizens of the Uni­ted States, you shouldstand up for yourrights. " .

Conditions in Starr County made astrike inevitable. In the spring of 1966,many workers were say i n g, "Now is thetime. II Then, in May,· 1966, Eugene Ne Isonmoved to Mission, in the Lower Rio GrandeValley to help farm workers organize. Nel­son had been a picket captain in the suc­cessful Delano, California, grape pickersstrike.

Several workers from Rio Grande Citysuggested that N e Iso n come up to RioGrande and speak to the workers about theUnion .. Over 60 workers showed up for thefirst rally. Several hundred signed cardsauthorizing the Union to negotiate a con­tract for them. Demands were modest ...$1.25 an hour and the right to bargaincollectively. "All we want is justice"became the workers' cry.

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Melons are the biggest crop in StarrCounty. The 196? harvest exceeded$5~OOO~OOO. La Casita Farms~ a sub­sidiary of Hardin Farms of SaZinas~

California~ grows a quarter of thetotal harvest for the county.

The Growers Answer, "Never!"The majority of the farm workers in Starr County work for five major growers.

Through letters, phone calls, and personal visits, the workers and their representa­tives called upon the growers to agree to the $1.25 wage and to recognize the Union.The growers were just beginning to harvest their multi-mill ion dollar melon crop,where profits sometimes exceed $500 per acre. Wages ranged from 40e an hour to ahigh of 85e. But the growers were unanimous. "We will never recognize the Union,"they repl ied. One grower bragged that he would rather see his crops rot and theworkers starve, than recognize the Union.

Major growers in Starr County include: La Casita Farms~ whose melon harvest exceeds$l~OOO~OOO a year; Griffen & Brand (Trophy Farms)~ owner of several thousand acresin Texas. and the pouthwest; .Starr Farms (Los Puertos Plantations); Sun-Tex Farms;Margo Farr;zs; ·and 'ElmQre & Stah l.

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Over 400 workers voted to go on strike against the melon growers of StarrCounty on June 1, 1966. Many workers immediately sought work outside the strikezone. Others began their yearly migrations to other states, leaving a month earlierthan usual. The growers immediately began recruiting strikebreakers in Mexico. Andwages began going up, as La Casita announced a new wage of $1 an hour and othergrowers began paying 70c or 80c an hour. Over 80% of the work force quit the firstday, and every packing shed in the County was shut down.

at La Casita

at Lo8 .n..ruertos pz.antatiorz

I .

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The First Day •••

at Trophy Farms

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-RandaU Nye (l eft)is County Prosecut­or. He is also anattorney for Starr,Farms. Roberto Pena(right) is a deputysheriff, and hasparticipated indozens of arrestsof union members ontrumped-up charges.Ran g e l' JeromePreiss (below) wasthe first rinche inRio Grande. l!e ar­rived the first dayof the strike, andimmediately arrest­ed Eugene Nelson.

The Starr County political machine (IINew Partyll)immediately sided with the growers. The County Attor­ney, Randall Nye, and the Judges and County officialsactively tried to break the strike. County employeessprayed union members with insectic·ide. County copsforcibly pushed workers into the fields, and madethreats to keep them there. One DistrictJudge outlawedaU picket i ng.

"The Law" Against the Strike

Guillermo De la Cruz was 15when he joined the strike. Hewas arrested at the Romabridge on October 24, 1966.Charges were not broughtagainst him. He and his wifelive in this house, which theybuilt.

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Faces of the Strike'

Rafael Trevino, picket cap­tain, talks with Albina Garciaon the picket line.

lO/SONS OF ZAPATA

• .J~'

; ", "i~:A STRI K£ -~ BREAKER

LIVES HEREFARM \JORKER

wANT

DECENT WAGES

Librado de la Cruz (right)3 273

has been arrested 7 times 3 morethan anyone else in the Union3

since the strike began.

Strikers (below, left) GabrielaRosa3 Emma Alaniz3 and Sebasti­ana Lopez.

D 0 min g 0 Arredondo (below,right) is strike chairman andlocal lea d e r of the StarrCounty farm workers.

Faces of the Strike

\

Eugenio Gonzales (right) isthe custodian of the Unionburro 3 named "$1.25 an Hour."

Mario Vera3 (below)3 21 3 holdshis two-year-old daughter Ma ­ricela.

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Faces of the Strike

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Ism a e l Diaz( 1 eft ) ~ 23 ~

burned his hand~hile attemptingto turn 0 ff aninsecticide -oilspray machine~ h i c h ~as

directed to~ard

the participantsof a rally inSan Juan Plazain June~ 1966.He ~as ~orking

at La Casita~hen the strikebegan.

~ PedroMorin ~ Mrs. Mo­rin~ Roberto Ar­redondo~ PabloDe la Cruz ~ andPedro Rios.

Faces of the StrikeChief cook Tomasa Mejorado (above) ~as one of the fe~

members to march the entire 490 miles to Austin. Con­stancia Lopez is an assistant cook in the strikekitchen.

The workers in Rio Grandevoted to join their Indepen­dent Workers Association withthe National Farm Workers As­sociation, led by Cesar Cha­vez. Then in August, 1966,the NFWA merged with the Agri­cultural Workers OrganizingCommittee to form a new union,the United Farm Workers, AFL ­CIO. Now all farm workerswere united in one strong un­ion, and the movement wasgaining strength throughoutthe nation.

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United We Stand

Gilbert Padilla (above)~ National Vice President ofthe UFWOC~ has led the strike in Texas since early1967. Tony Orendain (left)~ National Secretary­Treasurer~ led the strike in the fall and winter of1966. Cesar Chavez (below) is the leader of thefarm worker movement in America.

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"We Must Let the Whole World Know!"

The melon harvest ended in mid-June t

with growers blaming their poor harvest onthe weather and strikers claiming apartial victory. But no contracts were instght. The workers decided to make a pil­grimage march t as had been done in Cali­fornia, to dramatize to the s tat e andnation the conditions and wages and suf­fering that far m workers must endure,and to rally support for the cause amongother farm workers and synpathizers.

Marching across Texas

Rest Stop on La Marcha

Mayor Al Ramirez of Edinburg greetedthe marchers when they arrived inEdinburg. Ramirez~ injured in a carwreck~ had his hospital bed wheeledto the park to meet the workers.

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Marchers arrive at Shrine of San Juan.Friends Join Our Cause

As the March wound through South Texas, thousands of farm workers joined in fora mile, a day, a week. Mayors of Roma, Grulla. La Joya, and Edinburg endorsed thedemands of the strikers. Bishop Humberto Medeiros greeted the farm workers in SanJuan and held a special mass for them in the shrine there. Then the marchers setout for Corpus Christie, San Antonio, and finally Austin. Joining the farm workerswere members from almost every union in Texas, religious leaders from all majorfaiths, and thousands of sympathizers.

Bishop Humberto Medeiros says a special mass for farm workers in the shrine at SanJuan. The Bishop endorsed the strikers' demands and defended their right to organ­ize a union. Archbishop Lucey of San Antonio suggested that $l. 25 was "ghastly re­compense for the work and conditions of farm labor."

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La Marcha Ends an Era...La Marcha ended in triumph on Labor Day, 1966. Over 15,000 people joined in

the final day. The leaders of the farm workers, Domingo Arredondo, Eugene Nelson,and Cesar Chavez; leaders of the AFL-CIO and unions throughout the state and ~a­

tion; public servants; Mexican - American groups; and thousands of rank and fileworkers from every walk of life joined in that final glorious day.

The March did not wi~ any contracts, or even State passage of a $1.25 minimumwage. But it ended forever the myth that Mexican-Americans were "happy, contented,satisfied" with second - class citizenship and a life of poverty. Political upsetsthat fall showed that Mexican-Americans would no longer blindly accept a corrupt po­litical machine that opposed their interests. Thousands of workers began organizingand joining Unions throughout the State, and the whole labor movement was the bene­ficiary of this new spirit. La Marcha was symbolic of and contributed to the ever­quickening awakening of the Mexican-Americans in Texas. It was symbolic of the endof an era. But the hard task Qf organizing farm workers of building a democraticUnion and a new social order of justice lay ahead.

r-•.'

,

SONS OF ZAPATA/17

Marchers enter the state capi­tal in Austin (opposite page)on the final day of the 490­mile march, Labor Day, 1966.OVer 15,000 people joined inthe final rally (right). Ces­ar Chavez (below, left), Na­tional Director of the UnitedFarm Workers and Bill Kircher,head of the organizing depart­ment of the national AFL-CIO,walk in Austin. Chavez andKircher had just celebratedthe victory of the Union inthe August 30 representationelections at the DiGiorgioCorporation in Delano, CaZif­ornia.

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The Support That Sustains Us....

Vidal Lopez carries bags of groceries out of union warehouse during weekly distribu­tion of donated food and clothing to families of strikers .

. Our struggle in Starr County could not have survived were it not for the sup­port and assistance of innumerable outside individuals and organizations. The listof our supporters includes labor unions, civic and veterans groups, churches of alldenominations, individuals in all the foregoing organizations, and individuals withno organizational affiliation. For fear of being unable to mention all those whohave helped and because words alone cannot express our gratitude, we have thought itbest to issue a collective "Muchas gracias. II

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Back to the Valley

During the fall, the strikersreturned to the long, slow, diffi­cult task of building their Union,of organizing their fellow workers.Migrants, who had left before thestrike, returned to Starr County andlearned of the Union. In cafes, inbars, in door-to-door efforts, themessage of our cause was taken toevery barrio and hamlet in the coun­ty. But the county political ma­chine, fearing any change in thestatus quo~ began an all-out effortto break the strike and scare thepeople. And the growers turned toMexico for workers for their fallcrops.

"An Army moves on its stomach." Thestrike kitchen in Rio Grande City.

Rallies~ like this one in Rio GrandeCi ty ~ raise support and food for thestrikers~ and give people in othertowns a chance to lea r n of ourstruggle.

E 1 TeatroCampes i no ...A visit toRio Grande.

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"Green card" commuters ~ who have just crossed the international- bridge at Roma~

Texas~ step onto a La Casita Farms~ Inc. bus. They will be driven the 23 milesfrom Roma to the La Casita farm for a day's work and will be returned to the bridgein the evening.

Imported Strike BreakersThe single most effective tactic used by the growers to combat the huelga in

Starr County has been the employment of Mexican "green card ll commuters. The "greencard" ( or Al ien Registration Receipt Form, 1-151, ) is an immigration visa grantedto al iens who desire to immigrate to this country. Although Congress clearly in ­tended that green card recipients should reside in the United States prQper, theimmigration authorities have chosen to so administer the regulations as to permitgreen carders to I ive in Mexico and commute daily to jobs in the United States.

Food, clothing, and housing are all considerably less expensive in Mexico.Many commuters evade payment altogether of federal income taxes even though theirplace of employment is within the United States. Because their cost of living isso much lower, green card commuters have proved willing to work as strikebreakersfor wages with which American residents cannot maintain a decent standard of liv­ing for themselves and their families.

The United Farm Workers, in objecting to the employment of green card commut­ers, has always tried to make clear to the public that it does not object to theimmigration of Mexican nationals or other aliens to this country. What it does ob­ject to is the clear violation of the spirit of the law by the immigration offi·cials in permitting II immigrants II to reside outside the territorial boundaries ofthe United States, and their employment as strikebreakers.

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Picket line by members of the UFWOC at the Roma Internationalbridge on October 24

31966.

Showdown at RomaIn order to focus publ ic attention on the problem of "green card" commuters,

members of the UFWOC placed a picket line on the international bri.dge at P.or,:c: ur:October 24, 1966. Cars ~f green carders working at struck farms were persuaded to

turn around. Cars containing visitors and others not employed at struck establish­ments were permitted to pass. When Eugene Nelson was arrested for no apparentcause by sheriff's deputies, the picketers sat down on the bridge and blocked alltraffic in protest. Thirteen were arrested in all. Three ( Eugene Nelson, BillChandler, and Tony Orendain,) were found guilty of obstructing a bridge ( a trafficviolation), and fined $25; charges against a 16-year-old minor, Guillermo De laCruz, weren't pressed; and charges against the remaining nine adults were dismissecby the judge.

"

Deputy Sheriff AdolfoRamirez arrests picket­ers who have blocked thebridge to protest theunwarranted arrest ofEugene Nelson.

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ASpring Full of HopePicketing at La Casita.

The strike entered 1967 full of hope and promise. Many workers in the packingsheds had joined the Union. Union members were learning how to convince the work­ers. even green carders. to join the cause. The growers and county officials retal­iated by deputizing over 40 new sheriff1s deputies. including the assistant managerof La Casita. And the arrests began again. "Disturbing the peace'l includes sayingthe Lord's Prayer in Starr County (two arrests). Five priests and 5 workers werearrested for .trespassing and using I'abusive 1anguage" (saying "v iva 1a hue1ga").Arrests included 10 on January 26. another 10 on February 2. and selective arrestsof Union members. organizers and leaders throughout the spring. In spite of this.as May and the big melon harvest neared. the Union was hopeful of a great break­through. If only the green carders could be prevented from taki~q the jobs."...

(Below. left to right) Reynaldo, GuilLermo II, Librado, and GuiLLermo deLa Cruz I, and LeoneL Lopez. "

International UnityOn May 11, 1967, the Con­

federation of Mexican Workers(CTM) put up a picket line onthe Mexican side of the Romaand Camargo Bridges, whileover 70 strikers picketed onthe American side. The melonhar~est had begun that week.The International picket linewas 100% effective and not asingle green carder crossedthe border that day. Monthsof quiet talks had precededthis international pic k e tline, as leaders of the state

SONS OF ZAPATA/23

and national labor confedera ­tions worked out details forcooperation. And the localworkers on both sides formedclose friendships to solidifythe solidarity. But politicsgot involved, especially inMexico,and the Mexican workerswere forced to take down theirpicket line after two days.Green card Mexican nationals,driven by the hunger q~d

poverty of their own country,began again to cross the riverand American workers becameless willing to leave thefields, since they knew thatthere were unlJmited numbersof Mexicans to b rea k thestrike and take their jobs.

(Top) Antonio Rivera~ Sea­!'etary General, of the BriakWorkers Union of the Migue l,Al,eman CTM~ discusses howthe CTM members aan aidtheir brother worke!'s a­aross the borde!'. (Middle)CTM piaket l,ine~ May l,l,~

1967. (Bottom) Mexiaan un­ion members give Zeaf2ets,to Mexiaan farm wo!'kers ~

urging them to aid in theStarr County strike.

24/S0NS OF ZAPATA

"Get Those Melons Through!"Captain A. Y. Allee~ commander of a company of eight Texas Rangers assigned to breakthe strike during the melon harvest of May - June~ 196? They were asked to come toStarr County by the large growers and the County Sheriff. Several mass arrests ofunion members resulted from the unilateral intervention of the Rangers on the sideof the growers. (Infernophoto--One World)

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"Keep Peace"

(Left to right) Cathy Lynoh, Kathy BakerRodriguez, Daria A. Vera, and Irene Chand­ler leave the offioe of the justioe ofthe peaoe after being arrested on May 26,1967 in Mission by offioers of the TexasRang~rs. Although oharged with unlawfulassembly (oharges were later ohanged toillegal pioketing), they had been standingon pub l i 0 property, were stationed atleast fifty fee t from one another, andoarried pioket signs whioh were olearlymarked: "This is an informational piok­et. " They had gone to Mission in orderto info~ railroad employees and the gen­eral publio that a trainload of soab me­lons from Starr County was passing throughthe oity.

Magdaleno Dimas being released from the hospit­al where he had been a patient for several daysas a result of injuries when arrested and beatenby offioers of the Texas Rangers on the night ofJune 1, 1967. Dimas sustained a oerebral oon­oussion, a severe soalp laoeration requiringseveral sutures to olose, and extensive oontu­sions. A fo~al oomplaint was filed with theDepartment of Justioe by the UFWOC oharging thatCaptain A. Y. Allee used unneoessary and exoes­sive-foroe in oarrying out the arrests of Magda­leno Dimas and Benito Rodriguez.

Captain Allee leotures strikers.

Rangers Bash Heads,

I

26/S0NS OF ZAPATA

Parade in Rio Grande City on June 3~

1967~ protesting the use of TexasRangers in Starr County as strike­breakers.

"iEs Mejor Morir de Pie'

que Vivir de Rodillas!"

Rally in San Juan Plaza of RioGrande City on June 3~ 1967. Thedemonstration was attended by about300 people who were particularlyoutraged by the beating administeredto Magdaleno Dimas-two days earlier.

Rally in Laredo on June 9~ 1967. Thedemonstrators were protesting thearrests without just cause of num­erous members and officers of theUFWOC. Governor John ConnaUy~ whohas legal command of the Rangers~

had a speaking engagement in Laredothat day.

SONS OF ZAPATA/2?

Domingo Arredondo, local president of the Starr Countyfarm workers, signs the recognition agreement with oneof the growers, Virgilio Guerra.

AVictory and a ContractThe strikers were thwarted in their primary objective of stopping the melon

harvest and forcing the major growers to sign contracts. The uninterrupted flow ofgreen card strike breakers from Mexico after May 13 assured the growers of adequatelabor. This made it difficult to convince American workers to quit their job. Thewave of arrests and terrorism in May and June, 1967, disrupted the organizing ef­forts, exhausted the Union physically and financially, and intimidated all but afew hundred of the workers.

But the Union did claim some victories. One grower, Virgilio Guerra, recog-nized the Union and agreed to sign a contract for his 60 workers. Because of thefarm workers I efforts, the Immigration Department. fipally issued a ruling (on July10--too late to affect the harvest) forbidding the recruitment of foreigners tobreak a certified strike. The Department of Labor certified the strikes againstthe six major growers in Starr County. This new rul ing will help all organizing ef­forts along the entire border. And the events of May and June were so shocking tothe nation that four U.S. Senators came to the Valley in late June to investigatethe problems there.

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28/S0NS OF ZAPATA

Seated (left to right) are Se­nators Paul Fannin (Ariz.)"Harrison Williams (N.J.)" TedKennedy (Mass.) " and RalphYarborough (Tex.).

Senator Harrison Williams"Chairman of the Senate Subcom­mittee on Migratory Labor.

New Hope from Washington,On June 29, 1967, the first

official hearing of a committee ofthe United States Senate to evertake place in Starr County was con­vened in Rio Grande City. On thatdate the Senate Subcommittee on Mi­gratory Labor heard testimony con­cerning the broadening of the Na­tional Labor Relations Act so as tobring farm workers under its provi­~ions. Senators participating in'the inquiry included Harrison Wil-liams of New Jersey, Chairman, Ed­ward "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusettsand Ralph Yarborough of' Texas (PaulFannin of Arizona joined the panelon the second day, June 30, in Ed­i nburg) .

Union witnesses described the

difficulty of organIzing farm work­~rs into unions because of the ab­sence of official procedures orguidelines by which labor and man-

'agement can be brought to a confer­ence table for mutual negotiations.They also testified about the em­ployment of "green card" commutersas scabs and the intervention ofthe Texas Rangers in the dispute atthe request of the growers, and onthe i r beha If .

Support for the inclusion offarm workers in the National LaborRelations Act was voiced by aspokesman for Archbishop RolertLucey, representatives of the TexasCouncil of Churches, speakers fromthe Texas State AFL-CIO, and evenStarr County Attorney Randall Nye.In a closing statement summing upthe impact of the two days of tes­timony, Senator Williams noted thatit was lIthe most powerful testimonythis subcommittee has ever receivedas to the need for extending Na­tional Labor Relations Act coverageto farm workers .11

SONS OF ZAPATA/29 :

Jose Serna~ Jr. ~ of Rio GrandeCity~ and Senator Ted Kennedy.

Equality at Last?Part of the overflow crowd ofspectators who attended thehearings in Rio Grande City.For those who did not under­stand English~ simultaneoustranslation of the testimonyin Spanish was relayed toloudspeakers positioned on thecourthouse laum.

~verf1ow crowds in Edinburg.

.j

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30/S0NS OF ZAPATA

The farm workers oj Starr Count)' and the farm

lI'orl..ers all over A merica ask (JIll: to be made taU(wrtllers of A mericl!. They ask for reawn instead of

cham. The.. ask for jUltice imtl'l/tf of !freed. They {I.sf...

for peace in.Head of turmoil. They {Hk that the legisla­

tor.1 of America treat them at last like American I. The.\!

ask for Ihe righl 10 collective hargaining, so that the

nightmare of the plI.\f year in Star,. County. Texas, need

never again make a mockery of the American Dream.

-GILBERT PADILLA

It has always been difficult to buildUnions in Texas, even in those industriesprotected by the National Labor RelationsAct. And no Union has ever been success­ful in the harsh climate of Starr County.The UFWOC petitioned for an election atthe Starr Produce Packing Shed, which iscovered by the NLRA, and it was the firstrepresentational election ever held inStarr County. The result was a 14-14 tie,with three challenged ballots. The Unionclaimed massive interference and unfairlabor practices by the bosses and Countyofficials, including the assigning of asupervisor as a poll watcher and the pa­trolling of the polling place b y anti­union County cops. The NLRB is studyingthe case.

---~"""""!'""'!'~__-=-~""""'-~-~'iIl" ..--.

"With the strike, you don't play around."

Building a UnionFarmworkers do not have even the min­

imum protection and rights of the NLRA andof other workers. For this reason, thelabor movement has, in the past, consid­ered the organization of farm workers animpossible task. But we must organize.And we must organize now. We cannot waitfor better laws, which might take years topass. We cannot wait for an "ideal situa­tion" to organize. For this reason, thestrike must go on against the tremendousodds that now face it. We will continueand steadily increase our drive to organ­ize the packing sheds of Starr County.

Similarly, we refuse to be disheart­ened by the callous greed of the growersand the wanton brutality of their TexasRanger all ies.

We have pledged ourselves not onlyto remain steadfast in our struggle to 6r­ganize the farm workers, but to expand ou~effort by assigning',oJr most able,and ded­icated members to':tj"le sole task o'f vi,sit­ing workers in the fields, in their homes,and on the streets in order to win themover to the conviction thnt the unioA' isthe only solution to the oppression andpoverty of the agricultural laborers ofthis county and of this country. '

J2/S0NS OF ZAPATA

We Need Your HelpThe quest of the Sons of Zapata for a place in the sun had a beginning but does

not have an end. Our struggle moves forward and will continue to do so until theother America grants farm workers the justice which is rightfully theirs.

We call not only upon all Texans but all Americans to support the cause forwhich we have been battling in Starr County for more than a year. We desperatelyneed your help to carryon this struggle. The farm workers themselves have sufferedand are suffering, but suffering alone cannot achieve victory. We appeal to you tohelp sustain this effort. Send your contributions today and continue to send themon a weekly and monthly basis to the following address:

UNITED fARM WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, AFL-CIOBOX 54 RIO GRANDE CITY, TEXAS 78582

We wish to thank the Edinburg DaiZy Review for permission to use numerousphotos from its extensive files. We want also to thank George Tuley forhis invaluable assistance with the processing. Several of the photographswere taken by George Ball is and Emmon Clark. This volume was edited byDavid M. Fishlow.

Copyright 1967 by the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO.Labor Donated.

'-

UNITED FARM WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, AFL-CIO .

P.O. Box 54, PHONE 487-2995 Rio Grande City, Texas 78582