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Sons of Zapata

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Sons of Zapata .Sons of Zapata A BRIEF PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE FARM WORKERS STRIKE . IN TEXAS SONS OF ZAPATA I 2/S0NS OF ZAPATA Electricians: $6.00/hour Plumbers: $5.50/hour Mechanics: $4.50/hour Carpenters: $3.50/hour I!.:!_ J(.~~A Truck Drivers: $2.95/hour -t' ,~--;;;- Waiters: $2.00/hour Farm Workers: SO.SO/hour ~4HY? /A£C,Af;fC:S CHOFe/?es 2.9s 11 e -; £Ro; 2.00 TfA/5,4,TAtOR CAMr-es If/~ ,- - puP ?U£ ? The Underdog:s In 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 in which they I ive and the manner in which they have been ignored by their fellow Amer­ icans. The average tourist, whose destination is Old Mexico and who passes through south Texas only incidentally, does not enter Starr County for it is not on the usu­ al tourist routes. Starr County is an isolated backwater, outside the mainstream of American I ife. Virtually its sale distinction is that its 17,000 people, 90% of whom are of Mexican descent, are among the least well educated and the most unspeak­ ably impoverished of any in the entire United States. Except for a few oil and natural gas wells, industry is non - existent in Starr County. 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 of 8Se an hour) and offers year-round jobs to but a few. The scarcity of jobs and the meagerness of the pay accounts for the large number of residents who migrate to other 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 their rickety 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 dollars an hour paid to industrial workers in America and the 40-8Se an hour paid to farm workers is that industrial workers are organized into labor unions. The National Labor Relations Act, which is regarded as a bill of rights for industrial worker organizations, specifically excludes agricultural workers from its provisions. This means that employers are under no obligation to bargain collectively with their em­ ployees, even if everyone of them has signed an authorization card. There is no way in which an employer of farm workers can be forced to hold a representation election. In addition to the exclusion of farm laborers from the NLRA, the organiz­ ation of agricultural employees in Texas is made even more dif~icult by the failure of state law to protect workers who sign authorization cards from being discharged or discriminated against by their employers. Organizing any union in Texas has al­ ways been difficult; organizing a farm workers union has been thought impossible heretofore. SONS OF ZAPATA/3 Portrait of Starr Cou nty According to the U.S. census of 1960, almost one-third of the 3,339 families residing in Starr County had annual incomes of under $1,000. About 70% earned less than $3,000, which was the cut-off level for defining the poverty-stricken when the I'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 and as the most impoverished in Texas. An estimated 22% of adult Starr County residents are illiterate in both Spanish and English. The average number of years of school completed by Starr County citi­ zens is considerably less than the 6.7 years attained by adult male Texans of Mexi­ can descent as a whole. By comparison, Cal ifornians of Mexican descent have an av­ erage of 10.8 years of school ing . .. 4/S0NS OF ZAPATA Rally in San Juan Plaza, Rio Grande City, May, 1966. Eugene Nelson addresses workers at a rally in Rio Grande City in late May, 7,966. "You must be brave. .. You are the sons of Zapata," he said. "In the tradi­ tion of the American and Mexican Revolutions, and as citizens of the Uni­ ted States, you should stand up for your "All We Want Is Justice" rights. " . Conditions in Starr County made a strike inevitable. In the spring of 1966, many workers were say i n g, "Now is the time. II Then, in May,· 1966, Eugene Ne Ison moved to Mission, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley to help farm workers organize. Nel­ son had been a picket captain in the suc­ cessful Delano, California, grape pickers strike. Several workers from Rio Grande City suggested that N e Iso n come up to Rio Grande and speak to the workers about the Union .. Over 60 workers showed up for the first rally. Several hundred signed cards authorizing the Union to negotiate a con­ tract for them. Demands were modest ... $1.25 an hour and the right to bargain collectively. "All we want is justice" became the workers' cry. SONS OF ZAPATA/5 Melons are the biggest crop in Starr County. The 196? harvest exceeded $5~OOO~OOO. La Casita Farms~ a sub­ sidiary of Hardin Farms of SaZinas~ California~ grows a quarter of the total 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 representa­ tives 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 a high 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 the workers 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 acres in Texas. and the pouthwest; .Starr Farms (Los Puertos Plantations); Sun-Tex Farms; Margo Farr;zs; ·and 'ElmQre & Stahl. 6/S0NS OF ZAPATA Over 400 workers voted to go on strike against the melon growers of Starr County on June 1, 1966. Many workers immediately sought work outside the strike zone. Others began their yearly migrations to other states, leaving a month earlier than usual. The growers immediately began recruiting strikebreakers in Mexico. And wages began going up, as La Casita announced a new wage of $1 an hour and other growers began paying 70c or 80c an hour. Over 80% of the work force quit the first day, and every packing shed in the County was shut down. SONS 0F ZAPATA/7 The First Day ••• at La Casita at Trophy Farms at Lo8 .n..ruertos pz.antatiorz I . 8/S0NS OF ZAPATA - RandaU Nye (left) is County Prosecut­ or. He is also an attorney for Starr, Farms. Roberto Pena (right) is a deputy sheriff, and has participated in dozens of arrests of union members on trumped-up charges. Ran g e l' Jerome Preiss (below) was the first rinche in Rio Grande. l!e ar­ rived the first day of the strike, and immediately arrest­ ed Eugene Nelson. "The Law" Against the Strike The Starr County political machine (IINew Partyll) immediately sided with the growers. The County Attor­ ney, Randall Nye, and the Judges and County officials actively tried to break the strike. County employees sprayed union members with insectic·ide. County cops forcibly pushed workers into the fields, and made threats to keep them there. One DistrictJudge outlawed aU picket i ng. SONS OF ZAPATA/9 Guillermo De la Cruz was 15 when he joined the strike. He was arrested at the Roma bridge on October 24, 1966. Charges were not brought against him. He and his wife live in this house, which they built. Faces of the Strike' Rafael Trevino, picket cap­ tain, talks with Albina Garcia on the picket line. lO/SONS OF ZAPATA •.J ~' ; ", "i~:A STRI K£ - Faces of the Strike ~ BREAKER LIVES HERE FARM \JORKER wANT DECENT WAGES Librado de la Cruz (right)3 273 has been arrested 7 times3 more than anyone else in the Union 3 since the strike began. Strikers (below, left) Gabriela Rosa3 Emma Alaniz3 and Sebasti­ ana Lopez. D 0 min g 0 Arredondo (below, right) is strike chairman and local lea d e r of the Starr County farm workers. \ SONS OF ZAPATA/11 Eugenio Gonzales (right) is the custodian of the Union burro3 named "$1.25 an Hour." Mario Vera 3 (below)3 21 3 holds his two-year-old daughter Ma ­ ricela. Faces of the Strike 12/S0NS OF ZAPATA Chief cook Tomasa Mejorado (above) ~as one of the fe~ members to march the entire 490 miles to Austin. Con­ stancia Lopez is an assistant cook in the strike Faces of the Strike kitchen. Ism a e l Diaz ( 1 eft ) ~ 23 ~ burned his hand ~hile attempting to turn 0 ff an insecticide -oil spray machine ~ h i c h ~as directed to~ard the participants of a rally in San Juan Plaza in June~ 1966.
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