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AMENDING MIGRATORY LABOR LAWS 367 Senator Munremy. Mr. Chavez, you said the Schenley Industries— is that the outfit that moved the crew from one operation to another ? Mr. Caavez. No, I was referring to a previous strike, and that was the Mount Arbor, a rose-producing company in McFarland. ; Td like to continue. In my own words Td like to give you a little background of what’s happening in Delano to show the need— Senator Witu1aus. By the way, when you say “my own words,” these are all your own words in this paper? Mr. Caavez. Right. Senator Wii1a0s. By summarizing? Mr. Caavez. By summarizing. Senator Witttams. We read a speech frequently, and when we get throu. say “now, that’s a very good speech.” Now, I'd like to say a few on my own. That’s why we have all these bright staff writers found here. But n see that all of this is your work. Mr. vez. That's correct, yes. What I attempt to do here is to show that great need of having the farmworkers covered under the National Labor Relations Act. But when we entered the strike in December 16 of last year we thought we were just striking workers of the employers that the workers wanted to strike against. Senator Witztims. December of 1965? Mr. Cuavez. I'm sorry, September 16 of 1965. And we found out soon that we were actually striking, and for reasons we failed to wnderstand, we found that the civic council in Delano passed a reso- Fution attacking the association and claim that this was not a bona fide strike, and that this was a civil rights movement, and had heen brought abour by outside agitators. We also found that at the time we had applied for a grant from the OEO, and this was done before the strike, and we found that the high School also took a similar position as regards the strike and also as regards that grant we had applied for from the OKO, We found that even the local ministerial administration felt that somehow the strike shouldn't have been called, and in calling strikes it was not the right thing todo. But nowhere did we find anvone who was willing to try and bring the two sides together. Nowhere do ive find that the growers were willing and wanted to meet with us, and even before the strike started, to meet with us so that we could berin conversations hoping that the strike would not need to be cailed in the first place, and after it had been called, hoping that we could settle the strike before it went any further and became more bitter, and so orth. -And so when we speak of a strike in agriculture in California, we must of necessity also speak of the infringement of civil rights of the strikers. Now, let mig give you a little background information what our experience has Been in Delano. The strike takes in parts of two counties: Kern and Tulare Counties. We found that the sheriff's office in Kern County were brought in in large numbers when the strike first. started, and objected to many of the things that we were doin in conducting the strike, but especially and specifically they objected we ee Pheer ae oO gg OTE ve ae ——* - : : > a a st oN oe a