Valley of Decision

In California's Edenlike Central Valley, rich earth and baking sun combine to produce lush crops of fruits and nuts. But to the men who harvest the crops--the state's 250,000 farm laborers--the great valley is no paradise. A mixed and restless lot, most of them live in rural slums that blight the countryside, are out of work a third of the time, make an average of $1,700 a year, are not covered by most federal employment laws. All this makes the valley, once the scene of bitter strikes by the Okies and Arkies of Grapes of Wrath fame, fertile soil for labor unrest.

Last week the Central Valley had a full crop. Pickets paraded past ten large ranches. Hundreds of farmhands stuffed into their skimpy wallets a little green card that meant change and crisis for the valley. The card brought membership in the newly formed A.F.L.-C.I.O. Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee. The new union has picked the valley as the opening battleground in a major drive to organize the 2,300,000 laborers on U.S. farms, one of the biggest remaining gaps in U.S. organized labor.

Clean House. The man who is trying to fill the gap is Norman Smith, 61, longtime labor organizer who helped in the tough job of unionizing the auto industry. Covering 50,000 miles in twelve months as he motored up and down the valley, Smith set up leadership-training classes in seven towns, gradually enlisted a hard core of unionists. Then he got a big break from an unexpected quarter: a wealthy Republican rancher named Fred Van Dyke. While running unsuccessfully for Congress in 1958, Van Dyke was shocked by what he found out about the life of the farm workers. He made an unwritten deal with Smith's new union to harvest his grape crop for $1.25 an hour plus fringe benefits. In the valley, where hourly rates are around $1, this was high pay. Van Dyke believes that only when confronted by a strong union will farmers themselves organize into a body capable of restricting overproduction and making market agreements. Says he: "We've got to clean our own house, and that means all the way."

Union Organizer Smith also made effective use of a little-known clause in the labor laws. The U.S. Employment Service, which supplies the critical balance of workers to valley farmers at peak season, cannot legally send workers to an employer if he is involved in a labor dispute. And Mexican braceros, who make up more than 10% of the seasonal crop pickers, cannot be hired unless there are no Americans to fill the jobs. So just at harvest time, Smith put ranchers on the spot by demanding higher pay and setting up a picket line, thus causing a "labor dispute" under California's interpretation of the labor laws. During the precious few weeks of harvesting, the ranchers were legally barred from getting help from the U.S. Employment Service. If the ranchers had already hired Mexicans, one of Smith's union men could take the job away by marching up and demanding it. Smith feels that braceros keep wage scales low and living conditions poor, wants to clear the valley of them within five years.

Last month, just before the cherry harvest, Smith decided on a trial of strength for his union. Farmers owning 75% to 80% of the cherry acreage quickly gave in, increased their pay scale from 90-c- to $1.10 for picking a 16-qt. bucket of cherries. Then when apricot harvest time came along, Smith persuaded some 40 ranchers to meet union terms of $1.25 an hour. Farmers protested bitterly to Labor Secretary James Mitchell, who had already approved Smith's interpretation of the federal regulations. Says Smith exuberantly: "Despite the fact that the Republican Administration has been big business, Mr. Mitchell has done more for the agricultural workers than any Secretary of Labor we ever had. He recognized that they are human beings, which is more than any Democrat ever did."

Plums & Grapes. Smith's union has only about 4,000 members so far, but is passing out scores of new cards every day. It has 21 organizers at work, has been promised all the cash it needs by the A.F.L.-C.I.O. Smith's next major test will be the cling-peach harvest in mid-July. After that come plum, tomato and grape crops. The labor harvest is looking good to Organizer Smith, and he is already peering beyond California to greener fields in the West and Southwest.

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