.', Me lM ii n Pai1Ij Eighty-,Six Years of Editorial Freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Tuesday, October 7, 1975 News Phone: 764-0552 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104 Nixon court needs Douglas THE NINE U. S. Supreme Court Jus- tices yesterday filed into their majestic chambers to begin the 1975- 76 term - a session during which they will consider cases with major impact in the areas of campaign fi- nancing reform, abortion, and capi- tal punishment. But uppermost in the minds of many court watchers is not how those cases will be decided. Rather, atten- tion seems to be focused on whether Justice William Douglas will be able to shake off the effects of the stroke which felled him on December 31, and participate in the proceedings. Douglas, who will be 77 later this month, has been slow to recover from his illness. It has been suggested that he ought to step down so that some one better able to bear the burden of the heavy case load might be ap- pointed to the court. The most durable Justice in the court's history, Douglas was appoint- ed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939. Throughout his tenure, he has been a consistent and competent defender of civil liberties, equality under the law, and the rights of the individual when weighed against those of the corporation. Douglas, along with Justice Thur- good Marshall, represents the last bastion of liberalism typified by the Warren Court of the past two dec- ades. Currently the court is laden with N i x o n Administration ap- pointees whose views reflect a con- servative, strict - interpretationist philosophy. Often, cases are now decided by a single vote, as several of the Jus- tices cast their lots with either the liberals or conservatives depending on the issue at hand. What is particularly disturbing about Douglas's position is that he is probably not up to the rigors impos- ed by the court and its activities. But having a partially incapaci- tated Douglas on the bench seems far preferable to seating whomever Presi- dent Gerald Ford might nominate - and whom the Senate would then presumably confirm --- to take his place. One name that has been tossed about is that of Senator Robert Grif- fin, Ford's crony from his days as a member of the Michigan Congres- sional delegation. Griffin's politics tend to mirror those of Ford: conser- vative and too often callous. He would not be a welcome addi- tion to the Supreme Court., In urging Douglas to remain, how- ever, it is necessary to stress the need for some mechanism of remov- ing a totally disabled Justice from the court. Currently, the Constitution pro- vides no formal means of easing out such a person who is appointed to his position on the high court for life. There is no easy road to travel re- garding this delicate matter. But it should be up to the court to suggest a possible method. And it should be done with all possible speed. Seeds By DAVID SUPER and MARIA CATALFIO THE HALF dozen people hud- dled together on a cool March evening in a run down shack outside of Delano, California, had no idea of all the things they were starting. They had no idea that when they agreed to spend a little of their time to listen to a small man from the fields named Cesar Chavez they were the beginning of a movement that was to with- in a few years bring strikes across California and spilling into other states of the South- west and as far as Florida; na- tionwide boycotts of grapes, then head lettuce and then of the giant Gallo Winery of Modesto; that would see the powerful Teamsters' Union join hands with farm owners to try and drive farmworkers back into poverty; that would see farm- workers for the first time sitting down at a bargaining table with their employers as equals; and would see a law passed to pro- tect their long-overlooked rights only to be systematically ig- nored and abused. All they knew was that a friend asked them at work to come over for an hour to listen to a man who said he was build- ing an organization of farm- workers. First Chavez talked about things familiar to all of them: low wages, which hov- ered around $1 an hour; the dangers of the fields, such as the rampant use of dangerous insecticides; and of the camp housing, for which they paid out- rageous rents, yet- of which 80 per cent was unsafe to live in. He spoke of all the injustices farm workers had suffered: of of just having to beg a labor contractor for a job just to feed their chil- dren, and how after getting a job, they had to watch labor contractors insult and proposi- tion their wives, and order their children into the fields to per- form the most back-breaking work. THEN CHAVEZ spoke of this organization, which would help solve these problems. It would provide a medical program con- trolled by farm workers, a farm worker credit union to lend money to workers when the growers' banks would not, and in the future a union, of and by farm workers, which would help them not, only improve wages, but put an end to begging for jobs by establishing a demo- cratic, worker-controlled hiring hall and grievance procedures. In 1965 the first grape strikes were called in Delano. The strike was quickly broken by growers bringing in large num- bers of desperately poor work- ers from Mexico and other parts of the U.S. Although many joined the strike, there were still enough others to pick the grapes. Given no other choice, the workers called a nationwide boycott of grapes and sent mem- bers to the cities to gain con- sumer support. After five-long years, the pub- lic's response to the farm work- ers was enough to force the gi- ants of agribusiness, including Tenneco and Superior Oil Com- panies and the 12,000 acre Giu- marra ranch to sit down with workers' representatives, nego- tiate and sign the first contracts between growers and farm workers ever. These contracts ice: UFW Goldwater: Visions in Red overcomes INCREDIBLE THOUGH it may seem, the Red scare is alive and kick- ing. Senator Barry Goldwater, that paragon of Republican respectability from Arizona, has charged that Com- munist spies may have infiltrated several Senate offices and that this information has been deleted from the Rockefeller Commission's report on Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) activities. Goldwater has reportedly requested that Senate investigators be assign- ed to assemble information on this subject towards a possible future Sen- ate hearing. We wonder if perhaps Senator Goldwater is reading from an old speech file because he lacks the ener- gy to say anything new. This type of anti-Communist paranoia may have -made headlines and won votes in the TODAY'S STAFF: News: Barb Cornell, Angelique Mat- ney, Rob Meachum, Cheryl Pilate, Jeff Sorensen Editorial Page: Marc Basson, Steve Harvey, Paul Haskins, Debra Hur- witz, Linda Kloote, Ted Lambert, Tom Stevens Arts Page: David Blomquist Photo Technician: Ken Fink '1IE SPA' WHO GAMS *4 McCarthy era, but American citizens have become slightly more sophisti- cated over the last twenty years, even if their Senators have not, and they are no longer gullible enough to swallow such preposterous charges with a straight face. WE LIVE IN an era that fears not an Alger Hiss but a Richard Nix- on. Clearly, the senate investigators should not waste their time chasing hypothetical fellows in trenchcoats and dark glasses when there are plenty of real spies at home that merit further investigation: the CIA, the FBI and so on. Vice President Rockefeller's com- mission has presented us with a real basis for fear. The intervention of government agencies in every facet of our lives in just such an effort as Goldwater's to trap Communists, non- Establishment figures, and dissenters is grounds for a fear much more soundly based than Goldwater's para- noia. It is time that the manipula- tion of people with Red scare stories be recognized as immature, detrimen- tal, and truly dangerous in itself. There is certainly no dearth of legi- timate concerns for the Senate's in- vestigators. Before we resort to non- sense like Goldwater's to waste our time, let's handle the real problems. Decadence:,A national fixture By DAVID L. RAVID SITTING IN THE posh office of a psychology teaching-fel- low, I was quick to note the importance of his insightful statement that the first thing a UM student asks is What's your name?' and the second is 'What's your grade point?'. Confronted with visions of Nero, the fall of the Roman Em- pire, and pre-Nazi Germany, I began to explore the deca- dence of contemporary America. Certainly, there is much to be feared in terms of the decay of our society. Numerous examples of bureaucratic corruption ranging from Serpico's expose of the New York police force to Watergate and the CIA's training program for Asian leaders put a damper on All-State's motto, "You're in good hands . . ." In our "have it your way at Burger King" society, murder rates spiral ever upward, prison recidivism rates refuse to decline, and the general populace seems to have taken a course in "how to be a Pollyanna." It is not only the sociological and political aspects of America which are suffering; the cultural aspect has prob- lems too. Andy Warhol, the man who calls himself a ma- chine, graphically relates the refuse of our civilization as an art form. Rock'n'Roll has lost its capacity to promote soli- darity among American youth, and the cultural hub of the country, New York City, is on the verge of default. NOW THAT YOU'RE all excited about your move to northern Canada, a short review of the more apparent ele- ments of American decadence is in order. Since long hair is now gauche and everyone is wearing Levis, where is it all going? The trend certainly seems to be toward aluminum ashtrays, San-a-flush, and platform shoes (which, no doubt, will soon be as gauche as long hair). Law school admissions are decadent and so is Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. Although gum-on-your-shoe is here to stay, the new fad of decadence will probably lay in the area of vibrators, com- munal livinng, and lubricated prophylactics. dealt with problems Chavez had spoken of in his house meeting in 1962: wages were raised, la- bor contractors were eliminat- ed, pesticides were regulated, housing was upgraded, griev- ance procedures were estab- lished and workers no longer had to fear for their jobs. Most importantly, workers were freed from the humiliation that had followed them for so many years. WHEN THE United Farm Workers (UFW) asked for work- er elections and contract nego- tiations in the lettuce fields, the lettuce growers signed sweet- heart contracts with the giant Teamsters Union. When the let- tuce workers found out, 7,000 struck, paralyzing production. The growers broke this strike by again bringing in workers from Mexico. Again, workers were forced to boycott. When the grape contracts ex- pired in 1973, grape growers and the Gallo Wine Corporation fol- lowed the lettuce growers' precedent and signed sweetheart contracts with the Teamsters, repealing all the UFW contracts had done. Again, the workers struck. This time, they were not only met with thousands of strike breakers but with three hundred Teamster-hired thugs, and with anti-strike injunctions issued by grower-dominated courts and enforced by grower- dominated sheriff's depart- ments. Together, the goons and the sheriffs jailed 3,000, at- tacked hundreds, shot twenty and killed two, all for peaceful picketing. With their lives in danger, farm workers again went out to the cities to ask for support for the boycotts of grapes, head lettuce, and Gallo wines. LAST YEAR, signs of the boy- cott's growing effectiveness be- came more evident. Although Gallo is not required to report volume nationwide, in Michigan, Gallo sales were down almost half a million galons from 1973 to 1974. Month by month figures this year have shown even more -marked drops, while union wine companies have picked up all of Gallo's lost volume. U.S. De- partment of Agriculture figures last year showed over seven millioneboxes of unsold scab grapes in cold storage, breaking all records of boycott effective- ness and more than doubling the pre-boycott storage figures. And lettuce growers were admitting the effectiveness of the boycott. To avoid further bad publicity the growers droppedttheir long- standing opposition to a bill in California establishing a Gover- nor - appointed, five - member board and general counsel to supervise free secret ballot elec- tions in the fields. The bill en- sures elections being held when most of the workers are on the ranches, empowers the board to make rules to give all unions a chance to speak with the work- ers, and defines unfair labor practices such as intimidation, grower favoritism between un- ions or against unions, firing and hiring discrimination, cheating on payroll records submitted to board agents, and denying ac- cess in violation of board-estab- lished rule. If the board finds any party is guilty of an unfair labor practice, it can set aside tainted elections, obtain injunc- tions against offending parties, and order those illegally fired reinstated. UNFORTUNATELY, as soon as the law was on the books, the. "Last year, signs of the boycott's growing effectiveness became more evident. Although Gallo is not required to report volume nation- wide, in Michigan, Gallo sales were down almost half a million gallons from 1973 to 1974." S I::lA:::;:::.::::":::S::, I: ::"'"^.':: ":": :; : S'i : growers began to demonstrate that they had no intention of giv- ing up their fight against self- determination for farm workers. Growers, led by Gallo, screened workers for this year's work force, so that when the law went into effect on August 28, all workers who were informed and supportive of the UFW didn't have jobs. The growers, working hand in hand with the Team- sters, have been constantly com- mitting the following unfair la- bor acts, both before and after the law went into effect: -Firing workers wearing UFW buttons,, signing authori- latest figures, UFW has won over half outright, with the re- sults of the majority of the rest being held up by Teamster- grower challenges of the right of the 1973 strikers to vote, or being cases of blatant grower- Teamster unfair labor practices which will probably be thrown out and new elections held un- der more controlled circum- stances. At Gallo, the UFW is the ap- parent winner, although the Teamsters are challenging over 130 strikers' votes which would swing it their way. Without the strikers, the vote would be Cesar Chavez nation cards or otherwise show- ing support or the UFW; at the same time, company supervi- sors campaignedmside-by-side with the Teamsters. -Threatening to fire and evict from camp housing workers who vote for UFW. -Giving Teamsters total ac- cess to fields and labor camps while arresting and assaulting UFW organizers during non- work hours under board rules., -Using guns and physical threats against organizers and workers. -Providing false lists of work- ers to board representatives, ex- cluding whole crews thought to be sympathetic to the UFW. ALTHOUGH these things can be dealt with under the law, the growers and Teamsters can stall true free elections for years through lengthy court cases, some of which they have al- ready started. Election results to date have been mixed. According to the Teamsters 223, UFW 131. At Inter-Harvest, the nation's larg- est lettuce prodcer, workers voted 1,167 for UFW, 28 for the Teamsters, and 16 for "no un- ion., However, even when fair elec- tions are held, there is nothing in the law that would stop the growers from delaying meaning- fil negotiations indefinitely so that farm workers would never get the protections of union con- tracts as, they had from 1970 to 1973. Therefore, it is of para- mount importlmce that the boy- cotts of non-UFW grapes, head lettuce and Gallo wines be con- tinued. The boycott will not be over until strong contracts have been negotiated and signed, con- tracts which will finally help solve the problems that were so important to the workers in the Delano house meeting in March, 1962. David Super and Maria Ca- talfis work with the Ann Ar- bor Farmworkers Support Com- mittee, 4114 Michigan Union. Letters, To The Daily: I AM NOW MORE than $400 in debt since the University placement counselors have so little interest in their graduates positions in the state of Mich- igan or surrounding environs that U-M graduates must go abroad to seek employment. This is the result of putting elderly women who are out of touch in education in positions of power where their negligence is astounding. A prime example of this neg- ligence is the recruitment of teachers abroad by professional recruiters, read that labor con- tractors, from out-of-state. To be specific, in March, 1974, the Victoria Teacher Selection Pro- gram run out of Cal State Hay- ward was in Ann Arbor round- ing up teachers to send to Aus- tralia. Apparently no one at the Placement Bureau ever thought of checking up on the information they were giving the many teachers they inter- viewed. I SPECIFICALLY ASKED what the chances were of get- ting a permanent tenured po- sition in Australia would be and I was told that the chances were good if our teaching per- formance proved satisfactory. On that understanding, which I am sure was repeated to many other recruits, I signed a con- tract to go to Australia. More- over, complying with the strin- gent requirements of that pro- em cost moiea atof Placement staff out-wof-touch 4 teaching and tenure in Austra- lia are carefully pointed out in a four page document I got re- cently at the Chicago office of Australian consulate. For ex- ample, requirements for tenure vary from state to state and in- clude some of the following items depending on the state: that no teacher be given ten- ure unless he takes Australian citizenship; that a teacher who doesn't speak English in the Australian manner not be given tenure; that only unmarried wo- men receive tenure. None of this was ever stated by the pro- fessional recruitment staff from Cal State and had it been, I for one would never have consid- ered going, not'being willing to give up on the United States where my ancestors have lived for 200 years. IN ADDITION, THE Chicago consulate stated that an Aus- tralian must review qualifica- tions, and in particular, a can- didate must have a personal interview by an Asurtalian. No Australian ever visited the Placement Bureau or ever answered our questions. When I declined to go on the plane, a representative of the Victoria Teacher Selection Staff threatened me at the airport when I saw things were not be- ing managed with any degree of professional standards ined- ucation and honest recruit- ment, that she was going to re- port me to the U-M Placement T r f " . , nia but it should definitely be forbidden at U-M. I THINK FOR the $2,900 I spent getting an advanced de- gree at U-M, I deserve place- ment personnel who are totally in touch with all aspects of ed- ucation. This lets out the older women working there. People with necessary qualifications as well as the contacts in educa- tion are now necessary in the competitive job market that exists today. The fact that I have five years of college teach- ing experience and am qualified to do college teaching appar- ently escaped Mrs. Oerther who is busier with the PhD candi- dates and prefers to relegate people with an M.A. to the sec- ondary level, preferably out of the country, out of sight. If the Placement Bureau can't accommodate the graduates in education then perhaps U-M should drop its Education Dept. and concentrate what seems to be the main business lately, big business. Sue Smith East Lansing Sept. 19, 1975 clericals To The Daily: I AM. WRITING this letter to directly appeal to theteditors of The Daily to correct the shoddy journalism which was evident in the article on Local 2001 in Tuesday's paper. First. Elaine Fletcher who bership showed up for a meet- ing to vote on the bylaws of the clerical union was not even mentioned in The Daily article. Why? Second. Fletcher quoted Jane Gould as saying, "The mem- bership handled themselves beautifully." The vast majority of the members were not there. That makes it difficult for them to handle themselves in any manner whatsoever. Gould be- ing quoted in this way, with the fact that there were so few members present, is deliberate- ly misleading. It conjures up visions of an enraged member- ship rising up to smite the Bar- gaining Committee. This did not happen. Third. Mr. Clarence Contrat- to of the UAW did inform the membership that if the meeting went ahead and elected a by- laws committee without having notified the other members of the election, one member not in attendance at that meeting could have challenged the elec- tion and it would have been de- clared null. Contratto said that this was in the UAW constitu- tion, which 2001 is legally bound by. The first time this is men- tioned in the article is when Fletcher quotes Carolyn Weeks, who accuses Mr. Contratto of lying. Is this objective report- ing? Couldn't the accusation have waited until at least the next sentence? Fletcher then quotes Gould as saying that she agreed with Contratto that the election would have become laws committee from a minis- cule portion of the membership. The Dearborn member of the elections committee was select- ed (I can't really say elected) by one union member-the only one there from Dearborn. Why wasn't this fact reported? Fourth. The names of those seven members elected to the Elections Committee were not reported. (We are told that three of them are CDU sup- porters). The purpose of the Elections Committee as voted on by the people there was not reported. Very few facts were reported. Out of the 18 para- graphs in the story, 11 were quotes from CDU factionalists. Two were comprised of quotes by Jean Jones, of the Bargain- ing Committee. Given that the CDU is one faction of local 2001, is that any reason for The Daily to become its mouthpiece? Doesn't The Daily owe coverage to others who have been involved in and worked for the local? I AM APPALLED at this lack of objectivity and responsibility on the part of The Daily. I ask the editors of The Daily to per- sonally respond to this letter, and to assign someone with less discernable biases to cover the 2001 meetings. Susan G. S. McGee Member, Local 2001 Sept. 30 kudos I., m