Bitter Fruit

WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA

AFSCME was well represented when more than 30,000 men, women and children marched through the streets here on April 13 to protest the plight of the workers who pick strawberries in this northern California town — the strawberry capital of America.

Among the national figures who led union members, strawberry workers, community activists and religious leaders in the 2.5 mile-long march, was AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee.

AFSCME activists from as far away as New Mexico, Michigan, Illinois and Connecticut joined marchers in calling on strawberry growers to respect the workers’ basic rights to a livable wage, clean drinking water and protection from sexual harassment.

"Their plight is unique in America today," said Tony Loete, treasurer of Local 1132 (Council 31), Moline, Ill. "You just don’t see workers who are that oppressed, that exploited, and who are subjected to such extreme working conditions."

"What they’re asking for — five cents more a basket of strawberries to lift their wages — shouldn’t be a big deal in this day and age, but you’d never know it from the growers," explains Lawrence Rodriguez, president of Local 624 (Council 8) in Albuquerque, N.M.

Rosie Fernandez, who made the long trek from southern California along with other members of Orange County, Calif., Local 2076 (Council 36), was inspired. "We’re here to show our support for the strawberry workers and to tell them, ‘Sí se puede — It can be done!’" she says.

Fahari Jeffers of the United Domestic Workers of America/AFSCME, came to Watsonville to repay a debt to the march sponsor, the United Farm Workers, and its late founder Cesar Chavez. Jeffers explains that it was Chavez who first conceived of organizing the nation’s domestic workers.

"There’s a community of people here in Watsonville who occupy the bottom rung of the economic ladder, who live, work and die in poverty," she says. "We’re here to support them, and to stand up for everyone who wants a chance to achieve the American dream."