1988_03 The Daily Collegian March 1988

              March 23, 1988 Page 3
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Guatemalan Workers, UFW Workers Exlpoited
by Larry Michael Hobson
AMITITLAN, GUATEMALA: A ten
fool high chain link fence surrounds the
grounds of the Lunafil thread factory in
the suburb of Guatemala City. Outside
the fence and on top of the factory's roof
arc armed security forces who waich over
the striking workers, making sure no one
enters lhe gates. Since June 9, 1987 the
courageous workers of Lunafil have been
occupying the plant, and although they
arc free to leave at any lime the security
forces are to insure that no one else gets
inside the gates.
The strike Is a result of the plant
owners' failure lo bargain fairly. Because
of ihe increase in demand for iheir thread,
the owners tried to institute obligaiory
twelve hour shifts on Saturdays and
Sundays with the workers receiving no
overtime pay. The workers were also to
be responsible for more machines at a pay
rate of three dollars a day. With an
overwhelming 112-16 vote the workers
rejected the owners plan. Although there
had been a commission of three people to
oversee the vote (one union, one nonunion, one management), management
declared the vote fraudulent and implemented die plan of obligatory twelve
hours shifts.
Of the 91 workers who originally went
on strike, thirty-nine are still out. Twenty-
nine of ihose workers are inside the plant
gates, and the other ten have constructed
a shelter on the outside of lhe fence. The
workers inside receive barrels of water
from a factory next door, food and
supplies must be handed over the fence,
fhey are separated from their families by
the chain link fence and their shelter is a
tarp hung across the fence and lhe roof of
lhe factory.
Closer to home there is also a courageous strike being waged by the United
Farm Workers. On August 7. 1987, 220
workers walked off the job at H.P.
Metzler and Sons farms in Del Rcy. On
May 22, i987, the UFWA contract with
Metzler and Sons expired although work
continued as the two sides continued to
negotiate a now contract. On August 1.
forty-five UFWA members became ill at
Metzler Farms after being exposed tc
peslicidcs in the fields. There had alsc
been complaints of pesticide poisonings
before August. Because of the continued
pesticide poisonings and breakdown in
ncgoiiauons lhe workers walked off the
job in protest Since then, H.P. Mctzlci
and Sons which is owned by
Metropolitan Life Insurance has locked
the workers oul
What is significant about both of these
strikes besides the courage and vision
displayed by these workers, is the need to
internationalize labor solidarity. Capitalism is an economic system that knows
no boundaries and holds no loyalties. It is
a system based upon turning money into
more money by buying and exploiting
labor. In the case of Lunafil, union
leaders and rank-n-file are constant tar-
gests of death squads and military oppression.
In Guatemala, as in other Thira World
countries, half of the population is unemployed and seventy percent of the population lives in poverty. The minimum
wage is $1.50 a day compared to $3.35 an
hour here in the U.S. Because organized
labor in the U.S. has struggled and died
for the minimum wage, forty hour work
week and other benefits, Third World
labor becomes more attractive to the
capitalist.  In many  of these countries
U.S. based Trans National Corporations
(TNC) are not required to pay taxes,
leaving them free to extract the wealth of
ihcse underdeveloped nations.
On the home front organized labor is
under attack. The Reagan administration
has given the grcen light io union busting and has continued to lowei the
standard of living. In California aior.e,
Cal-OSHA is being dismantled and
pesticide poisonings are daily events as
well as other preventable work related
injuries.
Addiuonally, oven racism is on the
rise. It is hard to imagine the surrounding commmunilies sitting silent if
forty-five white workers were poisoned or
had to endure lhe inhumane working
conditions forced upon the desperate farm
workers.
Despite the fact that farm laborers have
the lowest standard of living among workers, Mexican immigrants are viewed as
people who steal jobs away from "Americans" even though they can only get the
lowest paying manual labor jobs. What is
never brought up, is why these jobs are
available when unemployment is so
high? Jobs such as farm laboring, disr
washing, and those in the garment industries are made readily available lo those
escaping the horrendous conditions of
Mexico and Latin America. The capitalists make these jobs avialable and even
seek out immigrant labor so that they can
drastically lower their cosl of labor to
insure greater profits. This is known as
super exploitation compared to ordinary
exploitation. It Ls imperative to understand that these jobs are created for the
immigrants to lower the over-all standard
of living for all workers.
When organized labor in Guatemala
wins a victory, workers, around the world
win. A milium Third World labor fcrce
is going to raise their own standard of
living while discouraging TNC's from
relocating there because the rate of
exploitation has been lowered. The same
can be said for labor losses here. The
weaker organized labor is here, the weaker
it will be around the world. A nation with
a minimum daily wage rate of $1.50 can
only hurt workers here. As long as
capitalists can relocate in the Thrid World
paying sub-standard wages to unorganized
labor, jobs will continue to run away and
ihe standard of living will continue to
drop.
murrnational labor solidarity is needed
to protect all workers around die world It
is jusi as important to write a letter to
President Vinicio Cerezo of Guatemala on
behalf of the striking workers jof Lunafil,
as it is to donate food, clothing 2nd
money tn lhe strikers ai HP. Metzler and
sons, as well as writing a letter to John
Creedon, the President and Chief
Executive Officer of Metropolitan Life
Insurance Company, the primary owner
of Metzler Ranch in Del Rey.
Mr. John J. Creedon
President and Chief Executive Officer
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
1 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10010
Presidenie Vinicio Cerezo
Palacio Nacional
Guatemala, Guatemala
UFWA
P.O. Box 424
Parlier.CA 93648
(209) 646-3353
F.B.I. Spies on U.S. Citizens Opposing Reagan's Foreign Policy
by Mike Zieltnski     Frontline
Recently released FBI files indicate
that throughout the 1980s the government conducted a massive investigation
of groups opposed to U.S. policy in
Central America, utilizing wire-taps,
informers, and undercover agents. The
FBI surveillance was revealed in more
than 1200 pages of reports gathered by
59 FBI field offices during a six-year
scrutiny of lhe Commiuee in Solidarity
with the People of El Salvador
(CISPES). The documents were made
public only after a federal court in Dallas
ordered their release, acting on a Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) suil filed by
the Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) on behalf of CISPES.
Under the pretext lhat other or
ganizations might be "fronts" for illegal
CISPES activities, the FBI compiled files
00 hundreds of groups and individuals
working for peace in Central America.
Targeted groups included health care
workers, organizations sending humanitarian and medical aid to the region, work
brigades, and film and media projects.
Margaret Ratner, Education Director
for CCR, points out that, "The breadth
and scope of this investigation indicates
that die FBI was engaged in an illegal
campaign to stifle dissent. Not only was
ihe leadership of CISPES harassed and
surveiled, but so, too, were people who
had attended CISPES meetings or
particpatcd in CISPES sponsored demonstrations"
FBI harasses Public Protests
FBI tactics outlined in lhe CISPES
files include: photographing panicipants
and organizers at demonstrations, physical
surveillance of activists, infiltration of
meetings,    review    of    leaflets    and
newsletters to identify cribes of U.S.
policy, and Tinning police checks on the
license plates of cars parked outside
meeting sites and near public protests.
For each new phase of the investigation the FBI prepared a different rationale,
successfully evading restrictions on
domestic security investigations.
The government's investigation of
CISPES was iniitiated m 1981 under the
guise thai the solidarity committee might
be in violation of the Foreign Agents
Registration Act. Looking al CISPES'
political support for El Salvador's
FMLN/FDR (Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front/Democratic Revolutionary Front) and its close working
relationship with the Salvadoran refugee
community, the Bureau hoped to
prove that CISPES was under the control
of a "foreign power." When this proved
unfounded, lhe FBI switched io a hunt for
mm
LATIN AMERICAN SUPPORT COMMITTEE
PRESENTS: "Voices In The Struggle For Peace and Justice"
The Latin American Support Committee is presenting an evening of poetry readings
by socially concerned poets from San Diego and Fresno. This event will take place on
Thursday. March 24, 1988, at 7:30 pjn. in room 200 of the upstairs cafeteria at
CSUF. A welcome reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. in room 202 of ihe upstairs
cafeteria.
This evening of poetry will take place during Central America Week and is co-
sponsored by: The Upward Bound Program, the English Department, the School of
Humanities, the Political Science r^partrmenl. Women's Alliance, the Gay-Lesbian
Studeni Alliance, the Rainbow Coalition and M_E.Ch.A. at CSUF.
The program is free to the public.
For poet interviews please call Larry Hobson at 252-5093 .
"terrorists" in CISPES' ranks. With the
approval of thyi Attorney General William French Smith, the FBI escalated its
surveillance as part of a Foreign Counterintelligence' International Terrorism investigation. Once again the Bureau was
unable to substantiate any of its suspicions as CISPES activities which include human rights campaigns, sending
humanitarian aid to El Salvador, and public protest-proved to be both legal and protected by the Constitution. Despite intensive study of CISPES stretched out over
six years, the FBI failed to uncover any
evidence thai ihe group or its members
were involved in illegal activity. But the
investigation continued.
Government agents adopted two justifications for the ongoing investigation.
First, lhe Bureau reasoned that if none of
La Voz de Aztlan
La Voz de Aztlan invites you
to share your creativity. For
our special Semana de La
Raza issue, we plan to feature creative writing and
photography. Please submit
poetry, prose, short stories
and/or photographs to us at
the Keats Campus Building,
(Daily Collegian Office).
h