Inequality in our society is a real problem. In America (if anywhere) someone wanting to work should be able to support himself (or herself) and perhaps also their immediate family and be free of fear and hunger and disease.

I personally believe Mr. Chavez to have been a powerful and positive voice. Especially on many of the issues causing social inequality in our great nation.. It appears probable that the UFW or some of it’s people have at one time or another become involved in the ‘business of doing business’ and maybe gotten off track or off message.

Of Mr. Cooper I have no real knowledge.

In my way of thinking it’s not enough to criticize or point out problems, even if there are real issues. We must also participate. Especially towards important shared goals such as a living wage and workplace safety. In that context I’m not sure just how picking at some perceived failure of one or another individual in the UFW helps anyone, anyhow, anywhere.

That’s most of what I have to say about that.

Thanks and have a great day.

Here’s a little recent “gem” from Marc Cooper (which thank goodness was not published on Truthdig):

Cuba to Bloggers: We Beat You
http://marccooper.com/cuba-to-blggers-we-beat-you/

Remember the Truthdig article about the U.S.‘s insane Cuba policy?

Its “journalists” like Cooper keeping it that way, with crap like this.

Thank goodness Truthdig posted this response to inaccuracies in Cooper’s article. Marc Cooper is extremely suspect and a long-recognized neo-con.

He has attacked good causes repeatedly over the years (Project Censored for one, look into his “work” on El Salvador as well)

and I really appreciate this rebuttal. Good work, Truthdig.

It’s is interesting.

Truth Dig provides a space for readers to respond to views presented by authors of various articles. Most of these authors are professionals who have several venues in which they can, and do, present their views.

Why then, after reading an article, and reading the discussion of it - often based on different experiences and viewpoints - do I have to read attacks on posters, and disclaimers, and innuendos, from the professional who wrote the original article?

Are these professional columnists so inept that they cannot get their points across the first time around? Nation Magazine does the same damned thing. They post an article. The victim of that article responds to defend himself. Then, the rest of the Letters to the Editor consist of ‘He said/She said crap from the original writer. I had no idea these people were so thin-skinned and petty. Nor did I think they had such a low opinion of their readers, that they have t6o insult their intelligence to defend their own!

Thanks to Robert Scheer for allowing Mr. Grossman to rebut Cooper and Pawel’s unjustified attack on the UFW. The United Farmworkers Union is the only group that has ever done anything to improve the lives of farmworkers in this country and tearing them down at this point in time is not helping anyone. As I said in the other thread, attacking people who literally risked their lives to make a difference is shameful.

I recently heard Dolores Huerta speak, and it was one of the most moving experiences I have had in a long time. She was jailed 22 times for organizing farmworkers and had her spleen removed after being beaten by cops. I wonder how she would respond to Mr. Cooper’s accusations, or whether he would have the courage to repeat them to her face?

Cooper and Pawel are way out of line with this vendetta, and thanks to Mr. Grossman for putting them in their place. At a time when union membership in this country is at it’s lowest point in our lifetimes, who does attacking the remaining unions serve? When has Mr. Cooper ever stood on the line or risked anything for anyone?

Mr. Cooper seems to be an angry person who has a problem with anyone who dares challenge his attacks on others. For the record I’m not anonymous. Google Lost Hills and you can get my name, address, phone number and where I’m playing next. I’m a folk singer, and I’d play for the UFW any time. They are still accomplishing good things for people, even in this anti-union climate.

Si se puede…..

Personally, I stopped paying much attention to Marc Cooper back when he was writing some very nasty attacks on the pro-democracy forces within the Pacifica Radio Network back in the late-90’s dispute.  I suspect with hindsight, that those pieces look even worse today.

On general principle, if someone who’s worked for working people for 40 years says Marc Cooper is misrepresenting things, I tend to believe them.  Marc Cooper has a long track record of this.  Maybe he’s changed.  But maybe not.

The left needs to be very careful about giving people a pass based on something they did 35 years ago.  Sometimes you need to look at more recent history.  Besides, on that basis, David Horowitz should still be an iconic writer for the left.  35 years ago is back about when he was a leftist.
——————-
Interestingly, neither side seems to provide the one ‘fact’ that seems interesting.  After the UFW fought for heat regulations, what happened to the rate at which farm workers were dying or suffering other consequences of heat while working?  That number, compared to the number before the regulations would give one a better idea of how useful they were.  Certainly a better idea than this general tossing of bs back and forth.

What is it about the perfidies of labor union leaders and community organizers that bring down such wrath upon their erring heads when they stumble and/or fall?  Sure, the errings should be caught and rectified, but internally if at all possible, because spreading allegations and airing accusations broadly hits the fan of prejudice, tarring every union or community organization with the same brush. The net result too often is defemsove. self-righteous smiles all round.
  This is possibly not the best way to handle human error—especially if you consider that such organizations are practically powerless against the always-opposing forces of aggressive corporations and defensive government. Also, the relative—I say relative—insignificance of their errors compared to Wall Street and the banksters, needs to be considered in all justice.
  And one more thing while we’re at it: The vehemence also indicates high probability of more heat than light.

Perhaps Marc Cooper was not the best choice for reviewing a book about the struggle to gain rights, improve working conditions, provide benefits and a living wage for the poorest people in our country, the wretched of the earth, the closest we have to modern-day slaves. 

I note from his blog that Marc Cooper proudly describes himself spending his days cruising the roads of southern California in his GTO or his Corvette.  I’m guessing he doesn’t spend much time walking the dusty backroads where the farmworkers toil for their daily bread.

I’m also alarmed by Mr. Cooper’s historical penchant for attacking seemingly anyone who is considered liberal or progressive, from Naomi Klein to Cynthia McKinney, his moralistic condemnation of Bill Clinton’s Blowjob, his enthusiastic support for U.S. attacks on other countries. 

But perhaps the most shocking admission by Marc Cooper is that he describes David Horowitz as a friend, someone with whom he occasionally lunches since, you know, they’re neighbors.  David Horowitz is, in my opinion, one of the most vicious and despicable human beings on earth.  David Horowitz, the man who claimed he was a left-winger until he had a “born again” moment under the Reagan regime and suddenly (and quite profitably and lucratively) became a right-winger. 

I’ve seen David Horowitz’s home, or should we call it a palace, with the horse stables, the rolling fields.  I’m guessing he doesn’t have too many farmworkers living in his neighborhood, and the closest he comes to their lives is when he cruises past them in whatever expensive car he drives on his way to meet with his friends, like his neighbor Marc Cooper. 

I just don’t think that people who live in that type of wealth can possibly understand what it was to work with the UFW, what the lives of the farm workers were in the beginning.  I worked with some of them and have never again seen such levels of horrendous poverty, at least not inside this country. If you do not understand the poverty that existed at the beginning, and continues to exist for most farmworkers, any analysis of the UFW movement is going to be flawed. 

If Marc Cooper wanted to give us a fair review of this book, and put it into historical context, he could have spent just a few minutes writing about the organized right-wing efforts to destroy all the unions, the air traffic controllers, the laws passed to crush organizing efforts, the routine firing of anyone who tries to organize, the law firms (such as one nicknamed Hitler Mussolini and Fascist) that develop tactics to crush workers and help employers take away rights and benefits, the bribing of politicians to change the laws to destroy the lives of working people, send their jobs to other countries, flood our country with immigrants under h1b visa systems that provide cheap labor and create more unemployment and lower wages for all Americans. 

He also could have discussed the fact that our courts have been packed with right-wing fanatics who routinely rule in favor of business and against workers.  A little context, please. 

Instead, we get comments from Mr. Cooper about Cesar Chavez having “purges” inside the union.  Isn’t that exactly the type of writing we would expect from someone who is a friend of David Horowitz.

I’m so glad the UFW responded.  I know people who continue to work with the UFW, and know that their struggle is daily and uphill, but their successes are of value and should not be trivialized. 

Maybe Mr. Cooper could better spend his time writing articles for car magazines, fluffy pieces about his coastal cruising in his GTO and his Corvette. Don’t forget the sunscreen Marc.

I don’t believe Cooper understands the spiritual revolutionary ideas Chavez was working on. It seems that Cooper hasn’t read any Gandhi or King. Chavez was devoted to non violent transformation and was much more radical of a leader than Cooper’s soft middle centrism can understand. Chavez wanted peace that transcended racial, social, and class distinctions. Chavez was not content to be a reliable voting block for the democrats to put up on the mantle and ignore until election time. King and Gandhi weren’t satisfied with those roles either. Chavez had Vision where Cooper’s view of the world is much too murky and cynical to see it. Though correct actions are not always apparent and Cesar Chavez didn’t have it all worked out I believe his vision was clear.

According to the UFW’s LM2 report to the federal government, the union paid Mr. Rivers $7,500 in 2006, the year in which, as Marc Cooper puts it, Rivers aggressively intervened on behalf of the UFW and attempted unsuccessfully to browbeat higher-ups at LA Weeky, USC and the LA Times into backing down from their reports.

Marc Cooper has ably defended himself, but I’d like to add a few points.

Sadly, the UFW continues to string together partial-truths and bloated numbers in a desperate effort to preserve its financial base – well-meaning donors who contribute money in the misguided belief that it helps farmworkers. The UFW’s base in the fields is long gone. The union can dismiss its recent losses, which include several decertifications at companies where they held contracts. Election losses can be overturned on technicalities and yes, employers campaign vigorously and sometimes illegally against the union. They always did; and in its heyday, the UFW won anyway. None of the spin addresses the basic problem: The UFW has not given workers reason to vote for the union.

Marc Grossman’s essay is filled with misstatements; I will address just a few.

First, a question for Grossman: What is his position with the UFW? Does he work for them? Is he speaking for UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, who has been strangely silent? As Cooper points out, Grossman is vague. His exact affiliation and the capacity in which he is speaking would seem a basic fact—relevant to assessing the accuracy of his information.

Speaking of accuracy, the number of farmworkers that Grossman claims the UFW represents is absurd. The UFW has consistently refused to provide copies of their contracts, but all the expert estimates and available research show they represent a tiny fraction of the farm workers in California; probably around 5,000. In addition, their contracts are nothing to brag about. (For an analysis of one they tout, see http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/07/news/OE-PAWEL7)

Grossman proudly cites the heat regulations as a major accomplishment. UFW officials stood with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to proclaim victory— and even honored him one year at the annual Cesar Chavez fundraising dinner as man of the year. But when the regulations were being negotiated, other farmworker advocates strongly opposed them and warned they were defective. The UFW could have joined the advocates and held out for stronger regulations; instead, the UFW endorsed weak regulations, claimed victory, and trumpeted the accomplishment in its fundraising literature.

In terms of the Attorney General’s “investigation,”  Grossman quotes rather selectively. The Attorney General said: “While we concluded none of the questioned transactions violated the law, the appearance of impropriety existed. In the future, when dealing with affiliated entities or individuals, UFW charities should take greater care to avoid conduct that, while it may not be unlawful, looks suspicious.” 

I wrote “The Union of Their Dreams” to document for the first time both what Cesar Chavez accomplished and what he tore down. The book is based largely on primary source documents – letters, memos, notes, diaries and tapes that made at the time. All quotes are from these documents. I think any reader will come away with a better understanding of this important social movement and its charismatic leader – much of the story told in his very own words. But, sadly, readers will also come away with an understanding of why the UFW is not the force in the fields that it could have been. The book’s website – http://www.unionoftheirdreams.com – has extensive documentation (as well as a link to the LA Times series.)

For many who lived through the movement as active participants or as supporters, “The Union of Their Dreams” can be painful to read – as the victories of the early years give way to tragic heartbreak, more so for farmworkers than anyone else. Many people cling understandably to a romantic vision of Chavez and the union he founded. But I would urge those who are truly interested in learning about the past to look at the book; it’s important to understand history in all its complexity to appreciate and learn from the past.

Marc Grossman writes: “while the UFW does not represent the number of farm workers necessary to make the industry-wide changes farm workers deserve, the union represents under contract about the same percentage of the California labor work force as is represented by unions across the country in the private sector.”
That would be, including both public and private, about 12% of the work force. I wonder what part of the other 88% have never heard of Cesar Chavez?

A conundrum to be certain. I knew Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta ( peripherally) through my involvement in the cause of the UFWA and the Grape boycott and found them both to be sincere and dedicated.

I do not know Mr. Cooper but his credentials as a worker for Allende prior to the CIA sponsored military coup drove him ( Cooper) from Chile seem authentic enough. I am familiar with this author’s penchant for attacking leftists, including Hugo Chavez, Naomi Klein and his lack of support for Mumia Abu Jamal, and find that a bit puzzling.

This does illustrate one thing, however, the importance of doing ones own research.

One minor point:

Folktruther claims California residence, but any resident of Northern California understands that residing in Los Angeles is not really the same as actually living in California

Sorry FT, feeling my oats this morning…..

I am glad to see this strong rebutle to the anti-UFW article.

I have been a supporter of the UFW since the 1969 table grape boycott that launched Chavez’s string of successes. The UFW is an organization I donate to regularly. I proudly display their logo on my outgoing mail. When I lived in Washington State, they were active in the Yakima valley and were trying to organized the winery that is referred to here. They were an active voice for La Raza, in King County, and were well known for the vocal support they gave to the Hispanic Community in Washington.

I’ve never lived in California, but I doubt if their influence and efforts are any less in that large agricultural area, where Chavez first started. The difficulties they faced organizing a migrating labor force that changed members weekly, was a daunting task. The successes they’ve accrued speak to the dedication and hard work of the Union Members. The numbers may appear thin on the ground, but in comparison to the rest of the US Labor Movement, they are among the most militant. 

The Union Movement needs more Labor Leaders like Cesar Chavez. One of the tragedies for the working class is that the gigantic figures of the Unions were all clustered together in time. Just like our political leaders, we are left with thin replicas of the real thing. It’s too bad the enemies of the Workers haven’t thinned out a bit too. Instead, the mantra ‘Greed is Good!’ has only emboldened them.