THE DEAL IN SALINAS

To The Editors of The Crimson:

I cannot in clear conscience continue reading the pro-UFW rebuttals directed at Peter Ferrara's article entitled "Has Chavez Fooled Harvard" without making a stand supporting his article. I was very pleased to see his article and equally perturbed to read all of the attacks against it--with each different reply coming up with their own figures supporting their own beliefs.

By now, most readers who truly would like to know about the situation are getting their minds boggled by the avalanche of different facts. I won't bore you with any more. But I would like to tell you a little about what I know and feel about the farmworkers' situation in the Salinas Valley. I've lived in Salinas most of my life, the Salinas Valley all of my life and I've worked "out in the fields" the past five summers. The past two summers I've worked on a Hansen Farms lettuce crew (Teamster) and during this period I've become increasingly concerned over the belief on the east coast, particularly at Harvard, that lettuce workers don't make much money.

The Salinas Valley produces about 95 per cent of the nation's lettuce during its growing season (mid-May to early October) and the Teamsters have contracts with every lettuce grower in the valley save one: Interharvest Co., the largest of all, has a UFW contract.

During the past 2 summers I've made $2800 and $2900 respectively for about 10 weeks of work each summer. I was a closer and we roughly averaged 8 dollars a day more than the cutters and packers, and about 10-15 dollars a day less than the loaders. Our lettuce crew worked five days a week, roughly 40-45 hours a week (as most all others did, too) and only twice in the 20 weeks that I've closed have we had to work on a Saturday.

Now I know lettuce workers make good money. Piece rate varies on how many boxes a crew does. On slow days the cutters would average about $4.50-$5.00/hour, closers $5-6/hour and loaders $6-8/hour. On good days hourly rates would go up about $3-4 more per hour for each job--which meant faster and harder work, not unbearable though. When I read about the extreme poverty that migrant lettuce workers live in I ask myself where because it's not in the Salinas Valley. All of my co-workers live in decent conditions, I know of no one that doesn't have a bathroom, running water, etc. Too many people do not know what farmworkers' conditions are like. I do not know what they are like outside the Salinas Valley. But don't tell me about such ugly conditions in the Salinas Valley because it's not true.

My whole point is that there are two sides to every story and unfortunately Harvard has been overwhelmed with only one side for too long a time. I truthfully admire Peter Ferrara for presenting the other side and I fully agree with his article. I suggest that his article presents the real conditions in the farmworkers' life more truthfully than any other article I've read in the Crimson. I support Peter Ferrara wholeheartedly and I hope other people will seriously consider his article and its importance. Tom Pura