ustxtxb_obs_1966_07_22_50_00008-00000_000.pdf

J. T. 1 T T Political Intelligence meatcutters’ local in Brownsville and an international representative of his union, led his local, in a meeting attended by 50 members, into a financial and moral commitment to help the strikers. He is seeking leave to help the farm workers’ drive. Last weekend, the Texas AFL-CIO executive boardacting on a recommendation by its committee on Latin-American affairs, which Garcia headsendorsed the strike and pledged “cash contributions, food, clothes, and medical care” for the marchers, and a coordinator, as well. “When we say cash contributions,” state labor president Hank Brown said, “we’re talking about $25,000. We hope to raise it from the national AFL-CIO, international unions, and area councils on a quota system.” The executive board called for a boycott against products of La Casita Farms and other farms struck in Starr County, urged union workers to join the march as it passes through their home towns and to come to Austin on Labor Day for the big Carr Endorses The Step-up The principal difference left between Atty. Gen. Waggoner Carr and Sen. John Tower in their policies as to the Vietnam war appears to be Tower’s advocacy of stepping up the war before the President does it compared with Carr’s support of what the President does after he does it. “I heartily endorse the President’s handling of the war and the order to step up the bombing in North Vietnam,” Carr was quoted from Washington, before a Texas congressional luncheon, July 14. “I think the extended criticism of the administration’s policy which gets in the press these days is an East Coast phenomenon. People don’t feel that way in Texas,” Carr was quoted. In recent statements on the war, Tower said: “We are faced with an aggressor who is bent on our destruction, who doesn’t understand words of peace. We must use military force to bring him to his knees. . . . “It is incumbent upon all Americans to support the President’s basic poliCy decisions” on Vietnam. “We are now winning the war in Vietnam. . . . I think the American people will support it as long as there appears to be a determination to win. A drawn-out war of attrition, however, would not be tolerated.” In his recent speech on cooperation with China rather than hostility, the President several times warned that the war might last a long time. V In a speech prepared for delivery this week to the Harris County Democrats, 8 The Texas Observer rally, and called for the following legislation to help farm workers: Include farm workers in the minimum wage law, the National Labor Relations Act, the Social Security Act, the workmen’s compensation program, and state unemployment and workmen’s compensation programs; extend child labor laws to the summertime; require a minimum wage for all Texas workers; create a farm. employment service to help get fuller employment for farm workers; create a national advisory council on migrant labor; terminate all foreign farm worker importations. The average hired farm worker makes an average of $953 from field work and at most can find work only 156 days a year, the board said. “Hired farm workers have the least security and the worst working conditions of any major group of U.S. working people,” it said. The march is reminiscent of the Delanoto-Sacramento march which brought the California grape pickers national publicity, attention, and support. Carr heaped contempt on “Repubniks,” ostensible Democrats who team up with conservative Republicans to defeat Democrats. In his text Carr said: “On many occasions the extremes of right and left have banded together in alliances of convenience and expediency. Working together in the full vigor of their duplicity, they seek to drive the forces of reasonableness and moderation from the political scene . . . and substitute their own frustrated brand of extremism.” A Repubnik, Carr said, is “an angry frustrated person to whom the Democratic Party means nothing more than a label to be worn when it serves his selfish person . . . and no longer.” Carr said he wants the voter of “every true Texas Democrat and every true independent” and called on Texas Democrats “to unite against these would-be destroyers of our Democratic Party, and put this tiny band of occasional Democrats and extremists on notice that we will not allow the Democratic Party to be destroyed . . . that we are staying in the Democratic Party. “Let them play their little games of political subversion and anarchy . . . let them form their alliances with the extreme right. But let’s have done with them . . . and go about the work at hand.” Tower Recovers Fumble By sharply revising the way his policy on the unionization of farm workers sounds, Sen. Tower recouped lost ground with union labor last week. The Texas AFL-CIO executive board, meeting at the Bar K Ranch outside Austin, learned of Tower’s letter to Hank Brown with Tower’s permission. The letter was then released to the public. It was a “Dear Hank” letter. “I do not favor the unionization of farm workers,” the AP had quoted him. The Starr County farm workers’ strike is “inflationary in character,” the worker “is putting the farmer out of business,” and “I would rather have 85 cents than nothing,” AP quoted him. Far from this was Tower’s letter to Brown. “The statements printed were taken out of context and do not represent my true view on the situation,” he wrote. “As you know, I have never been a ‘labor baiter,’ and I do not propose to become one .. . “I continue to believe as I have said hundreds of times all across our state that Texans should retain their individual rights to decide whether or not to join a union. That applies to farm unions and all other unions.” He opposed compulsory arbitration of labor-management disputes, he added. “There is no question,” he said, “but that the farm workers wages are lower than we would like. Likewise, return to farmers for their produce is less than it should be: The return to farmers and ranchers should be increased, and farm workers wages should be increased wherever and as soon as possible .. . “I have never opposed unions and I never will. The only stipulation I make is that compulsory union membership not be forced on any worker . . . “I believe our nation must continue to have strong, active unions. I have said before that if I were a worker in an industry where a union was active, I would join that union because I think that it would be in my best interests. I want every Texan to have that right of free decision.” “Coming from the junior senator from Texas, it was a hell of a good letter,” Brown said. It was all that was needed to beat back incipient efforts to reconvene Texas labor’s COPE and endorse Carr. The state executive board of COPE said another convention didn’t appear necessary “at this time . . . to make a choice ‘twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.” Neither man showed he understood the needs of working people; both are for retaining 14-B and against or “strangely mute” on needed reforms, COPE’s executives said. V Texas labor removed any doubt that it is willing to go for a Republican. For the first time anyone could remember, Texas COPE’s board endorsed a Republican for statewide office Albert Fay, his party’s national committeeman, who is running against incumbent Jerry Sadler. Fay is “by far the best qualified candidate,” COPE said. “It’s great,” said Fay. V Tower continues to contend the war on poverty has not reached the . poor. He spoke up in Washington for a commission to provide information on lewd materials; for a constitutional amendment permitting “voluntary prayer” in schools; against the phasing out of military reserve units; against the fair housing bill as it affects the sale and rental of property; against a