Jackson Vows to ‘Pick Up Baton’ in Meeting With Fasting Chavez

Rev. Jesse Jackson said he will not eat for three days in an expression of solidarity with Cesar Chavez, who was in the 29th day of his water-only fast here Sunday.

Chavez, 61, began fasting July 17 to protest the use of five pesticides, which he claims endanger farm workers and consumers, and to draw attention to the United Farm Workers’ four-year boycott of table grapes.

After meeting with Chavez, Jackson told more than 100 reporters that the UFW planned to widen its boycott of table grapes by targeting three supermarket chains--Safeway, Ralphs and A&P.;

“We are going to store managers . . . and ask them to take grapes off their shelves,” Jackson said. “We are going to the stores with picket signs.”

Chavez is bed-ridden and did not meet with reporters. But Jackson said the farm labor leader intends to end his fast “in the next few days.”

The former Democratic presidential candidate received a standing ovation when he spoke to more than 3,000 supporters at a rally beneath a huge white tent at the union compound.

Of his meeting with Chavez, Jackson told them “we talked together, we prayed together and we strategized together.”

When Chavez ends his fast, Jackson said he will fast three days. “I’ll pick up the baton and carry it another lap,” Jackson said, “We’ll keep passing that baton until justice comes to the workers.”

Jackson was the latest in a stream of public figures and celebrities who have come to this agricultural community in the San Joaquin Valley to witness the fast and lend support.

The fast is a repeat of a 25-day fast in 1968, which drew then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy to Chavez’s bedside.

Now, there are concerns that a much older Chavez may have suffered permanent physical damage. His physician, Dr. Fidel Huerta, said the labor leader has lost 26 pounds and has a dangerously high uric acid level, a condition that could lead to kidney failure.

Concern for Chavez’s health and renewed interest in his fast, which UFW Vice President Dolores Huerta called “one of our tried and true weapons,” also moved some disaffected associates from the early days of the UFW to return this weekend.

Memories of 1968

Among them were Marshall Ganz, the union’s former organizing director, and Jerry Cohen, the union’s former general counsel, who left the UFW in the early 1980s.

“The fast brings back memories of the union at its best,” Cohen said. “Specifically, it recalls to my mind his fast in 1968, which pulled everybody together because he put it all on the line.”

Separately, grape growers reacted sharply to UFW claims that the fast has led to reduced sales of table grapes in supermarkets. Grapes, they insist, are safe to eat and are selling well.

“So far, we have shipped 29 million boxes of grapes, which is about even with last year,” said Bruce Obbink, spokesman for the California Table Grape Assn. “I know of no store in the entire United States that has removed grapes from their shelves.”

Public Awareness

Nonetheless, some growers reluctantly agreed that the fast has shoved the struggling UFW back into the national spotlight and rekindled public awareness of the boycott.

“There certainly is fear when you get national political leaders and celebrities coming up here and saying you are a bad guy,” said a Delano grower who asked that his name not be used. “The question is this: Why not boycott nectarines, peaches, plums, lettuce and cotton, which are treated with some of the same chemicals?

“It comes down to one thing,” the grower said, “the union is trying to force growers into contracts.”

The union has no contracts with table grape growers and only 80 contracts nationwide with mostly tree fruit, wine grape and vegetable growers, a UFW official said. Dues-paying membership has dropped by 50% since 1978 to about 30,000, the official said.

Look to Yearly Totals

But some observers, including the western regional director of Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine, believe the boycott’s impact may not be known until growers and store owners release sales figures after the end of the year.

The recent public attention seems to have invigorated union support and sparked picketing and sympathy rallies. On Saturday, members of Campaign California, a political association organized by Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), held a rally at a Ralphs supermarket in West Los Angeles.

The union has attributed an unusually high number of cancer deaths among children in the nearby agricultural community of McFarland to the use of pesticides.

Although state investigators are still looking for the cause of the cancers, the union has distributed thousands of copies of a videotape on the problem throughout the nation. The tape includes interviews with mothers of stricken children.

Union Criticized

One of those mothers Sunday criticized the union for allegedly using her plight to draw attention to its boycott and generate donations for union causes.

“We feel that we have been used by Cesar Chavez,” said Connie Rosales, 42, of McFarland, whose 19-year-old son contracted cancer five years ago.

“By using our unfortunate circumstances and our children’s suffering, we believe that the UFW has raised $10 million in the last three years,” said Rosales. She demanded that the union withdraw her segment from the video, and “return one-half of the money that the UFW has raised to establish medical relief for the community.”

Union officials have insisted that all donations raised by the videotape have been used to publicize the threat posed by pesticides.