Let the UFW do its work

Re “The withering of the UFW,” Opinion, Dec. 7

Miriam Pawel’s criticism about a contract between the union and one of the largest Salinas Valley vegetable growers was aimed at the wrong target. Too often, the union is battling powerful companies that shamelessly let their farmworkers suffer. The workers who fought alongside the United Farm Workers for the D’Arrigo Bros. contract had representatives who were part of the negotiations from the beginning. To treat their contract or any improvement in their lives as insignificant only represents ignorance of this struggle. It is agricultural companies, not the UFW, that hurt farmworkers. The UFW should be applauded for fighting the good fight. After 32 years, victory for farmworkers took place when the ink on that contract was finally dry.

Alisha M. Rosas

Hacienda Heights

The writer is a former spokesperson for the UFW.

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No wonder the UFW is only a shadow of its former self. It’s reeling under an enormous international “scab” system of illegal workers and unethical employers. Founder Cesar Chavez saw it coming when he led a protest march to the Mexican border in 1969. Let’s reverse the flood and let Chavez’s UFW get back to work to improve members’ lives.

Carl Olson

Woodland Hills