January and February, 1954, 1954

During January, the NAWU issued a loud protest over the new Department of Labor policy of issuing work permits to Mexican Nationals at the US border; see especially the memoranda from Galarza (Jan 19,20, n.d.), and a memorandum from Mitchell to AFL President George Meany on this subject (Jan. 27). The Federal District Judge in New Orleans hearing the anti-trust case against the NAWU strawberry growers refused to accept the settlement worked out between the union and the Justice Department; for details, see the letters from Mitchell to Galarza and to New Orleans lawyer C. Paul Barker (Jan. 26,28). Mitchell also wrote organizer Felix Dugas at length on reorganizing the Louisiana Fruit and Vegetable Producers' Union into a "Co-operative Marketing Union" (Feb. 16). The Eighteenth Annual Convention was held in New Orleans on February 6 and 7; the papers include the full proceedings (Feb 6).