July to September, 1954, 1954

The NAWU and the UPWA met twice during the summer to attempt to set up a Joint Organizing Committee of Agricultural and Packinghouse Workers; see the memorandum on the July meeting (July 2), a letter from Mitchell to Meany on the August meeting (Aug. 3), and the drafts of proposals for the joint organizing effort (Aug. 4, 15). There is an interesting exchange between Mitchell and New Orleans lawyer Aubrey B. Hirsch on the Right-to-Work Bill recently passed by the Louisiana legislature and on the prospects for organizing sugar cane workers in general (July 9, 14, 16). See also the 159-page report by Galarza on "Louisiana Sugar Cane Workers" (n.d. [August). From August 6 to September 16, Mitchell was in Europe; the papers include his speech on "The Organization of Farm Workers USA" delivered before the International Landworkers Federation Congress in Stockholm (Aug. 17), and his "Report on Agricultural Labor Conditions in the Netherlands" (Sept 10)