Reel 36

Scope and Contents From the Collection: Consist of correspondence, reports, ledgers, legal documents, leaflets, printed material, photographs, and newspapers published by the union. These document the activities of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union from its origins through its transformations into the National Farm Labor Union in 1946 and the National Agriculture Workers Union in 1952, and through its merger with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union in 1960. The records also contain selected materials from the Socialist Party...

Scope and Contents The papers include: a memorandum from Mitchell to his organizing staff on future plans for the union (July 3); the minutes of the NFLU San Joaquin Valley Council (July 8); an exchange between Mitchell and Roger Baldwin reviewing the work of Ernesto Galarza (July 19, 26); the full proceedings of the NFLU California State Convention (Sept. 14); and a letter from California lawyer Alexander H. Schullman on ways of dealing with the US Wage Stabilization Board, which had announced a ceiling on...

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Items of special interest include a report from Galarza on an arrangement for joint membership worked out with the Alianza Ncional de Braceros de Mexico (2), and a copy of a letter from Ed S. Miller of the Hotel and Restaurant Worker's Union to Schenley Industries, Inc., threatening a boycott of Schenley products if the company does not resume bargaining with the NFLU (30)

Scope and Contents On Nov. 5, the Department of Labor wrote Mitchell to answer various questions he had submitted on the Mexican labor importation program; on Dec. 19, he sent the Department a memorandum on the changes the NFLU desired in the program. The Seventeenth Annual Convention was held in Memphis on December 8 and 9; the papers include the full proceedings, the Report of the National Executive Board, and the revised Constitution (Dec. 8). There is a letter from Mitchell to AFL President William Green...

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"Comments on the Migrant Labor Agreement of 1951" by Ernesto Galarza; a speech by Hank Hasiwar on California farm labor problems; "The Condition of Farm Workers in 1951", a report by NSF Executive Secretary Beth Biderman; an NFLU press release on the decision of Salinas lettuce growers to plow up half of their crop rather than submit to NFLU demands; and a letter from Galarza on the "wetback" problem

Scope and Contents The main topic in the papers for these months is the hearings held by Senator Hubert H. Humphrey's Sub-Committee on Labor and Labor-Management Relations on legislation to implement the recommendations of the President's Commission on Migratory Labor. Materials of the President's Commission on Migratory Labor. Materials on this subject include information on the NFLU preparations for the hearings (Jan. 8 to 13), and statements by Louisiana strawberry farmer Lester Felder, California migrant...

Scope and Contents The Schenley Ranch at Delano, California laid off 100 workers, all NFLU members, and the union, claiming it was a lock-out, asked various AF of L Central Labor Councils to put Schenley products on the "unfair" list. The Schenley dispute may best be followed through the correspondence to and from Bill Becker, the NFLU organizer at Delano. There are three union press releases on the dispute (March 20, 25, 29). The papers include two detailed press releases, one from the Department of Labor and...

Scope and Contents A meeting took place on May 6 between Schenley officials and the union; for two distinctly different accounts of the meeting, see both a letter from the company to William Green and a report from organizer Bill Becker (7). There is also a report on the number of union members at the Schenley Ranch (1). AF of L Southern Director of Organization J.L. Rhodes served as a labor representative at the negotiations with Mexico on the renewal of the Migratory Labor Agreement; the papers include his...

Scope and Contents [Note: the union changed its name to the National Agricultural Workers Union (NAWU) as of June.] Due to an NAWU strike threat, the Department of Labor began a crackdown on the use of "wetbacks" and "braceros" in the Imperial Valley. The letters of a joyous Ernesto Galarza provide details on the union's victory, as does an NAWU press release (June 15). The union won a partial victory in the dispute with Schenley; Bill Becker reported the details of the agreement in a June 5 letter to AFL...

Scope and Contents The main topic during September is Francisco Cano, a Mexican contract worker sent to Washington by Galarza to complain to the Mexican Ambassador about his exploitation at the hands of California growers. Details on the Cano mission appear in the correspondence of Galarza and in an NAWU press release (Sept 9). Readers interested in the union's work with strawberry farmers in Louisiana might consult a two-page narrative by Mitchell on the background and current operations of the Louisiana...