In 1966, Gov. Pat Brown made a politically tone-deaf mistake with Cesar Chavez’s farmworkers union. This 12 months, Gov. Gavin Newsom repeated the goof. Brown redeemed himself. Newsom most likely received’t.
Each snubbed the union’s chief and went on a household trip.
On a private scale, you’ll be able to’t blame anybody for selecting household over a labor chief. However as most of us know — and a governor ought to — typically we have to reluctantly rank work obligation forward of household pleasure. That’s the worth of a profession — and positively one in top-tier politics.
Democrat Brown, an awesome governor who habitually bumbled politically, tarnished his picture additional throughout a 12 months he misplaced a third-term reelection bid to Republican actor Ronald Reagan in a landslide.
Brown’s error got here on the finish of a Chavez-led 300-mile epic march of farmworkers up the San Joaquin Valley from the fledging union’s headquarters in Delano to the state Capitol. The employees had been in search of recognition and respect. Their ranks had swelled to a number of thousand by the point they reached Capitol Park on Easter Sunday.
I lined the marchers’ entry into the town up a highway alongside the Sacramento River and bear in mind Chavez being handled just like the second coming of Jesus Christ. The temper was in tune with the mid-60s, an period of nice social upheaval involving historic civil rights activism and anti-Vietnam Conflict protests.
However Brown didn’t appear to get it.
Chavez had requested for a symbolic public assembly with the liberal governor. Brown replied that he had a earlier dedication — a enjoyable Easter together with his household at Frank Sinatra’s house in Palm Springs.
Brown supplied to fulfill with Chavez on Saturday or Monday — simply not on Easter Sunday — however the labor chief refused.
“He would meet on his phrases or under no circumstances. Chavez thrived on having enemy, and the governor’s absence solely made the rally stronger,” journalist Miriam Pawel wrote in her e book, “The Browns of California.”
Brown later atoned by persuading a big San Joaquin Valley grower to permit a union illustration election. The union had been urging customers to boycott the grower’s desk grapes. The governor appointed a particular mediator to create floor guidelines.
“The victory within the first secret-ballot election for farmworkers was an infinite enhance for Chavez and the union’s credibility,” Pawel wrote. “However the lasting picture was of a governor stress-free in Palm Springs whereas the pilgrims rallied outdoors his workplace within the Capitol.”
Quick-forward 56 years to a different Easter interval. Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Staff union, requested a gathering with Newsom on Cesar Chavez Day, March 31. But it surely didn’t match Newsom’s schedule. He headed that day to Central and South America for a spring-break household trip.
The governor may need made up for it if he’d been round to fulfill with union leaders — together with legendary 92-year-old UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta — final Friday. That’s the day the farmworkers accomplished a repeat of their historic 1966 march from Delano to the Capitol.
Newsom declined the assembly. He had different enterprise out of city.
The farmworkers’ purpose this time was to advertise passage of a invoice that may make it simpler for them to vote in union elections. AB 2183, by Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, would permit staff to vote by mail, identical to the remainder of us are permitted to do in common elections. The invoice handed each homes overwhelmingly Monday and was despatched to the governor.
Newsom doesn’t sound like he’ll be making amends. He vetoed an identical invoice final 12 months and has indicated he’ll additionally kill the most recent model. Gubernatorial aides have stated the mailed ballots wouldn’t be safe.
However that was fastened in amendments. The ballots could be mailed out and picked up by the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board.
Newsom’s actual concern is that the invoice doesn’t permit for instant notifications of growers when staff are attempting to unionize, Stone and UFW officers say.
