LEGISLATIVE TESTIMONY


Testimony of Rosa Chapina

To: House Committee of Business, Labor and Consumer Affairs

Date: March 26, 2003

Re: HB 2351

My name is Rosa Chapina. I am a farmworker and I live in Salem. I am absolutely opposed to this proposal. For me a union is a very important source of support because without a union there is no one to support or listen to farmworkers. But it is also very important that the union have its rights, its strength, such as to strike or boycott. Taking away these rights would be like cutting off our hands and feet.

One sees so much injustice in the fields. The people who work in the fields are the most marginalized. There are people who don’t speak out or complain out of fear, people who don’t speak English, or know how to read and write. In the fields one receives the worst treatment, but one must put up with it because it is the only way to bring food home to one’s family. Farm work is the most difficult that there is, and requires work in the cold and heat, and yet it is also the worst-paid work that most mistreats people.

I understand that this bill proposes to take from us the right to strike during the harvest season. This seems ridiculous to me. One cannot control or schedule such events. If the occasion and the necessity arise, a strike must occur. The strike is the only thing that can help us. It is similar to a boycott but more direct. Once the harvest is over, there is no point is striking because the grower already has benefited while the worker remains in the same, or possibly worse, situation.

There are many reasons to go out on strike. Sometimes employers do not pay all the hours one has worked, or do not pay overtime, there are poor working conditions, injustices, bad treatment, and lack of safety and security. It is necessary to defend oneself at work. People in the fields are treated badly. A strike helps us express our rights and is the only way that we will be listened to. Workers go on strike because they cannot stand to work any longer, and it is no longer important to them if they miss hours of work. The right to strike is a key point to having a union since we unite in a strike to be listened to, and to ensure that our rights are respected.

The right to boycott is also very important since it is a powerful way to pressure an employer and also gain the support of the community. It is not a crime to boycott, but a right. Boycotts are necessary. The community also has a great deal of power if it decides to not buy a product. It is this support that helps farmworkers to continue to stand strong, and to bring a grower to the negotiating table.

The union must have the right to strike or boycott, and it must be strong to pressure growers, and to negotiate important issues, such as better treatment, a fair wage, and other benefits. The growers are the ones who say they want a union, but without these rights. What is the reason of having a union if one does not have power to negotiate. This is yet another example of how our rights as human beings are being trampled, which cannot continue.

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