April Club Meeting

Please join us Tuesday, April 6th from 6:00-6:30 p.m. for social time, and 6:30-8:00 p.m. for the meeting.  Extend an invitation to anyone who might be interested in hearing from Elizabeth Strater, Director of Strategic Campaigns at United Farm Workers, about UFW digital campaigns and how we can support justice for farmworkers.

Zoom meeting information:  

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Meeting ID: 843 5425 3928

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President's Message

For the entirety of United States history, agricultural workers have had fewer rights and protections than other workers, starting with, as we know, many not having any rights or freedom at all.  Farmworkers were “exempted” from the New Deal labor advances like minimum wage, standard work hours, the ability to organize, etc., and they remain exempt from many aspects of the Fair Labor Standards Act today. Good overview here:  https://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/why-millions-workers-us-are-denied-basic-protections/

When Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association (which later became the United Farm Workers) in 1962, they organized tirelessly from the ground up, traveling for three years from town to town in California’s Central Valley, meeting in living rooms and building an organization that held together through the trials and violence of the grape strikes in 1965 to become a union that would last.  Read the history here:  https://ufw.org/research/history/ufw-history/

With a president who specifically chose a bust of Cesar Chavez for the oval office, a first lady who made her first California visit to the Delano Forty Acres Site where farmworkers are being vaccinated, and a Farmworker Modernization Act passed in Congress and on its way through the Senate, it feels as though we are at an inflection point.  Could this be the moment in our history where we finally recognize and seek justice for the workers who literally sustain us? 

In the past, our club has supported local farmworkers through the work of the Center for Farmworker Families and also helped push for the change to the 50-mile-rule that disrupted the family life and schooling of farmworker children.  I hope we will rise to the current moment and act as advocates for our farmworker community members.  By supporting the efforts of the UFW, educating ourselves and others about the Farmworker Modernization Act and other upcoming legislation, and amplifying farmworker voices, we can help bring equity and justice for the essential workers who have waited far too long.  

Best,

Laura

The Battle Against Voter Suppression

How urgent is it to pass H.R.1 (the "For The People Act")?  According to the Brennan Center, as of March 24, 47 states have introduced 361 bills to restrict voting rights.  Brennan Center Report.

The "For The People Act" is popular; turns out that liberals and conservatives alike support legislation that “stops billionaires from buying elections.”  According to Inside the Koch-Backed Effort to Block the Largest Election-Reform Bill in Half a Century, wealthy Republican donors have given up trying to "spin" an argument against H.R.1 and instead are relying on procedural hurdles such as the filibuster to block the bill's passage. 

Recall Newsom Update

It looks like the recall effort against Governor Newsom is going to result in an election being held later this year. There are few things you need to know about it.

First, there will be two questions on the ballot. The first question is whether or not Gavin Newsom should be removed from office. This is a simple majority vote - yes or no. The second question will be who will replace him as Governor. Everybody, including those that vote against the recall, will be able to vote or a potential replacement in case the Governor is removed. The winner of this second vote is the plurality winner.

What this means is that there could very well be a situation where Gavin Newsom is recalled by a thin margin, such as 49% to 51%, and his replacement is voted in with a much smaller share of the vote, perhaps even as low as a third. In Grey Davis's recall, the vote was 55% to 45% to recall him. Schwarzenegger only received 49% of the vote to replace him. This happened for one important reason: the sitting Governor's name cannot appear on the list of the potential replacements.

For this reason, it is important that Democrats unite around opposing the recall effort. The recall question itself is the important one, and thankfully it seems that the California voters agree that Newsom should remain Governor. Recent polling shows him to be more popular than the recall effort.

--Clint Bonds