United Farm Workers Say “No” to White House Garden

This post originally appeared at
http://michelleobamawatch.com/united-farm-workers-say-no-to-white-house-gardent

Yes…you did read the headline of this post correctly. It appears that the United Farm Workers Union is pretty upset with the Bancroft Elementary School 5th graders planting a garden at the White House. According to a post over at ScrappleFace, the UFW is raising questions about whether or not the project is a violation of existing child labor laws and - get this - a violation of “the spirit of collective bargaining upon which this great nation was founded”.

If that is not bizarre enough, there’s more. According to the post:

The UFW has demanded it be allowed to organize by means of a card-check vote, in which the 11-year-old laborers would be invited by their teachers to sign a card affirming their desire to unionize without a secret ballot.

And, still there is more. The post attributes an unnamed UFW spokesman as further stating:

There’s a reason why vegetable harvesting is one of the many jobs that no American will do. Hauling out those sheaves of arugula is back-breaking work. These little children aren’t smart enough to negotiate their own contracts, and so they need a father figure to decide what’s good for them. That’s what unions do for their members.

It is frankly shocking to most Americans that the first African-American president would send workers into the field without pay, to toil under the unforgiving sun, bearing the fruits of their labors to the table of the man in the big white house.

I don’t know what to deal with first - but I’m going to try to hit as many points on this ridiculous stance as space and time will allow.

First: This country was NOT founded on the spirit of collective bargaining. If I recall from my history classes we had this little thing called slavery and the “employ” of Chinese immigrants to build the railroads that were certainly devoid of ANY collective bargaining agreements.

Second: Who in their right mind truly believes that these children will be on the White House grounds from dust to dawn to hoe, weed, fertilize, and tend this garden ALL by themselves? Listen UFW…Chill! The White House grounds crew and kitchen staff will being doing most of the work! After All, the children DO have to go to school.

Third: Four-H, Future Farmers of America, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, youth leagues, youth church leagues, etc., etc, etc. have all been known to plant gardens at senior citizen centers, pick up trash along highway and byways, or other jobs held by union workers. So, what’s the issue here?

Fourth: Frankly, I was wondering just how long it would take to put “racial spin” on the garden project. But, to imply the project is to slavery - well, that just goes way too far. The First Lady wants a healthy America. She wants to open the White House to the citizenry. She wants her role as FLOTUS to be one that is filled with”teachable moments”. She wants to make sure that the children of America realize the “dream” does not have to be deferred. No more…no less and interjections of race or slavery are simply inane.

Come on UFW, there’s too much on your plate to take out after the White House Victory Garden project. You should not let 23 5th-graders going to the White House to ceremonially plant some seeds, pick a few weeds, and watch a garden grow get your britches all up in a knot. Stick with the issues and concerns that matter like sexual harassment, dirty bathrooms, grower intimidation, and the lack of shade or water. I just don’t believe that this is the kind of thing Cesar Chavez had in mind when he founded the UFW.