LA Times series on the United Farm Workers (UFW)

The Los Angeles Times is running a series this week claiming that the late Cesar Chavez' United Farm Workers (UFW) union is doing very little to help its core members, i.e., farmworkers.

I want to wait to see the whole series before I comment on it.  But I'm listing the articles here, and I'll add the last two days' installments as they are published.  And I will say initially that "the union doesn't help its members" is always argument #1 for employers arguing against unionization, something of which the author of this series seems not to appreciate, to put it generously.`

Unions can definitely have their problems.  And it can be very constructive for the press to highlight them, if it is done in a professional way.

I look forward to a series which presumably the Los Angeles Times will be doing exploring in depth the extent to which California agribusiness is totally dependent on illegal immigrant labor.  Surely one or two installment will focus on how the California Republicans like Schwartzenegger cyncially exploit the immigration issue to appeal to the yaahoo vote, but make sure that nothing serious is done to deprive the normally solid-Republican growers of their preferred source of cheap labor.  (I hope they do a series like that; but then I hope Bush will pull US troops out of Iraq soon, too.)

It is described as a four-part series, but the first two parts consisted of two articles each, which I found a bit confusing.

As of this writing, the union's Web site does not appear to have any response to the installments that have so far been published.

Part 1 (2 articles):

Farmworkers Reap Little as Union Strays From Its Roots: The movement built by Cesar Chavez has failed to expand on its early successes organizing poor rural laborers. As their plight is used to attract donations that benefit others, services for those in the fields are left to languish by Miriam Pawel Los Angeles Times 01/08/06

Offering Laborers a Helping Hand: Farmworkers now depend on volunteers and aid groups for food, water, medical care and legal advice by Miriam Pawel Los Angeles Times 01/08/06

Part 2 (2 articles):

Linked Charities Bank on the Chavez Name: The union-related philanthropies enrich one another, operating like a family business by Miriam Pawel Los Angeles Times 01/09/06

Real Estate Deals Pay Off for Insiders: In one case, a charity sold property earmarked for low-income housing to a group with which it had ties. The land was then flipped for a $1.1-million gain by Miriam Pawel Los Angeles Times 01/09/06

Part 3 (1 article):

Decisions of Long Ago Shape the Union Today: In the late 1970s Cesar Chavez grew intent on keeping control. He crushed dissent, turned against friends, purged staff and sought a new course by Miriam Pawel Los Angeles Times 01/10/06

Part 4 (1 article):

Former Chavez Ally Took His Own Path: Where Eliseo Medina has gone, unions have grown. His successes in organizing immigrants show what farmworkers lost -- but can find again, he believes by Miriam Pawel Los Angeles Times 01/11/06