Thursday, November 20, 1997 COLUMN LEFT / JONATHAN D. ROSENBLUM Revisiting the 'Salt of the Earth' The miners' union in Paul Jarrico's film faces disaster from a rich and ruthless corporation. By JONATHAN D. ROSENBLUM There was a single-vehicle fatality on the Pacific Coast Highway near Oxnard Oct. 28, and with it, in a manner of speaking, went the salt of the earth. The car carried 82-year-old film maker Paul Jarrico on his way home to Ojai from a Hollywood ceremony to (50 years after the fact) celebrate his work. One need not know Jarrico to understand why his name had recently been all over the news: blacklisted producer, Academy Award nominee ("Tom, Dick and Harry"), unflagging friend, creator of the classic union strike film, "Salt of the Earth." But Jarrico would have been surprised by the line in his Times obituary stating that his most famous movie chronicled "a Mexican mine workers strike." Jarrico's lifelong radical credo was "With me, it was not, my country right or wrong; it was my country, right the wrong." "Salt of the Earth," made in 1953, was emphatically about a U.S. union of Mexican American zinc miners in New Mexico--a fictionalization of a real strike in 1951 by the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. Ironically, the very New Mexico union whose struggle Jarrico discovered in the 1950s stands today at the precipice, pitted against an end-of-the-century corporate plague against unions known as Phelps Dodge Corp. Jarrico would not want those now waking up to his life or to the film "Salt of the Earth" to miss the dramatic, ongoing sequel. ["Salt of the Earth is scheduled to be shown Monday at 6:45 p.m. on the Turner Classic Movies cable TV channel.] Phelps Dodge has built a reputation for what even the Wall Street Journal has described as "sheer ruthlessness" in its labor relations. In 1917, the company arranged to have 1,200 alleged union sympathizers forced at gunpoint into boxcars and railroaded out of Bisbee, Ariz. In 1983, using legal arsenals (but stocking the mine with rifles in case that failed), the company permanently replaced more than 1,000 workers rather than agree to a union contract. The unions are gone in Arizona. Just one big union holds on in New Mexico, Steelworkers Local 890 (formerly the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers)--the union from Jarrico's movie. But if Phelps Dodge has its way, that union, too, will soon be on the way out. Despite the highest profits in its more than 150 years in business--$740 million in 1995--the company in early 1996 launched a brutal campaign to decertify Local 890, declaring, "While unions may have had a purpose in the past, that time is gone." The company also signaled employees that they faced weaker job security if they kept the union. To underline its threats, Phelps Dodge has dug in at the bargaining table, refusing a base wage increase and leaving the union without a contract for the past year and a half. Despite its massive profits, the company has also demanded 12-hour shifts, more nonunion subcontracting and reduced retirement benefits. If the union strikes, Phelps Dodge has left open the option of using the same policy that made it famous in 1983--kill the union with nonunion replacements. Even without a strike, the company has launched another effort to decertify the union. "Salt of the Earth" recounted wage discrimination against Mexican Americans, their segregation in separate facilities and dangerous mine conditions. When the women's strike auxiliary took up the pickets (and the jail cells) in response to an injunction against the men, the union finally prevailed over Empire Zinc. Forty years later, in "Salt of the Earth II," Phelps Dodge is in the process of destroying the union community that those families struggled for and won. Instead, the company should be celebrating the productivity and success of its work force by granting a wage increase and ceasing its effort to decertify Local 890. To borrow from Paul Jarrico, it's time for the company to "right the wrong." - - - Jonathan D. Rosenblum Is the Author of "Copper Crucible," About the Arizona Miners' Strike of 1983 (Ilr Press, Cornell University, 1995) Copyright Los Angeles Times =============================== Thursday, November 20, 1997 Cedillo Beats Castro in 46th District Politics: Union organizer upsets former school board member to win the Democratic nomination for Assembly. By GEORGE RAMOS, Times Staff Writer A concerted campaign effort by organized labor and others that targeted newly enfranchized Latino voters helped boost union organizer Gil Cedillo to an upset primary victory in Tuesday's 46th Assembly District special election, political observers said Wednesday. Cedillo outpolled Los Angeles school board member and fellow Democrat Vickie Castro by a 2-1 margin to win his party's nomination for the Jan. 13 runoff election. The effort by organized labor and immigrant rights groups focused on 8,000 new voters with the message that Cedillo was best-suited to oppose Republican Gov. Pete Wilson's anti-immigrant policies. "We didn't want to fight Gloria Molina [who endorsed Castro]," said Democratic Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles who supported Cedillo, a close friend since their days at Roosevelt High School. "We want to fight Pete Wilson." With all 45 precincts reporting, Cedillo garnered 44% of the votes, registrar-recorder officials said. Castro, considered by many to be the race's front-runner because of her six years representing the Eastside on the school board, received 22%. Los Angeles lawyer Ricardo Torres, also a Democrat, finished third with 13%. Cedillo, former general manager of Local 660 of the Service Employees International Union, will be heavily favored in the runoff against Republican Andrew Kim and Libertarian Patrick Westerberg because Democrats outnumber Republican voters 4 to 1. Kim, an attorney who lost to Democrat Louis Caldera last year, was the top Republican vote-getter with 10%. Caldera in September gave up his seat to join the Clinton administration. Westerberg, the Libertarian candidate, will be in the runoff although he received only 1% of the votes. Officials said 20% of the district's voters turned out Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, Cedillo and Castro met with Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante and several other lawmakers for breakfast and Castro said she has endorsed Cedillo in the runoff. "I embrace her support," Cedillo said. Parts of the predominantly Latino Eastside make up a major portion of the 46th District. The district extends west through downtown, Little Tokyo and Chinatown to include immigrant neighborhoods in Pico-Union, the Temple-Beaudry area and Koreatown. It was in these low-income neighborhoods that labor and immigrant rights groups worked together on Cedillo's behalf under Proposition 208, which allows independent campaign spending as long as the candidate that benefits is not directly involved. Miguel Contreras, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said this coalition identified 8,000 new Latino voters and sent each of them five mailers that stressed the importance of voting and that Cedillo was "the Democrat that Pete Wilson feared most." Radio ads on two Spanish-language radio stations, costing an estimated total of $10,000, reinforced that message in the campaign's final days, Contreras said. He could not estimate the cost of the independently funded effort under Proposition 208, the state initiative passed by voters last year and touted by supporters as campaign reform. But Castro said the unions spent about $100,000 to defeat her. Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, was critical of the independent money's role because it turned what many thought would be a close victory by Castro into a landslide for Cedillo. The example set in the 46th District will be copied in June's primary across California, Guerra said. Cedillo defended the Proposition 208 money, saying that the "early advantage went to [Castro]" in the race. Preliminary financial reports showed that, excluding the independent funds, Castro spent about $100,000 while Cedillo spent about $60,000. There were other reasons for Castro's defeat. Some said her attacks against Cedillo backfired. Among other things, her mailers claimed that Cedillo did not have a degree from UCLA. Cedillo, who said he graduated from UCLA in 1977, never responded to the attacks in stump speeches, preferring instead to talk about his qualifications and his agenda if elected. UCLA registrar's officials have refused to confirm or deny that Cedillo has a degree, saying only that he has "outstanding obligations" to the university. Castro said she noticed an omen of bad things to come when she telephoned prospective voters before the polls closed Tuesday. A number of voters, about 25 of the 200 to 300 she called, said she should remain on the school board, Castro said. "I took it as a positive and a negative as the same time," she said Wednesday. The trend of Tuesday's voting was evident when Cedillo took an early lead in the absentee-ballot results. His lead grew steadily. Castro, mingling with her supporters Tuesday night at Casa Mexicana in Boyle Heights, was on the verge of tears. "It's not over," she reassured the crowd, "but it doesn't feel good." Meanwhile, Cedillo's supporters at an Olvera Street restaurant joyfully chanted "U-C-L-A" throughout the evening--saying they were getting back at Castro. * * * Times staff writers Erika Chavez and Amy Oakes contributed to this story. * * * ELECTION RETURNS STATE ASSEMBLY 46th District CANDIDATE VOTE % 45 of 45 Precincts Reporting Gil Cedillo (D) 5,312 44% Victoria Castro (D) 2,624 22% Ricardo Torres (D) 1,525 13% Andrew Kim (R) 1,185 10% Manuel J. Diaz (D) 568 5% Roberto N. Galvan (R) 329 3% Marijane Jackson (D) 203 2% Patrick Westerberg (L) 159 1% Khalil Khalil (R) 92 1% Democratic, Republican and Libertarian candidates listed in bold will meet in a runoff election Jan. 13. Search the archives of the Los Angeles Times for similar stories. You will not be charged to look for stories, only to retrieve one. Copyright Los Angeles Times ======================================= Mattel bans child labor No one under age 16 is permitted to work in factories making its products November 20, 1997: 1:03 p.m. ET EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (Reuters) - Toymaker Mattel Inc. said Thursday it banned the use of child labor in its factories around the world under a new corporate code of conduct. "Simply stated, Mattel creates products for children around the world -- not jobs," said Mattel Chairman and Chief Executive Jill Barad. Mattel said its policy states, among other things, that no one under the age of 16 is allowed to work in a facility that produces its products. Mattel said the apparel industry sets its minimum age at 14. Mattel said it established the code of conduct for production facilities and contract manufacturers and has developed an independent audit and monitoring system to ensure adherence to the code. An independent audit and monitoring panel will provide recommendations to support worker education and training, it said. Mattel said a comprehensive audit conducted over the past six months showed no sign of child or forced labor in its factories. However, it said relationships with three contractor facilities had been terminated: one in Indonesia for its inability to confirm the ages of its employees, and two in China for refusing to meet company-mandated safety procedures. The code also sets maximum working hours, minimum-wage standards, bars the use of forced labor and bans discrimination and dangerous work conditions. Copyright 1997 Reuters. Copyright © 1997 Cable News Network, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.