Region 1C Member Paints Portrait of Cesar Chavez

Armando Fernandez, UAW Local 1292, painted a portrait of Cesar Chavez to honor the great labor leader’s induction last year into the Labor Hall Of Fame in Washington, D.C.

In May, the portrait was dedicated to the members of Region 1C by the Flint/Genesee chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) at a ceremony coordinated by Art Reyes, Local 651, and Danny Reyes, Local 599.

President of the United Farm Workers from the time he founded the union in 1963 until his death on April 23, 1993, Chavez had to fight not only agribusiness but also unfair labor laws that prohibited farm workers from organizing.

Chavez was devoted to nonviolence. His strategy of a national boycott of California table grapes and a 25-day hunger strike won the UFW its first union contract.

Rats! Soundtrack Available

The musical soundtrack from Rats! is now available in CD or cassette. A locally produced play, Rats! is dedicated to all who labor on assembly lines across America.

The play performed to sold out crowds at Flint’s Bower Theater in 1998 and was a part of Detroit’s Laborfest on Labor Day 1999. A special performance was also given to labor communicators from around the country at the UAW’s Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center on Black Lake in northern Michigan.

Money raised through CD and cassette sales will help fund performances of the play in Detroit during the city’s 300th anniversary celebration next year.

Send a check or money order to RATS!, Inc., P.O. Box 232, Clio MI 48420. $17.95 for CD, $14.95 for cassette. For more information, see www.rats-play.com.

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