There are many important candidates and issues on the November 6 ballot, starting with reelecting President Obama and defeating the anti-worker Proposition 32. Along with many farm workers and UFW supporters, I’m spending much of my time between now and Tuesday walking precincts and asking voters in the San Fernando Valley to reelect U.S. Representative Howard L. Berman in California’s 28th District. Let me tell you why.
No public servant running today has more consistently and selflessly championed farm workers for nearly four decades. As a state lawmaker, Rep. Howard Berman helped craft California’s landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, still the only state law in the nation granting farm workers the right to organize and bargain with their employers. Howard convinced the UFW and the nation’s growers to negotiate and support the historic AgJobs bill, still the most bipartisan and broadly backed immigration reform bill before Congress. Howard wrote the DREAM Act, which would ensure relief from the fear of deportation for thousands of young immigrants who grew up in this nation and are American in every way.
These are only some examples of what Rep. Howard Berman has done for farm workers and Latinos over the years. Now it is our turn to do something for him by reelecting Rep. Howard Berman.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America