Saturday & Sunday September 1 & 2,  in Fresno

Gov. Davis headlines UFW convention as
Labor Day weekend gathering focuses
on amnesty, fall election & organizing

Gov. Gray Davis will address 1,500 farm workers and supporters–including 450 delegates–as the United Farm Workers’ 15th Bienniel Constitutional Convention gets underway Saturday at the Fresno Convention Center. It is the first time a California governor has addressed the UFW convention since 1978.

The governor, who speaks at 1 p.m. on Saturday, is one of a number of top labor and political leaders attending the two-day gathering on Saturday and Sunday. Delegates will also tackle crucial state and national issues, including:

• Mobilizing during the fall election campaign to elect candidates who support a new amnesty for undocumented workers presently in this country.
  
• Aiding striking farm workers in Washington state, where since Aug. 16 the UFW has hammered out settlements over pay rates with nine apple producers and one peach grower so pickers could return to their jobs.
  
• Pushing for state legislation to reform abuses of farm workers by farm labor contractors.
  Continuing a UFW organizing drive begun in 1994 that has produced 20 union election victories and 24 new, or first-time, contracts with growers in a host of crops.
  
• Opposing Proposition 38, the statewide voucher initiative.

Who:  Gov. Gray Davis, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, 1,500 farm workers and guests, including 450 delegates.
 
What: UFW’s two-day 15th Bienniel Constitutional Convention.
 
When: Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 2-3, 2000; Gov. Davis speaks at 1 p.m. Saturday.
 

Where: Fresno Convention Center-Exhibit Hall, 700 M St, Kings Canyon, Fresno.

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