Se THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER “GRAPE GYPSY” By TOM FAWKES Nancy Welch calls herself a Gypsy, and she’s probably right. Four years on the road for the United Farm Workers of America would qualify her to be called Gypsy. She talks of dedication to cause and the hard work she is doing with a constant smile on her face, not just a grin, but a broad smile that shows she is happy with the dedication and hard work she is doing. But four years on the road is a long time. A long time to be lonely, a long time to be without close friends, and the years are taking their toll. “Four years ago I abided by the boycott because I thought © the cause was just,’’ she says. “I didn’t buy California grapes and I didn’t shop at stores that carried them. Then one day I passed a picket line around a store and asked the guys if they wanted any help; when the day was finished they asked if I would come back tomorrow.”’ Well, it’s been a lot of tomor- rows for the California native, and now she talks of settling down and making some friends and working, and, well, being like other working people. She talks of a dream and the loneli- ness and she stares out in a way that is almost sad; you want to stop trying to convince her that the boycott needs a full time organizer in Vancouver and that the organizer should be her. Forty-five minutes later she is hugging a friend she hasn’t seen for eighteen months. Another UFW Organizer who she has walked the picket line with in many places, many times. Immediately the loneli- ness is gone and the dedication comes back as strong as ever as the two talk of friends, statistics, quality of product, and the general success of the boycott that both have dedicated many years of their lives to. They discuss the schedule for the next day, and the day after, and maybe they can slip in an appearance on a local talk show, we’ll see later. What happened to the-’ serious, distantly lonely woman of a few minutes before? Well, perhaps the gypsy came back, or the talk of SOME WATER FACTS The importance of keeping control of all Canadian water and never again duplicating the folly of the Columbia River giveaway by British Colum- bia’s former Social Credit gov- ernment is seen in the amount of water required for develop- _ ment and production in this country. © To produce one ton of cement requires 750 gallons of water. © A barrel of refining oil needs 770 gallons. © One car requires between 12,000 and 16,000 gallons. © A ton of finished steel needs up to 65,000 gallons. settling down is really just something nice to dream about when time permits. For most of us the long UF W boycott on California grapes has been nothing more than a nuisance. Sure, we followed the boycott religiously, avoiding scab grapes and lettuce. We voted in favour of resolutions supporting the: UFW at so many conventions and meetings that we have long lost count. Some of us have even joined the boycott organizers on the picket line in the com- munities where we live. But none of us have really thought about those organizers we walked with, those people who have dedicated a good part of their lives to the boycott. The Gypsy brings the story - » of the UFW struggle in terms of personal sacrifice. . . ‘I’m going to have to get a new coat one of these days. Today some guy called me Brother, I guess this coat makes me look like a guy,”’ and it does. .. . “I don’t take any money for the work I do on the’ boycott. If you’re on full time staff you get room and board, travel and five dollars a week spending money.”’ . . . “I was only busted once. The cops kept telling us where we could picket, then they’d change their minds and move us somewhere else, then change their minds again; finally I got so frustrated I put the picket sign down and stood in the center of the entrance and flagged cars past the shopping center.” ... “I’ve never been really scared except for the time we were marching through a town and the high buildings on both sides of the street made it like a canyon with no way out. Someone set off a firecracker and scared the hell out of everyone. It sounded like a gun going off and we had been told that someone had _ been arrested on the way to try and kill Cesar. My heart stopped for about two whole beats before we realized it was just the firecracker.” In terms of personal sacrifice, the struggle of the United Farm Workers takes on a whole new significance. Certainly if one person can e Asingle kilowatt of electric- ity needs up to 170 gallons. © A ton of coal up to 120,000 gallons. © A thousand pounds of woollen fabrics need up to 70,000 gallons. © A pound of soap needs 7 gallons. A pound of alum- inum more than 36 gallons. © A ton of. paper requires 39,000 gallons. A ton of groundwood pulp needs 5,000 gallons. © A ton of soda pulp needs 85,000 gallons, and a ton of sulphite pulp needs 64,000 gallons. give up so much in dedication to a just cause then all of us can work a little harder in our own way. No matter how insignifi- cant we may feel our contribu- tion is, it will help if it is the best we can do. If everyone had the opportunity to talk with the UFW people on a_ personal level their own dedication to the cause would become more impressive. Perhaps it would become so impressive that they would become a Grape Gypsy . . . like Nancy Welch. DECEMBER, 1974 An inturw tn ana c Nancy Welch . acdieated worker This is Ernesto Gamboa westé aeinot Fiowenost. He, . a RRs with Rise oe Sjamily in the gia oy, ~ ee isbbed ae Ren: sheand hi ng fis an endless pe C se See Pigs 4 } rg Vitus rds. Us year ajter YY, aise el yeu Nehitat eectie Be iat ver have a ood. He will * never know the joy L oF growing up in today’s world. His eutie beganand will “end in the Grape Vineyards of California. ? pee Farm Workers have Be by Ro AS 7h i se b en trying to change cs langs so Ernesto will go to i001 and will have the Your y+ wantages oj other children. ou can help the U.F.W. jight Sehildren like Er . se oho et cud Regionat C t buy any Cali ifornia Bienes.’ eis‘eight years old.. eee ~*~ beh No.9),