vis1030-huerta

10:30 PM

The Price of Strawberries

Dolores Huerta and other Feminine Spirits

Add only 5 cents to a basket of strawberries
for farm workers health insurance!

words by Julia Gilden
photo by Harry Pariser

On my way back to the reporters' warren, show manager Billy McCarthy grabbed me and introduced me to Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United FarmWorkers Union Ð migrant farmworkers who put produce on our tables.

Since the UFW began getting contract with California's agribusiness growers, their pay is well, hardly princely, but better than before - their children go to schools set up to accomodate migrating communities instead of working in the fields, and they have bathrooms, and reasonable shelter. But, like too many workers these days, they don't have health insurance. And when they can't work, they don't get sick leave.

So the new UFW campaign is to add five cents to every basket of strawberries. That's all it would take for the union to buy health insurance for their members.

Backstage, we talk about getting the UFW online. "We're a very separated country. But we can use the Internet to get together," says UFW's warrior.

And she's having a great time tonight. As we all shout "We can do it" she adds, "This really feels good!"

On the way to write this story, I'm drawn into the Altar Room… feminine energy, candles, couches clustered in the center of the room, an oasis for restless spirits…