And they have taken their fight to the inner cities, forming protest lines on street corners from Oxnard to East Los Angeles to tell consumers about their plight. It was the kind of protest impossible to miss. A passerby with paint on his pants and tattoos on his neck dropped by to ask what all the fuss was about. Now we want a contract. The passerby picked up a picket sign and joined the demonstration.
Workers say they have been receiving the same kind of support wherever they go.
They won unanimous backing earlier this month when they ventured to Fresno to ask delegates at the UFW's national convention to endorse the Pictsweet boycott. UFW representatives, in the midst of a larger campaign to reverse more than a decade of declining membership and dwindling influence, say they are surprised by how quickly the boycott took off. But some union members say UFW leadership fully explained the consequences of calling a boycott. And they say it was their choice to go forward, seeing it as their best chance to draw attention to problems at the plant. Even now, some of those who have been hardest hit by staff reductions say they have no regrets.