LABOR: Rendering to Cesar

Every day at dawn last week, Cesar Chavez was out in the green and gold California fields, pleading with Mexican, Filipino, Yemenite and native American workers. At 7:15 a.m. one day, the charismatic Chicano had to halt his early-bird campaigning and leave the Elmco Ranch near Delano, Calif. The time had arrived for the 725 workers on the huge, grape-laden spread to decide whether to join Chavez's beleaguered United Farm Workers of America or remain in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which has held the union contract since 1973. The election yielded a margin of 3 to 2 in...

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