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Meanwhile, in Lynwood, a largely ethnic neighborhood of Los Angeles, another Union Summer group gathered at 8 o'clock on a recent morning across the street from the Superior Super Warehouse and readied for a "blitz." "You'll be scared," warned veteran organizer Lois Elbornetti. "But don't worry, just have fun." The students had to "roach" the nonunion store--they entered en masse, headed for the back, then spread like cockroaches. They quickly handed out leaflets with the phone number of the United Food & Commercial Workers to all employees. And got out fast. The plan went like clockwork, with angry managers shouting, "Get them out of here!" and grabbing one student's shirt. "I have a headache," said Third Andresen, a Filipino-studies major from the University of Washington, afterward. "It felt like jumping out of an airplane."
In a less confrontational campaign, 25 of the Los Angeles students spent days working phone banks and trudging door to door for the local Service Employees International Union, which is trying to unionize 73,000 minimum-wage workers who care for the elderly and disabled in their homes. "We have this down to a science," claims S.E.I.U. official Steve Wilensky, explaining that students would follow computerized lists of homeworkers laid out on block-by-block grids. But the database crashed, and lists turned out to be outdated, with students searching for buildings that had tumbled down during the 1994 earthquake.
While the students had been prepared with reading lists (Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals) and video lists (John Sayles' film Matewan, about a coal miners' strike), some found themselves reluctant to embrace the gamut of militant tactics. There were nervous titters during training when Quynh Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American organizer, mentioned "Dumpster diving"--searching through company trash for information. And when hotel workers laid out plans for street theater during a wedding reception at the New Otani, many had misgivings. "I don't want to protest at someone's wedding," said Ramos, the Brown University student. "That's their very important day." But after much discussion, she and other dissenters agreed to participate. "I had to stop and think, 'What would Cesar Chavez do?'" she said.
In the end the wedding party sat glumly ignoring the ruckus, as the street theater proceeded outside. "We felt bad about disrupting the wedding," said Kamaria Finch, a Sarah Lawrence activist. "But when we saw the waiters giving us thumbs up, it was worth it." Union Summer was learning to kick butt.