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LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS National Office |
2000 L Street, NW, Suite 610 PRESS RELEASE |
| For Immediate Release June 30, 2002 |
Contact: Lorraine Quiroga |
Houston, TX - The League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC, has called for stronger action to be taken against one of the nation's largest restaurant chains aimed at stepping up pressure to resolve a labor dispute that began more than a year ago.
"Today, we have passed a national resolution following Pizza Hut's refusal to support the United Farm Workers in its efforts to obtain decent benefits and better wages for its members by continuing to buy mushrooms from Pictsweet Farms, "said Hector Flores, National LULAC President.
"It is unconscionable that Pictsweet has failed to bargain in good faith and instead attempted to undermine and decertify UFW's employees despite overwhelming support by the workforce and the community. Moreover, the company has further hurt Latinos by closing a plant in Salem, Oregon that impacted hundreds of workers," said Flores.
"Pizza Hut's continued business with Pictsweet flies in the face of the will of an important segment of its market. Moreover, it raises serious questions of Pizza Hut's quest for corporate profits at the expense of human suffering. It is time and in Pizza Hut's best business interest that they immediately stop buying mushrooms from a company that steadfastly refuses to address basic human needs of its Latino employees. Is short term financial gain really worth long term loss of market share if millions of Latinos refuse to eat Pizza Hut products?" asked Flores.
Flores was elected President of LULAC at the organization's 73rd Annual National Conference in Houston, Texas. LULAC is the oldest and largest civil rights advocate for Latinos in the United States.
Flores, 60, has spent more then 35 years in public service. He is the Director of Recruitment with the Dallas Public Schools and is credited with bringing hundreds of bilingual educators and other teaching professionals to the district classrooms.
"Either through osmosis from my parents and my wife or my direct involvement in community, learning has always been at the center of my adult life. Education is the cornerstone to everything else I have undertaken and continues to be the greatest challenge we face today," said Flores.
"This is why I am so concerned about the potential impact
of High Stakes Testing on our community. One test alone cannot
and should not determine the outcome of an individual student,
a school or an entire mode of learning within a community. It's
a bad idea and counterproductive to getting a true representation
of what is happening within our classrooms," said Flores.
"Effective assessment requires a multi-dimensional process
and multiple criteria that can enable us to accurately determine
the fate of the students. Our state education agencies must also
support accountability practices that help gauge the true needs
of the children. Educators and parents cannot formulate effective
plans and solutions until we have policies that provide accurate
drop-out rates and test outcomes. This data will help identify
existing educational disparities. It is all too clear that current
policies hide and camouflage student needs," Flores added.
The convention, attended by more than 8,000, also focused on other
major issues affecting Latinos in the United States. Among those
concerns adopted as the focus of LULAC's 2002-2003 Legislative
Platform are:
Specific LULAC actions have been called for centering on the impact on Latinos of proposed cutbacks in Medicaid prescription benefits; school voucher initiatives and access to quality health care including improved cultural competency by health care professionals attempting to serve the needs of Latinos. Also, LULAC is calling for changes in state laws that will allow Latino immigrants to obtain driver's licenses using forms of ID other than a Social Security card including identification documents from their country of origin.
"Each of these issues has been brought forward by LULAC members who are facing difficult civil rights challenges in their individual communities from one side of the U.S. to the other, " said Flores. "Our job now is to prioritize these and other concerns that need our immediate attention and we will not relent until they are resolved," he added.
"We will be looking at cases of overt police abuse in communities where police misbehavior continues to plague our citizens. Also, there are other individuals whose status in the United States has made them a target of heavy-handed police tactics. LULAC puts them on notice that open season on Latinos is over," he added.
LULAC has called for a federal civil rights investigation into the beating death of Luis Torres in Baytown, Texas January 20, 2002. Torres was a Mexican National on his way to Illinois when he became involved in a confrontation with three Baytown officers and died after being handcuffed and subdued by the officers. The Harris County coroner ruled the death a homicide resulting from asphyxiation or compression of the airways with "blunt force trauma".
The newly-elected LULAC Officers include:
" National President: Hector M. Flores of Dallas, Texas
" National Treasurer: Frank Ortiz of Houston, Texas
" Vice President for the Northeast: Laura Medrano of Boston,
Massachusetts
" Vice President for the Southwest: Rosa Rosales of San Antonio,
Texas
" Vice President for the Southeast: Elsie Valdes of Vega
Baja, Puerto Rico
" Vice President for the Far West: Richard Fimbres of Tucson,
Arizona
" Vice President of Young Adults: Juan Garcia of Houston,
Texas
" Vice President for the Midwest: Blanca Vargas of Cicero,
Illinois
" Vice President for Women: Vera Marquez of Garden Grove,
California
" Vice President for the Elderly: Desi Pesina of Houston,
Texas
" Vice President of Youth: Fernando Escabi of San Juan, Puerto
Rico
Little Rock, Arkansas was chosen as the convention site for 2005.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the
oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the United
States. LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment,
political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans
through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC
councils nationwide.