Sunday, June 16, 2013

Jun 16 - Job Day 9 - Union interference

Friday, June 16, 1972 - Page 168
LOCATION: Oxnard, California

(8:30 PM 6/18/1972)
Friday now, Huh? Well, what happened Friday? Oh, that's right -- we must've worked overtime Tuesday, because Thursday Rego was sick and couldn't come to work. Wednesday, Frank & Rego were going to come over with some brothers to play football or chess or something, but they never did 'cause Rego got sick.

Wednesday was hot so we knocked off about 3:00, a half hour early -- Rego was saying the sun was cooking his brain, and he sang incoherently in Spanish, and wielded his shovel violently at the dirt clods he was grading, shouting foreign curses. He was being facetious I think. He remained relatively sane Wednesday, but that was the last I saw of him.

So Thursday & Friday, it was just Me, Rick, Chunk, Fernando, and Frank. Friday, a Union man came by and talked with Chunk -- a Mr. Brown, a black man -- who told him to warn Jerry about having me & Rick Dominguez (non-Union men) on the job. Chunk, being a foreman, doesn't have to be in the Union. When he left, Fernando voiced his disenchantment with the Union, showing that he wasn't as pro-Union as we'd understood.

Frank, me & Rick & Chunk went out at Lunch time to cash our checks -- we tried hard at UCB [United California Bank] and Frank's bank, but the checks couldn't be cashed because there was no money in the Payroll Account. We went a half hour over our lunch time, so we had to work longer that day to make it up. Frank was supposed to come over at 7:00, but again he didn't make it.

[Side note in left margin] For the 2:00 break Friday, Rick, Me, and Frank went to buy beer and wine. Rick doesn't drink much, and Fernando and Chunk were working (Fernando, anyway, doesn't drink cause of ulcers, Chunk doesn't drink cause it effects him too much), so Frank and I drank the Spiñada. I beat Frank arm wrestling with my right, and lost with the left -- This in answer to a question as to whether I lifted weights (Rick thinks I do, and Frank thought I did, other people have said the same). I drank half a bottle of wine Friday. If ever I was drunk, that was it.

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