United to Strike: A Story of the Delano Grape Workers
moved out to the single men housing on the ranch so the Perez house is less crowded than normal In the men's housing it's only four to a room and all meals are free Well not exactly free but close Isko says the boss takes the money out of your wages but you still don't have to worry about cooking so that's something I guess He plans to join his brothers in the men's housing as soon as he's old enough I have bigger dreams than picking girdling and packing grapes And that is Isko's problem He doesn't know how to dream big Since there's only four of us in my family's house and we don't need all the space the Perezes do we don't actually live in Delano We live on the ranch just outside of Delano in an apartment Actually it's more like a barrack But because Tatay is the afternoon shift foreman we have a nicer bigger place than most There's a playground baseball field and tennis court for us to use though I've only ever seen people play basketball on the tennis court Never tennis It isn't so bad Not all growers treat their workers as nicely as our boss does Look at me saying our boss like I work next to Tatay and
Nanay I do help out but only on weekends and days off from school We have it pretty good where we live I've heard stories of family housing on some ranches that's like metal boxes with no heat or running water We're lucky In our family housing we have a newer clean place to live with air conditioning and heat Jasmine's house in town doesn't have air conditioning Maybe that's why she spends so much time at my house especially during summer The weather is warm in Delano and the soil is rich Tatay says it's the best place he's ever seen for growing grapes Whenever he says that Nanay reminds him that France has all those famous vineyards too She's kind of right France's vineyards are so famous you don't think of Delano when someone says grapes or wine you think of France At least I do and I live here Nanay talks about France like it's something special and how great life must be there all the way across the ocean But I don't know why Nanay wants to go all the way to France to pick grapes when she can pick them right here
There's two kinds of people in Delano Growers who own the ranches and us the workers that pick grapes I say us and really mean it this time Tatay works the field in the morning and then is a foreman of the afternoon crew Cola says that's a really big privilege I think that just means the boss trusts him to do both jobs Nanay works all day in the vineyard too She doesn't pick grapes like Tatay She packs them up and makes sure the size and quality are just right If not she sends the grapes to the winery Lola used to be a packer when she was younger but now she ties up grape vines with me Isko says that's kids work but I think work is work no matter what especially when you get three cents a vine It's fun to work alongside Lola singing songs and having vine girdling races I can tie up a grapevine faster than anyone even Isko Jasmine says that's nothing to brag about but I say if I can beat Isko at anything I'm going to brag about it Beating Isko at vine girdling races and getting paid to do it What's not to like Another thing I like besides working with Lola and being better than Isko at something is singing When my family works or really just anytime we
sing Working At home You name it there's a song mixed in Singing makes the workday go faster and a little more fun so I sing Jasmine doesn't sing nearly as much as I do I asked her one time why she doesn't sing when we girdle vines and she said maybe it's because she's both Filipino and Mexican She thinks maybe the song for every occasion gene is passed down on her Filipino side instead of her Mexican side Lola says Jasmine's Filipino and Mexican heritage is like being caught between two different worlds But I think Jasmine is lucky that she has two heritages instead of one like me It's a good thing I'm writing all this down instead of talking It will probably help me with my writing skills Adyos Tala
