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TI: And if the Japanese and Japanese Americans weren't there to harvest the crops, what would have happened? I mean, who would have, why were they in such a shortage of workers?

AA: Nobody would help, there was a shortage of workers. Mexicans, the first year there, the first couple of years I think there were Mexicans that were working up there, but I didn't see anybody up there. Down in the following year, I was down in Burley picking potatoes. And I still remember one field that they were working in, the farmers kept Japanese and Mexicans separate, but I could hear, hear the Mexicans chanting, "Seis centavos, seis centavos," that's "six cents." And what they were paying, getting six cents for every half sack of potatoes. Soon as they filled up a half a sack, they'd pick it up and set it aside and they'd say, "Seis centavos." I could hear that chanting all afternoon.

TI: And how would that compare to what you were being paid?

AA: Oh, we were being paid the same. About being paid the same, one fall I was down in, down in Utah picking tomatoes. The farmers had come into town and recruited a bunch of us to go down. We were down in Tremonton, we were, the FSA camp was in Preston, Idaho, and we were trucked down a few miles. We had signed a contract to pick tomatoes for eight dollars a ton, and also we were supposed to be paid prevailing wages. So we were down there picking tomatoes, and we found out that the Cash Valley Farmers Association was short of help and they had, they were paying some of the local kids ten dollars a ton. And we got wind of that, and so says, "Hey, we want the same pay that you guys are giving the local boys here." And the farmer says, "Oh, you guys signed a contract for eight dollars a ton." And I says, "Yeah, but we're supposed to be getting prevailing wages." He says, "That is the prevailing wage, eight dollars contract." So they're playing games with us. They didn't realize that we weren't a bunch of idiots, uneducated Mexicans. Anyway, we said, "Okay, you guys want to play games?" I was a ringleader and in our group we had about eight in our crew. And one day we went out, farmers took us out to the field, we sat down and picked about two boxes of tomatoes, sat down and ate our lunch. The farmers came by and says, "Hey, how come you guys aren't working?" Says, "We're working." We says, "We picked a few tomatoes." And the farmers insisted, "You guys signed the contract to pick for eight dollars a ton." I says, "Yeah, but the contract didn't say how many tomatoes we had to pick." And that stalemate went on for, oh, about a week. And what they were doing was we were picking tomatoes that were green, and we're shipping them back to New York. And they were, tomatoes were mature, but they weren't turning color yet. But by the time it took the tomatoes to get to New York, they were starting to get ripe. And so here they're starting to get ripe in the field and the farmers were getting frantic. And we were just sitting there, and they finally says, "Okay, we'll give you ten dollars a ton, but we're gonna hold back the two dollars until the end of the season." I says, "Okay, that sounds fair enough." And so we went and picked tomatoes until the end of the season. One day we got a deep freeze, and everything turned black. They came back and said, "Okay, get your stuff together, we're going to take you back to camp." I said, "Yeah, but how about our two dollars a ton?" I didn't know how many tons we'd picked. Anyway, they said, "Okay, we'll send you the money, 'cause we haven't figured out how much we owe you guys." I said okay, so I went back to camp. Thanksgiving rolled by, no money, Christmas rolled by and no money. So I went down to the project director's office and contacted their lawyer, and I says, "Hey, these guys are holding back money, and they agreed to pay us money." And so he got busy and contacted the association. So after a few weeks, we finally got our money. But I don't know whether, you know, the money was correct or not, but at least we got the money.

TI: That's a good story. So you were, you were kind of this labor organizer back then, and engineered a work slowdown until you guys got this.

AA: I was kind of a ringleader 'cause I was, in school I was the leader in a number of organizations.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.