Fred Perelli-Minetti and César Chávez

Luis Valdez, Juan Guajardo, Donna Haber, Jim Drake, and César Chávez picketing next to a Perelli-Minetti grape field, Delano, 1967. Photo by Emmon Clarke.

Fred Perelli-Minetti had done everything possible to avoid negotiating with César Chávez—he brought busloads of scabs and signed a sweetheart deal with the Teamsters. After the successful national boycott, the company agreed to a meeting, but Perelli-Minetti refused to talk directly to Chávez.

César Chávez picketing at a Perelli-Minetti grape field, Delano, 1967. Photo by Emmon Clarke.

LeRoy Chatfield, Bonnie Chatfield, and César Chávez picketing at a Perelli-Minetti grape field, Delano, 1967. Photo by Emmon Clarke.

At the beginning of the boycott against Pirelli-Minetti, César Chávez hired a young lawyer, Jerry Cohen as the lead counsel for the union. Cohen recalls the meeting this way: “Fred Perelli-Minetti would not talk directly to César, he would talk to his attorney, a guy named Dick White, who would then talk to me, and then I’d talk to César. That’s how strained relations were.”

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