The Observer recently published an appeal from the Progressive Student Alliance and an editorial written by Paul Graham, both regarding a labor dispute at Azteca Foods in Chicago. Both the appeal and the editorial asked Arthur Velasquez, the owner of Azteca Foods and a distinguished alumni of Notre Dame (class of 1960) to "negotiate a fair deal with his workers."

From my perspective, Mr. Velasquez and his negotiating team have acted fairly while the striking workers have resorted to unethical tactics to promote their side — and only their side — of the issue to the Notre Dame community and to the general public.

I have the good fortune to work at Azteca Foods in a sales management capacity and have been employed by the company for over 12 years. I came to Azteca after 15 years in the Mexican food and grocery industry. The reason I decided to accept Azteca's employment offer was the respect that I had for Mr. Velasquez, his father and his whole family due to their many acts of philanthropy and support of the Hispanic community in Chicago and at Notre Dame.

My experience at Azteca has, if anything, only deepened my respect for the Velasquez family and for their community service efforts. The personal nature of the attacks on Mr. Velasquez and the half truths and inaccuracies in the appeal and in Mr. Graham's editorial were disheartening to see in print and made me wonder about the journalistic principles espoused by the current Observer staff for allowing such articles to be published without further investigation.

Plant employees of Azteca Foods earn wages at the very high end of the tortilla industry pay scale, enjoy benefits such as generous vacations (3 weeks plus on average), are given a health insurance package better than all others in the industry and recieve overtime pay in accordance with their current contract. Plant employees have enjoyed these benefits for many years.

Most other tortilla manufacturers offer few if any of the above benefits. In addition, Mr. Velasquez was instrumental in helping many of the plant employees earn permanent resident status and eventually U.S. citizenship, dating from back when it was a standard industry practice to exploit undocumented workers and abandon them when immigration authorities would crack down. Mr. Velasquez hired an attorney and paid all legal fees for the workers who filed for permanent residency.

A number of plant employees chose to go out on strike while a new contract was being negotiated. At no time were they prevented from returning; in fact, they were encouraged to return from the first day while the negotiations continued. Five months now have passed, the new union has been unable to present a workable new proposal and now apparently out of desperation the union negotiators have begun a campaign to try to smear Mr. Velasquez's good name and rightly deserved high reputation in the Chicago and Notre Dame communities. Shame on those misguided individuals.

I agree with Mr. Graham that "the workers need our help;" they need our help, though, not to protest against Mr. Velasquez, but to realize that they have been misled by a small group of disgruntled employees and a union looking for notoriety.

Fred Zeilner

class of '76

March 12

• War focus has led to neglect of domestic concerns
  
• Concern for effects of war
  
• Forgive and forget or forget forgiving?
  
• Look at history before making change
  
• Defending Velasquez and Azteca Foods