Four months after the "Great Grape Referendum" attracted nationwide attention and ignited a flurry of campus activism, the fight to improve working conditions on fruit farms was again the subject of discussion last night.

The plight of strawberry workers drew 40 students to a panel discussion entitled "Farmworker Facts and Fiction" featuring students, faculty and United Farm Workers (UFW) activists.

The panelists discussed worker conditions in California strawberry fields and attempts to unionize workers--much the same issues that galvanized the campus last fall.

Miriam T. Burgos '98, a RAZA member active in the grape debate and one of the students involved in organizing last night's panel, said students often forget how directly the condition of agricultural workers impacts their lives.

"The conditions are real and important to our lives as consumers of producers. We need to be informed and we are not going to get information directly from the industries because they have images to protect," Burgos said.

She was echoed by another panel member, Sergio J. Campos '00, president of RAZA and former chair of the Latino Political Union, who urged the audience to consider the human implications of the issue.

Campos called workers' rights "a human issue in which people's dreams and wishes are at stake."

Also serving on the panel were three self-described "worker activists," who have long been involved in attempts to bring strawberry worker concerns to national attention.

Candeloria Llanas and Ignacio Alejo--two California strawberry workers on the panel--said in their experience, workers have no health insurance, clean water or adequate bathroom facilities. They said workers are paid an average of $5.75 an hour, and wages are fixed.

Alejo said he and his family of four live in a one-bedroom trailer.

"There is no justice; all people have the right to live as human beings," Alejo said through a translator. "We are not saying that we want to rob the company, only that they [should] allow us to take care of our children."

But some said the picture offered by the UFW workers was unfair.

Gary Caloroso of the Strawberry Workers and Farmers Alliance contacted The Crimson yesterday and said the UFW has presented the public with a "misleading picture."

"Strawberry Workers and Farmers Alliance organized to protect the open market. The decision for and against unionization is up to the workers," Caloroso said.

Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics John Womack, Jr. agreed that workers legally have the right to unionize but said they are not always presented the opportunity to do so.