[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 27, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E50-E51]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         IN HONOR OF JOE WATSON

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 27, 2004

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Joe Watson on being 
the 2004 recipient of the Monterey Peninsula NAACP Branch's highest 
award, The President's Award. This award is being presented to Mr. 
Watson for his lengthy and outstanding service, dedication and 
contributions the Monterey Peninsula Branch of the NAACP.
  Mr. Watson was born July 21, 1944, in Wilcox County, the town of 
Camden, Alabama during the height of Jim Crow segregation. The 
degradation that African Americans underwent during that period left an 
indelible imprint on Joe's life, resulting in a lifetime commitment for 
fighting for equal rights and social

[[Page E51]]

justice for all people. He graduated from Camden Academy High School in 
1962 and entered the Armed Forces that same year, spending one tour of 
duty in Vietnam.
  After his tour in Vietnam, in which he was honorably discharged from 
the army, Mr. Watson relocated to the Monterey Peninsula, taking up 
residence in Seaside in 1966. While working for the Firestone Tire and 
Rubber Company in Salinas, Joe was elected to the executive board of 
the local United Rubber Workers Union, AFL-CIO, and served on that 
board until 1980 when the plant closed. He took his union leadership 
with him when changing careers to a meat cutter, becoming first a 
member and then the leader of the United Food and Commercial Workers 
Union, Local 506. As shop steward and as an executive board member of 
the UFCW local, Joe was instrumental in bringing a civil rights 
activist's approach to dealing with issues and negative actions by 
employers against members of his union in their respective work places. 
Mr. Watson was greatly admired by co-workers who saw him as an unafraid 
union leader who was totally committed to standing up for them and 
working in their interest.
  During the mid-1970's, Mr. Watson became a member of the Monterey 
Peninsula Branch of the NAACP. Elected almost immediately to the 
Branch's Executive Committee, due in no small part to his union 
activism, Joe took over the Branch's Labor and Industry Committee. 
There he had the responsibility of resolving issues involving 
complaints of discriminatory practices in hiring, on the job treatment 
and terminations. Over the years, the Branch received recognition for 
the outstanding work Mr. Watson and that committee carried out in this 
area of work, including negotiating a National NAACP-sponsored ``Fair 
Share Hiring Agreement'' with the local stores owned by Albertson's, 
conunitting these stores to hiring, retaining and promoting minorities.
  In 1994, Mr. Watson was elected as President of the Monterey 
Peninsula Branch of the NAACP, serving until 2000. During his tenure as 
President, Joe continued to lead the Branch in dealing with issues of 
police abuse against minorities, hate crimes on the Peninsula and 
continued to strengthen the ties between the Branch and organized labor 
in this county. Joe has laid the groundwork for the kind of activism in 
our branch that continues to be followed and emulated by those who have 
come after him. True to his tradition as an activist, Mr. Watson 
continues his lifelong commitment to the struggle for and protection 
and extension of civil, labor and equal rights and social justice, 
making him most deserving of this award.

                          ____________________