JUL 2 5 1975 apposition to act backed in9nty aeiegates exit ty FRED B foU A 5 'ost Reporter DALL.kS—Mexican- American and black delegates oir he Texas AFL-C10 state convention walkecLcull Thurs-: lay as Texas Secretary of State Mark W. White Jr. tried o defend opposition by top state leadership to bringin5 :exas under the federal Voting Rights Act. mow,. More than 35 delegates left their SCiliS peacefully as Vhite told the convention that including Texas under the ninitive provisions of the act would not enhance the vot- ng rights of anyone in the state. PAUL NIONTEMAYOR. exet:utive director of the .abor Council for Latin American Advancement, said nore delegates would have boycotted White's speech but lid not out of courtesy to him. White and Gov. Dolph Briscoe—have opposed efforts to iring Texas under the punitive provisions of the act. .vhich Congress is on the verge of extending beyond the Aug. 6 expiration date. All states are covered by the act, Jut only seven Southern states were placed under its puni- ive provisions when it %VAN passed in 1965. A noontime caucus of Chicano and black labor leaders prxxiticed considerable sentiment for a mass walkout, but .he state AFL-CIO leadership cautioned against it. Despite this, between 35 and 40 delegates left their seats in protest as White started to talk to the several hundred persons in the audience. Walkout leaders claimed many more delegates who supported the boycott had not return- ed to the convention floor at the start of the afternoon ses- sion for which White was the first speaker. "Lots didn't go back in," said Bill Chandler of Houston, a United Farm Workers Union official. ? "MAltK WHITE ACTIVELY fought extending the vot- ing rights act to Texas. We nei'd that here—very obviously in r;rande) Valley and in urban areas gerryman- ,6 to prevent Chicanos and blacks form voting," j White, as he had in testimony before Congress, told the convention Texas today measures up to the act as it was passk-d in 1965. but because the state did not measure up in 1972, it is being put under the punitive provisions. The change would mean any changes in the electoral process in Texas at any ley& wouid have to be approved by the U.S. attorney general. "By election changes, I mean all state statutes, all changes in voting places. all changes in precinct lines, all annexation by any city—these must be affirmatively ap- proved by a political appointee of the President. This is the provision which is so ob)ectionable." White said. WHITE SAID TEXAS does not oppose extension of the Voting Rights Act but does oppose being placed under its punitive provisions together with the Southern states originally under it because of alleged voting discrimina- tion against blacks. But Montemayor countered by saying Texas' current voting laws "do not give Spanish speaking people in this state full opportunities to elect representatives." The convention, with a lone dissenting vote. Wednesday approved a resolution urging Congress to extend the Voting Rights Act and put Texas under the punitive provision. The resolution citied instances of voting discrimination against blacks and Mexican Americans. ALF-C10 PRESIDENT Harry Hubbard told the con- vention that because of pending congressional action on the Voting Rights Act. Sen. Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. and Con- gressman Charles Wilson had canceled appearances be- fore the convention. In one of the few disputes of an otherwise routine . convention. Hubbard and Secretary-Treasurer Sher- man Fricks lost a bid to change the state AFL-CIO consti- tution to permit them to be elected to four-year terms in- stead of the current two-year terms. The convention became embroiled in a dispute over ex- tending four-year terms to the state leadership and de- feated it overwhelmingly on a roll-call vote that ran late into the evening. Opposition to the move was against four- year terms and was not against Hubbard or Pricks. The squabble was the only high point in a convention which one delegate compared with "dull 1972 Republican National Convention which renominated Richard Nixon." The delegates put off until Friday a vote on a proposal to change the constitution to allow the executive board to grant salary increases to the statewide officers. The pro- posed four-year terms and salary increases were ap- proved late Wednesday night by a 20-6 vote of the Consti- tution Committee. r • • . • - • • ),*)