The United Farm workers
Union of America claimed, “For more than a century farm workers had been denied
a decent life in the fields and communities of California's agricultural
valleys.” Unskilled labors Chicanos, African Americans, Filipinos, Mexicans
(who have come through the Bracero Program that Mexico signed with the United
States of America) and some poor white farm workers were exploited, exposed to
harmful chemicals while working in farms, suppressed and denied better life
both on farm and in the communities they lived in. Many farm workers were
forced to pay rent for shacked metal sheets, discriminated by farm contractors,
used children as part of the labor force. Due to these reason people have died even
with preventable accidents and the average life expectancy during that period
was 49 years.
Brave farm workers like
Dolores Huerta, Chicano, and Larry Itliong, Filipino, attempted
and established race based farm workers associations namely the “Agricultural
Workers Association” (AWA) and “Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee
(AWOC)” respectively. These courageous men paved a way for a more organized
association founded in 1962, “United Farm Workers, (UFW)” and its leader, the rising
star by the name of Cesar Estrada Chavez. Chavez was born on March 31, 1927. He
was named after his grandfather, Cesario. Chavez’s experience of injustice started
with his own family. According to UFW, “Cesar's
father agreed to clear eighty acres of land and in exchange he would receive
the deed to forty acres of land that adjoined the home. The agreement was
broken and the land sold to a man named Justus Jackson. Cesar's dad went to a
lawyer who advised him to borrow money and buy the land. Later when Cesar's
father could not pay the interest on the loan the lawyer bought back the land
and sold it to the original owner. Cesar learned a lesson about injustice that
he would never forget.” He walked
the walk of many poor farm workers, experienced atrocities and removed from their
own properties, Chaves and his colleagues became more determined facilitating
the formation of the United Farmers Association.
As the repression continued,
influenced by his education and studies of different revolutions, Chavez and
his partners worked to follow a more peaceful approach in resolving problems of
farm workers. Besides, the coincidence of the national Civil Rights Movement
added fuel in to the already rising pressure on the Agricultural frontier in
California and Arizona. In the history of the United States of America,
according to UFW, collective Bargaining, health benefit packages, job security,
provision of drinking water, field toilet and rest periods between working hours, and many more became the success stories of
the UFW. Achieving these results demanded
Chavez’s and his colleagues’ dedication, extended hunger strikes, and marching,
boycotting and other methods. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the known political and
spiritual leaders of the modern history of the world once said, “Cultivate the quite courage of dying without
killing.” Chavez’s struggle is upheld
by many till this time; and for his contributions to the lives of many poor
farmers and their families, he was commemorated. “Si, si se puede!”
(“Yes, yes, it can be done”). Even in today’s world, such basic rights had been overshadowed and threatened by States. Recently, collective bargaining was
killed silently by Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker. However, unions perform
mass protest and resulted in the recall of the governor. Collective efforts by
many always stand strong and will eventually bring results. However, a quick response from ordinary people and working class members pushed back using
nonviolent demonstrations. Through out the history of early establishment of the UFW association, persistence and perseverance paid back
for those who joined the revolution of the farm industries. Unity is strength.
Work Cited:
http://www.ufw.org/_page.php?menu=research&inc=history/02.html
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