Cesar Chavez Day
Cesar Chavez Day is a state holiday in California – one of eight states to recognize the date, and one of the few holidays in the nation dedicated to a labor leader. Sacramento and dozens of cities, counties and labor federations will celebrate the life of Cesar Chavez on March 31.
On March 26, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis honored Cesar Chavez and the UFW founders by dedicating the auditorium at the Department of Labor in Chavez’s name.
The Cesar Chavez celebrations focus on the struggle for union rights and justice in the fields of California. Along with Dolores Huerta, Philip Vera Cruz, and others, César created the United Farm Workers (UFW) the first successful union of farm workers in U.S. history. There had been more than ten prior attempts to build a farm workers union.
Each of the prior attempts to organize farm worker unions were destroyed by racism and corporate power. Chávez chose to build a union that incorporated the strategies of social movements and community organizing and allied itself with the churches, students, and organized labor. The successful creation of the UFW changed the nature of labor organizing in the Southwest and contributed significantly to the birth of Latino politics in the U.S.
Today, under the leadership of UFW president Teresa Romero only about 8,000 farm workers enjoy benefits on the job. Wages and benefit in farm labor have again been reduced to the pre union levels. Unionized workers are incorporated into California's educational, health and civic communities. The UFW has shown unions that immigrants can and must be organized. Today the UFW is working to pass a new immigration law that would assist farm workers.
Chavez and the UFW are best known helping to create instrumental role in passing the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975 under then Governor Gerry Brown which gives workers collective bargaining rights. The law was made necessary by the assault on the UFW of the Teamsters Union. While workers are often able to win elections under the ALRB, they seldom can win a contract. Growers stall and delay until the workers leave the area.
César Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Philip Vera Cruz, and others deliberately created a multiracial organization, Mexican, Mexican American, Filipino, African- CONTINUE READING: Choosing Democracy: Cesar Chavez Day _ Organize
