Join the March

 

Join the March for Farm Worker Justice

 Our August 3 to 26 peregrinacion has followed the same route as our historic 1966 Cesar Chavez-led march. Our goal is to convince Governor Gavin Newsom to sign #AB2183 (Stone), the United Farm Workers’ bill making it easier for farm workers to vote in a union election free from intimidation by grower foremen, supervisors and farm labor contractors.

An incredible group of 19 permanent farm worker peregrinos have marched the entire length of the peregrinacion. They have given up wages, time with their family, and the comfort and security of their home to march in temperatures frequently exceeding 100 degrees.

The journey has been pretty incredible. Last Saturday, Martin Luther King III joined us on the march. His father, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stood in solidarity with Cesar Chavez during tough times in the 1960s. That afternoon, 1,000 supporters greeted us in Stockton during 104-degree heat. UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta was there inspiring the crowd.

Community enthusiasm across the state has built as hundreds greeted our marchers along the route and joined end-of-day rallies in valley farm towns. Local committees in each town which our march has passed through have provided food, water, cold drinks, shoes and other supplies, plus housing. Nurses tended to marchers. Supporters from near and far turned up to hand out water, drinks, popsicles and food as the peregrinos passed by. 

It’s been beautiful to see the youth out supporting us as our march has moved through the Central Valley. Our eyes tear up as a new generation is activated to honor the past and mobilize for the future.

CA Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar measure last September. What’s different this year is increased public support, including solid backing by the California labor movement under its new leader, Lorena Gonzalez, as well as union, religious, and community leaders, activists and organizations.

Please come and be a part of this historic event. If are not able to be there in person, you can still join us virtually. Many options, including the ones above, can be found at ufw.org/camarch.

PS: Please share this event on Facebook & Twitter. 

Labor Day and Farm Workers

Arturo Rodriguez, 

While a few short years ago a $15 minimum wage seemed like a moonshot, today municipalities and states across the country are standing with workers and adopting a minimum wage that will ultimately lift 35 million hard-working American families out of poverty.

Earlier this year, the Obama Administration expanded overtime pay protections to more than 4 million working Americans.

And in California we are on the cusp on progress that builds on what the President has accomplished and paves the way for reforms that have the potential to put millions of working Americans on a pathway to the middle class.

Last week, California lawmakers passed first-of-its-kind legislation that allows farm workers to get paid overtime like all other workers.

Critic of United Farm Workers speaks in Sacramento

Miriam Pawel, who can be described as a critic of the United Farm Workers union and the legacy of Cesar Chavez is speaking at  least two  venues in Sacramento today. Pawel discusses her new book,  The Union of their Dreams- Power, Hope and Struggle in Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement.

Responses to her charges and her lack of objectivity exist in a number of places.

Here are a few.

Farmworker Movement Documentation Project :: Farmworker Movement ...

Posted by: LeRoy Chatfield (IP Logged). Date: January 10, 2006 09:20PM. Los Angeles Times reporter, Miriam Pawel, has written a breathless, judgmental, ...

www.farmworkermovement.us

UFW.org

Beyond the Fields.  Randy Shaw.  Review. http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/beyond-the-fields-cesar-chavez/

Marshall Ganz, Why David Sometimes Wins.  Review.

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=4561