Cesar
Chavez and Dolores Huerta recognized for their life long contributions to
organized labor and social justice.
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, 2013.
The
year 2012 was the 50th. anniversary of the founding of
the U.F.W. by Cesar Chavez,
Dolores Huerta, Philip Vera Cruz and others. The celebrations focused on the struggle for union rights and justice in the fields of
California.
The United Farm Workers (UFW) was 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 were destroyed by racism and corporate power. Chávez and
Huerta 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 Arturo Rodriguez, only
about 25,000 farm workers enjoy
benefits on the job. Wages and benefit in farm labor have again been reduced to
the pre union levels. The UFW has
shown unions that immigrants can and must be organized.
