United Farm Workers of America (UFW): Difference between revisions
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===Delano Grape Strike=== | ===Began with the Delano Grape Strike=== | ||
Revision as of 07:45, 2 May 2006
Before the UFW
In the twentieth century, large growers dominated the agricultural industry in many parts of the United States. They owned thousands of acres of land and relied upon large numbers of seasonal laborers to plant, tend and harvest their crops. Most farm workers had been immigrants from such places as China, Japan, India, the Philippines and Mexico. Since World War II, the majority of seasonal farm workers in America have been Mexican and Mexican American, but many Chinese, Japanese, Asian American, and Filipino immigrant groups also worked in agriculture.
Many attempts were made to organize farm laborers in the United States. Early in the twentieth century, the Industrial Workers of the World organized hundreds of workers in the fields of California, Arizona and the Great Plains. In 1934, during the Great Depression, the Southern Tenants Farmers' Union was formed. Over the years, land owners defeated most organizing attempts by importing other immigrant workers, firing union sympathizers and engaging in vigilantism. By 1960, only a few small farm worker unions were active. Driven by motives such as increasing profits and labor productivity, large growers have sought to maintain substantial control over conditions in the farm labor market. Generally, "they have been beneficiaries of an abundant supply of labor that has exerted downward pressure on wages and inhibited worker protests and organization" (Mooney and Majka xxii). In order to achieve their goals and fuel their motives, "agribusiness" has used various strategies (xxii). These include: "attempting to influence immigration laws and their enforcement to preserve their access to low-wage labor; replacing a labor force that was increasingly organized with one that initially was more controllable; hiring undocumented workers in preference to domestics or new immigrants to replace those that were beginning to express discontent; playing one ethnic or immigrant group off against another; introducing machine harvesters to preemt worker organizing efforts; using political alliances to undercut farm labor laws; and, in general, vehemently resisting farm worker collective bargaining" (xxii).
Farm workers responses have created a history rich in protests and organizing efforts undertaken by a variety of both radical and more moderate farm labor unions. Farm workers efforts to improve their positions have been particularly prominent in California.
Thousands of farm workers labor under oppressive working conditions. They must constantly migrate from job to job and work long hours in the fields, often in back-breaking positions, in the dust, heat and cold. While laboring in the fields, farm workers are usually provided with poor drinking water and unhealthy sanitation facilities. Farm workers are also exposed to dangerous pesticides that are sprayed on the crops they harvest.
Despite recent social reforms, living and working conditions for many migratory farm laborers have not changed much since the 1930s. Today, the average life expectancy of a migrant worker is only 49 years (Leuther).
About UFW
The United Farm Workers Union (UFW) has a special place in the history of farm labor organizing. It is the only successful union ever established to defend the rights of those who grow and harvest the crops (Mooney xxii).
The dominant force behind attempts to unionize much of the agricultural labor force concentrated in California and spinning off of smaller-scale efforts in Arizona, Texas, Florida, Washington, Ohio, and Michigan has been the United Farm Workers Union (UFW), headed since its inception in 1962 by Cesar Chavez until his death in April 1993. Though its strength has diminished since the early 1980s, the UFW continues to be the largest agrictultural labor union in California (Cooper).
Vision
To provide farm workers and other working people with the inspiration and tools to share in society's bounty.
Core Values:
- Integrity
--Doing the right thing even when no one is looking.
- Si Se Puede! (Yes we can!) Attitude
--The embodiment of a personal and organizational spirit that promotes confidence, courage, and risk taking.
- Innovation
--The active pursuit of new ideas.
- Non-Violence
--Enagaging in disciplined action.
- Empowerment
--A fundamental belief in and respect for people.
Began with the Delano Grape Strike
UFW Today
Each oversized California strawberry that gets dipped in chocolate and sold in gourmet shops gets a price almost "equal to what some pickers earn an hour," a New York Times reporter wrote in 1996 [(http://www.ufw.org/>)]. This is the inspiration for the UFW's current nationwide campaign led by president Arturo Rodriguez to better wages and working conditions for strawberry workers.
Arturo Rodriguez became president of the UFW in 1994. A veteran organizer, Texas-born Rodriguez first joined the union in 1973 while earning a master's degree in social work at The University of Michigan. Since becoming union president, he has led many organizing campaigns, led the UFW to fifteen straight victories in union recognition elections and signed eighteen new contracts with growers. Today, Rodriguez and the UFW continue along the path begun by Cesar Chavez.La Causa continues.
Recent Victories
April 11, 2006: The United Farm Workers of America and Global Horizons signed the first nationwide union contract protecting agricultural guest workers. Global Horizons is one of America’s largest suppliers of imported foreign farm workers, operating in dozens of states. With proposed guest worker programs a key part of the immigration reform debate, this landmark agreement provides a practical remedy to the long history of abuse and lax enforcement of legal guarantees for imported foreign farm workers: unionization. More at: www.ufw.org/globalhorizons
February 2006: UFW renegotiated a contract with Coastal Berry. Now owned by Dole, Coastal is the largest independent strawberry grower in the U.S. with 1,700 workers. The three year contract was overwhelmingly ratified by workers at both the Watsonville and Oxnard locations. Workers will enjoy wage increases and better medical coverage. The company is being brought under the union's Robert F. Kennedy Farm Workers Medical Plan, reducing the workers' monthly payments from $25 to just $10.
December 2005: More than forty Santa Rosa wine workers at Richard's Grove & Saralee's Vineyard, Inc, signed a UFW contract -- 3.5 years after winning a May 2002 election. Vineyard workers came to the UFW in April 2002. After collecting their authorization cards, a secret ballot election was held in May 2002. Since then, the UFW has been working to negotiate a contract. The contract was finally signed on December 9, 2005. The 2.5 year contract secured hourly wage increases, full coverage for medical and life insurance premiums, job security, a good seniority system and a solid grievance procedure.
August 2005: Due to a UFW campaign Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the first temporary emergency heat regulation in the nation. These regulations occurred when six Central Valley farm workers died due to extreme heat in the summer of 2005. Four of these needless deaths came during a three-week period in July. Some deaths occurred after growers or farm labor contractors ordered work speed-ups when temperatures were above 100 degrees. The United Farm Workers asked Governor Schwarzenegger to issue an emergency regulation to prevent future tragedies. After the first death in July 2004, the UFW and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation turned to Assembly member Judy Chu and asked her to introduce AB 805, which passed the Assembly and is in the state Senate, to prevent further deaths and illnesses. Senator Dean Florez was the UFW's primary sponsor in the Senate. After the additional farm worker deaths from the heat in July '05 the UFW called on Governor Schwarzenegger for an emergency regulation so that farm workers could be protected during the summer harvest season this year. The UFW will continue to fight until these temporary regulations are made permanent.
August 2005: The UFW signed an agreement with Huntington Farms, a Central Coast vegetable farm. The company had been certified since 1993, and negotiations were stalled. Thanks to strong worker support, the workers were able to get a new three-year contract that provided them with higher wages, an improved medical plan, a solid grievance procedure as well as other benefits.
(As taken from UFW's Official Website)
Advocacy Campaigns
- Tell President Bush: It's time for action, not just words!
April 28, 2006
- Support dairy workers who spoke out against sexual discrimination--"women aren’t any good at the farm, they’re only good in bed."
April 27, 2006
- Demand Washington state adopt "real" heat protection for farm workers
April 21, 2006
- Sign the petition for a national Cesar E. Chavez holiday
April 14, 2006
- Breakthrough UFW victory at Global Horizons
April 11, 2006
- CAL OSHA meets on April 20. Send your e-mail urging permanent regulation to prevent heat deaths!
April 06, 2006
- New amendments challenge immigration reform--send an immediate e-mail
April 04, 2006
- Honor Cesar Chavez by contacting your Senator in support of immigration reform
March 31, 2006
- Take Action on Immigration Reform. Contact Your Senators TODAY
March 19, 2006
- Tell the RNC Chair we need real solutions, not partisanship on immigration.
March 17, 2006
- Demand a Fair Election
February 28, 2006
- Help Stop Gender Bias in the Grapes
February 21, 2006
