United Farm Workers of America (UFW)
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.
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.
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
