Bracero Program
The Bracero Programs (Public Law 78 in 1951)
The Bracero Program was a "guest worker" arrangement between the United States and Mexican governments. It began in 1942 as a response to potential and actual shortages of harvest workers during World War II. In this program, Mexican nationals were recruited for agricultral work for the duration of a season and returned to Mexico on the completion of a harvest. Contracts were created, wages and length of service were stipulated before they arrived in the United States. Leaving the job before the their contract time made bracero workers subject to deportation. Because of this, Lee G. Williams, a U.S. Department of Labor official who supervised bracero employment, referred to the programs as "legalized slavery." The Bracero programs were only intended to last the duration of the war, but because of their popularity among growers, the agribusiness received numerous extensions of the agreement beyond it december 1945 expiration date. The use of braceras increase from 67,500 in 1950 to 445,000 in 1956, and Texas and California accounted for 50 to 80 percent contracted during any single year.
According to Public Law 78 in 1950, no bracero imported from Mexico could replace a domestic worker. However, this was rarely enforced [[1]]. The widespread employment of braceroas has an adverse effect on domestic farm workers who were finding it difficult to obtain agricultural work. One impact was downward pressure on agricultural wages, particularly in regions an din crops where rbaceros were msot extensively used. In 1948, when were fewer braceros, farm labor wages in California were 65 percent of national manufacturing wages. By 1959, at the height of bracero importation, this declined to 47 percent. Domestic workers' wages were so low that they had to look for work elsewhere. Braceroas were also hired in preference to domestic workers. In order to survive, domestic workers had to migrate to find work and to survive.
In time, Cesaar Chavez gathered supporters among farm workers and other unions. Together, they put enough pressure on the government, and the Bracero Program was ended in 1964 [[2]]. The next year, the Delano Grape Strike began, sparking the beginning to the formation of the UFW.
(Source: Mooney 151-2)
