Cesar Chavez: Labor Leader

Cesar Chavez: Labor Leader

Cesar Estrada Chavez (March 31, 1927 - April 23, 1993) was a Mexican-American labor leader who used non-violent methods to fight for the rights of migrant farm workers in the southwestern USA. Migrant farm workers are people who do farm labor, moving from farm to farm and from town to town as their work is needed - it is difficult work that pays very little and can be dangerous due to the use of pesticides (pesticides are chemicals that kill bugs and can make people sick).

Chavez founded a group that advocates for the rights of farm workers, acting to increase wages and improve the working conditions and safety of farm workers. He also organized strikes (when workers refuse to work until improved working conditions and salary demands are met) and nation-wide boycotts of agricultural products in order to help workers (a boycott is a protest in which the public is asked not to buy certain products). Chavez went on many hunger strikes, refusing to eat until violence against strikers ended and until legislators (law makers) voted to make laws improving the lives of farm workers. He was also jailed many times during his fight against terrible migrant worker conditions.

Early Life:
Julio César Chavez Estrada was born in San Luis, Arizona, near Yuma. His family had lived there since his grandfather immigrated from Mexico. César was named after his grandfather, Julio César, who escaped from slavery on a Mexican ranch and arrived in Arizona during the 1880s. Chavez' grandparents homesteaded more than one hundred acres in the Gila Valley, AZ.

His parents, Librado and Juana, owned a farm and store. The family lost the farm when Cesar was 10 years old (during the Drought and the Great Depression), and became migrant farm workers. As a youth, Cesar worked part-time in the farm fields with his family in Arizona and in California as they moved from farm to farm, harvesting the fields. Cesar didn’t enjoy school very much.

At home his parents and relatives spoke Spanish at school he was not allowed to speak Spanish, not even to other Spanish speaking students. It was forbidden to speak any language other than English in the schools. “When we spoke Spanish, the teacher swooped down on us. I remember the ruler whistling through the air as its edge came down sharply across my knuckles sometimes we’d have to write I will not speak Spanish’ 300 times on the board. Once I had to wear a sign that said, ‘I am a clown. I speak Spanish”; Cesar said. At school his teachers found his name to be too long and too foreign and started to call him “Cesar” instead of Julio Cesar. César had a difficult time in school. These experiences taught César that segregation destroys people’s worth in the eyes of others.

Cesar attended about 37 schools between Arizona and California as his family moved from place to place to find work. After graduating from 8th grade, Cesar started working full-time in the fields to help support his family (this was necessary because his father, Librado, had been injured in a car accident). Times were tough and Cesar and his family had to travel around finding farms to work. His family at times lived in a car, other times in a tent, other times in a shack. Farms didn’t have bathrooms or showers. They didn’t have cafeterias or kitchens. Sometimes they had to eat the bruised produce from the farms or whatever food they could find because the stores nearby the farms had White Trade Only signs. César was once arrested for sitting in a section of a movie theater not designated for Mexicans. Migrant workers had to figure out how to live in the farms while they stayed there.They had to migrate from farm to farm to find jobs. Today we still have migrant workers or temporeros (seasonal worker) most of them are illegal immigrants

César, like many other Mexican American youth, wanted to escape this world. For many Mexican American men, the only way to escape life in the barrio or the fields was to join the military. César joined the Navy when he was seventeen. He served in the Navy for two years during World War II, then rejoined his family in the fields. When Cesar Chavez returned from the war, he labored as a farm worker in California. However, he was no longer a teenage boy; César was fully ready to become a grown-up in terms of family and union activity. In 1948 , Chavez married Helen Fabela. Helen helped to support the family by working in the fields, since César was not paid very well for his work.

Early Social Activism - Sí, Se Puede (Yes, it can be done):
Chavez and his wife taught Mexican immigrants to read and organized voting registration drives for new US citizens. Chavez kept his mother’s teachings against violence and selfishness close to his heart. César was greatly influenced by the peaceful philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi and Mohandas Gandhi. He joined the Community Service Organization, an organization that worked for the rights of farm workers.

Starting a Union, Organizing Strikes and Boycotts - La Huelga (The Strike):
In 1962, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla started a union (a workers' rights group), called the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), to fight for "La Causa" (Spanish for "The Cause"). The NFWA organized "huelgas" (the Spanish word for "strikes"). There were many bitter and violent fights between the grape growers and the workers; Chavez and many union people were jailed in the struggle. Though there were mostly Mexicans and Mexican Americans in attendance, the hall also contained African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Filipinos, Arabs and Anglo Americans.

Some agreements were eventually made between the farm workers union and the growers. In order to force growers to further improve farm worker conditions, Chavez organized a nation-wide lettuce boycott.

César planned a march from Delano to Sacramento in March 1966. The reason for the march to Sacramento was to get the support of the Governor of California, Edmund “Pat” Brown, while also getting increased exposure to the union’s cause. It was called a pilgrimage because it was as much a unification effort as it was a protest march. César marched the entire way, gathering more supporters the farther he went. The march was a procession of many nationalities, all fighting for the same cause.

In 1968, Chavez organized a five-year "grape boycott," a movement that urged people to stop buying California grapes until farm workers had contracts insuring better pay and safer working conditions. The name of the union was changed to the United Farm Workers (the UFW) in 1974. In 1978, when some of the workers' demands were met, the boycotts of lettuce and grapes were lifted.

A Lifetime Quest for Social Justice - Viva La Causa (Long Live The Cause):
Chavez's motto was "Si, se puede." (meaning "Yes, it can be done.") and he proved it to be true. His work for the fair treatment of farm workers changed the lives of millions of people for the better.

After a lifetime of valiantly working for social justice, Chavez died of natural causes at the age of 66 (in 1993). In 1994, Chavez was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously (after his death). To this day, the UFW and Chavez's children and grandchildren continue his fight for social justice.César took his crusade against unsafe pesticide use around the U.S. He did everything he could, including fasting, to get support for his cause. Eventually, Fred Ross was able to hire César as a full-time worker for the CSO, at $35 a week. It is interesting to note that for all his fame and hard work, César Chávez, throughout his life, never made more than $6,000 a year.

In 1988, he went on a 36–day water fast; it was called a “Fast for Life.” Once again, the nation took notice. Supporters rallied around César and put pressure on the companies that were using the strong pesticides. Many politicians and celebrities underwent 3–day mini-fasts to show their support for Chávez. Eventually, César’s strength and determination won out and the growers listened to his concern and began reviewing their use of chemicals. César was still concerned about the use of pesticides before his death; he did not feel that the battle had been won.Nowadays abuse still exists in the farms. While some farm workers are legal U.S. residents and are affiliated to the union,UFW, farm owners lay them off to hire foreign guest workers and/or illegal immigrants whose labor costs very little and have no rights to any kind of benefit.

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