The Fight in the field Continues…

1. The Fight in the field Continues… Migrant Farm Workers Movement By: Lindsay Lake Brenda Ortega-Mendez

2. “While we know these products come from somewhere that they are grown, harvested and shipped to the stores where we buy them…few people realize that virtually every vegetable and piece of fruit we eat was handpicked by a farmworker, a member of our nation’s poorest and most disadvantaged class of laborers” – (Daniel Rothenberg) With these hands

3. The problem • Population: Migrant and Seasonal farm workers • Economic Injustices (.90cent/ hr) • Poor working conditions • During the 1960’s same time as the civil rights movement (sexual harassment/discrimination on migrant workers) • As the crop production grew larger and more specialized, labor was required on a more seasonal basis. By the 1850s, demand for farming production increased to a level that immigrants from several countries were brought in by employment agencies to meet the demand

4. Goals of the movement • Creating a union for the migrant farmworkers • Union would address poor wages, working conditions, and the sexual and racial discrimination on the farm workers • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQMiiOz6n24

5. United Farm Works • labor union created from the merging of two groups, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) led by Filipino organizer Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) led by César Chávez. • Mission: Create a union for farm works and improve wages.

6. Cesar Chavez • Chavez grew up working as a migrant farm worker, which meant inhaling pesticides and living the hardships of farm workers. • He dropped out of school after eighth grade to support his family. • In 1962, he left his job as a staff director of a community service organization to fight for migrant workers’ rights • was influenced by Gandhi's non violent protests

7. Cesar chavez • "There are vivid memories from my childhood -- what we had to go through because of low wages and the conditions, basically because there was no union," he wrote in 1966. "I suppose if I wanted to be fair I could say that I'm trying to settle a personal score. I could dramatize it by saying that I want to bring social justice to farmworkers. But the truth is that I went through a lot of hell, and a lot of people did. If we can even the core a little for the workers then we are doing something." • First person in the United States to get a signed contract on labor rights

8. Cesar Chavez National Monument Monday March 31st Cesar Chavez Day

9. Black Panthers Party • Put the grape boycott in their weekly paper • 1969 Boycott against Safeway

10. Senator Robert Kennedy • Senator Robert Kennedy joined Chavez in a 25 day fast • Received campaign support from the UFW

11. Assassinated June 5, 1968

12. The fight Continues… • “With respect to migrant workers and farm workers, even though things have gotten better, they haven’t gotten a whole lot better,”-Fernando Chavez(son) • Whatcome County • Community to Community- C2C • Empower under-represented peoples to have an equal voice in decision making processes • Develop cross-cultural awareness • Restore justice to our food, land and cultural practices • Promote community relationships towards self-reliance • Work in solidarity with those that strive towards human rights for all

13. The Fight Continues… • Skagit County • Sakuma Brothers Berry Strikes July 12,2013 • They went on strike to raise the piece rate for picking, and to try to stop the grower from bringing in contract guest workers from Mexico to do the work they usually do every year.  • Labor camps ->

14. Brenda’s Story

15. Time Line • https://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/timeline.html • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeo-q-8MOQ4 • March 28,2014