Farm Labor Movement

The Farm Labor Movement was when Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta worked together to form the United Farm Workers Union. This union was formed to ensure that farm workers got paid for the right amount of time they worked for. Many farmers were getting low wages and Cesar Chavez thought that was unfair.

Cesar Chavez was a farmer ever since he graduated eight grade. His father was in an accident and he didn't want his mother to work so much. When he was 17 he went to the Navy for two years. He started the United Farm Workers Union in 1962.

Cesar didn't have many members in it until 1970, when he urged grape workers to join the union. This caused the Delano grape strike, a march from Sacramento to Delano. This was a three hundred and forty mile trip to Delano. The marchers wanted state government to pass laws, which would permit farm workers to organize into a union and allow collective bargaining agreements. He tried to make people aware of the struggles of farm workers for better pay and treatment. He did this through boycotts, pickets, and strikes. Cesar did not believe in acts of violence.

The picketing, boycotts, and strikes worked against the grape growers and this led to the grape growers sign contracts with the union. The result of the Farm Labor Movement gave farmers the money and dignity that everyone should receive and ensured that the farmers of America will always be treated fairly.

Work Cited

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http://www.ufw.org/cecstory.htm