Inspired by the nonviolent ethos of the civil rights movement, the pair brought revelatory attention to the struggle of the nation’s farmworkers.įor five years, the farmworkers led by Chávez and Huerta, co-founders of the United Farm Workers (UFW) movement, had successfully faced off against the corporate abuse of California’s immigrant workers by sponsoring strikes and mobilizing some 17 million Americans to participate in nationwide grape and lettuce boycotts. It was a moment that mirrored another long march a little over half a century ago, when two formidable labor organizers, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, co-led nearly a hundred striking agricultural workers hundreds of miles north from the farming hub of Delano to the state capitol. Hans Gutknecht, MediaNews Group, Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images Governor Gavin Newsom approved the historic measure in September. Last year, California's farm workers organized demonstrations (above: in Los Angeles, March 31, 2022) to advance a state bill allowing the use of mail-in ballots in unionization elections. The Biden White House had urged the governor to support the bill, stating that “farmworkers worked tirelessly and at great personal risk to keep food on America’s tables during the pandemic.”
Passing cars honked in support.Ī month later, a few weeks after Labor Day, California Governor Gavin Newsom approved the historic measure to allow farmworkers in the state to vote in union elections by mail.
In August, as dozens of California farmworkers marched hundreds of miles to the state capitol in Sacramento, in support of a bill that would bolster their union rights, they chanted: “Sí, se puede,” (“Yes, we can”).
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