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VOICE ONE:
I’m Nicole Nichols.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Program, Peoplein America. Today we tell about one of the great labor activists,Cesar Chavez. He organized the first successful farm workers unionin American history.
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VOICE ONE:
Cesar Chavez was born on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona innineteen-twenty-seven. In the late nineteenth century, CesarioChavez, Cesar’s grandfather, had started the Chavez family farmafter escaping slavery on a Mexican farm. Cesar Chavez spent hisearliest years on this farm. When he was ten years old, however, theeconomic conditions of the Great Depression forced his parents togive up the family farm. He then became a migrant farm worker alongwith the rest of his family.
The Chavez family joined thousands of other farm workers whotraveled around the state of California to harvest crops for farmowners. They traveled from place to place to harvest grapes,lettuce, beets and many other crops. They worked very hard andreceived little pay. These migrant workers had no permanent homes.They lived in dirty, crowded camps. They had no bathrooms,electricity or running water. Like the Chavez family, most of themcame from Mexico.
VOICE TWO:
Because his family traveled from place to place, Cesar Chavezattended more than thirty schools as a child. He learned to read andwrite from his grandmother. Mama Tella also taught him about theCatholic religion. Religion later became an important tool forMister Chavez. He used religion to organize Mexican farm workers whowere Catholic.
Cesar’s mother, Juana, taught him much about the importance ofleading a non-violent life. His mother was one of the greatestinfluences on his use of non-violent methods to organize farmworkers. His other influences were the Indian activist MahatmaGandhi and American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Junior.
Mister Chavez said his realeducation began when he met the Catholic leader Father DonaldMcDonnell. Cesar Chavez learned about the economics of farm workersfrom the priest. He also learned about Gandhi’s nonviolent politicalactions as well as those of other great nonviolent leadersthroughout history.
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen-forty-eight, Mister Chavez married Helena Fabela whomhe met while working in the grape fields in central California. Theysettled in Sal Si Puedes. Later, while Mister Chavez worked forlittle or no money to organize farm workers, his wife harvestedcrops. In order to support their eight children, she worked underthe same bad conditions that Mister Chavez was fighting against.
There were other important influences in his life. Innineteen-fifty-two, Mister Chavez met Fred Ross, an organizer with aworkers’ rights group called the Community Service Organization.Mister Chavez called Mister Ross the best organizer he ever met.Mister Ross explained how poor people could build power. MisterChavez agreed to work for the Community Service Organization.
VOICE TWO:
Mister Chavez worked for the organization for about ten years.During that time, he helped more than five-hundred-thousand Latinocitizens to vote. He also gained old-age retirement money forfifty-thousand Mexican immigrants. He served as the organization’snational director.
However, in nineteen-sixty-two, he left the organization. Hewanted to do more to help farm workers receive higher pay and betterworking conditions. He left his well paid job to start organizingfarm workers into a union.
Mister Chavez’s work affected many people. For example, thefather of Mexican-American musician Zack de la Rocha spent timeworking as an art director for Mister Chavez. Much of the politicalmusic of de la Rocha’s group, Rage Against the Machine, was aboutworkers’ rights, like this song, “Bomb Track.”
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VOICE ONE:
It took Mister Chavez and Delores Huerta, another former C-S-Oorganizer, three years of hard work to build the National FarmWorkers Association. Mister Chavez traveled from town to town tobring in new members. He held small meetings at workers’ houses tobuild support. The California-based organization held its firststrike in nineteen-sixty-five. The National Farm Workers Associationbecame nationally known when it supported a strike against grapegrowers. The group joined a strike organized by Filipino workers ofthe Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee.
Mister Chavez knew that those who acted non-violently againstviolent action would gain popular support. Mister Chavez asked thatthe strikers remain non-violent even though the farm owners andtheir supporters sometimes used violence.
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One month after the strike began, the group began to boycottgrapes. They decided to direct their action against one company, theSchenley Corporation. The union followed grape trucks anddemonstrated wherever the grapes were taken. Later, union membersand Filipino workers began a twenty-five day march from Delano toSacramento, California, to gain support for the boycott. Schenleylater signed a labor agreement with the National Farm WorkersAssociation. It was the first such agreement between farm workersand growers in the United States.
VOICE ONE:
The union then began demonstrating against the Di GiorgioCorporation. It was one of the largest grape growers in California.Di Giorgio held a vote and the International Brotherhood ofTeamsters was chosen to represent the farm workers. But aninvestigation proved that the company and the Teamsters had cheatedin the election.
Another vote was held. Cesar Chavez agreed to combine his unionwith another and the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee wasformed. The farm workers elected Mister Chavez’s union to representthem. Di Giorgio soon signed a labor agreement with the union.
VOICE TWO:
Mister Chavez often went for long periods without food to protestthe conditions under which the farm workers were forced to do theirjobs. Mister Chavez went on his first hunger strike, or fast, innineteen-sixty-eight. He did not eat for twenty-five days. He wascalled a hero for taking this kind of personal action to support thefarm workers.
The union then took action against Giumarra VineyardsCorporation, the largest producer of table grapes in the UnitedStates. It organized a boycott against the company’s products. Theboycott extended to all California table grapes. Bynineteen-seventy, the company agreed to sign contracts. A number ofother growers did as well. By this time the grape strike had lastedfor five years. It was the longest strike and boycott in UnitedStates labor history. Cesar Chavez had built a nationwide coalitionof support among unions, church groups, students, minorities andother Americans.
VOICE ONE:
By nineteen-seventy-three, the union had changed its name to theUnited Farm Workers of America. It called for another nationalboycott against grape growers as relations again became tense. Bynineteen-seventy-five, a reported seventeen-million Americans wererefusing to buy non-union grapes. The union’s hard work helped ingetting the Agricultural Labor Relations Act passed in California,under Governor Jerry Brown. It was the first law in the nation thatprotected the rights of farm workers.
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VOICE TWO:
By the nineteen-eighties, the U-F-W had helped tens of thousandsof farm workers gain higher pay, medical care, retirement benefitsand better working and living conditions. But relations betweenworkers and growers in California worsened under a new stategovernment. Boycotts were again organized against the grapeindustry. In nineteen-eighty-eight, at the age of sixty-one, MisterChavez began another hunger strike. That fast lasted for thirty-sixdays and almost killed him. The fast was to protest the poisoning ofgrape workers and their children by the dangerous chemicals growersused to kill insects.
VOICE ONE:
Cesar Chavez died in nineteen-ninety-three at the age ofsixty-six. More than forty-thousand people attended his funeral. Ayear later, President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal ofFreedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.
The United Farm Workers Union still fights for the rights of farmworkers throughout the United States. Many schools, streets, parks,libraries and other public buildings have been named after CesarChavez. The great labor leader always believed in the words “Si sepuede.” “It can be done.”
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VOICE TWO:
This Special English Program was written and produced by RobertBrumfield. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Nicole Nichols. Join us again next week for anotherPeople in America Program on the Voice of America.