Cesar Chavez was born on March 31, 1944. He quit school after the 8th grade to work fulltime in the fields then in 1944 joined the navy. However racism kept him in menial jobs, so when he was discharged he rejoined his family and continued as a farm worker in California. Then in 1952 he met Fred Ross who was organizing Mexican Americans in barrios for voter registration, citizenship classes, and helping Mexican-American communities obtain needed facilities in the barrios while also aiding individuals with problems like welfare, contracts signed with unscrupulous salesmen, and police harassment. Chavez became an outspoken advocate of social change through nonviolent means and in July 1970 met one of his union’s most serious challenges; when the Teamsters union signed contracts that applied to farm workers with some 200 growers in California.
Chavez, however, continued on by creating the largest agricultural strike to hit California that spread over 180 miles along the coastal valleys. Then from 1972 to 1974 membership in his union dwindled from 60,000 to 5,000 but Chavez’s efforts were rewarded. Then from 1964 to 1980, wages of California migrant workers had increased 70 percent, health care benefits became a reality and a formal grievance procedure was established. Chavez continued to fight for the rights of workers up to the day of his death on April 22, 1993.
No comments:
Post a Comment