The Struggle to Organize Farmworkers Has Been Going On for Decades
Despite high-profile victories in the 1960s and ’70s, farmworkers in the US have been poorly paid and heavily exploited for generations. They deserve the power of a union.
The struggle of farmworkers to form unions in the United States, especially in California, continues to this day. (Getty Images)
Last week, on the same day California governor Gavin Newsom announced he would not sign a bill that makes it easier for farmworkers in his state to unionize, the wine company Newsom co-owns purchased a 129-acre vineyard in Napa for $14.5 million.
The news came just as members of the United Farm Workers (UFW) and thousands of supporters completed a 335-mile march from Delano to Sacramento to demand Newsom’s signature. The march retraced the same route as a historic peregrinación (pilgrimage) led by UFW leader Cesar Chavez in 1966.
Some version of the legislation — which would amend California’s 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act by allowing farmworkers to vote by mail in union representation elections — may still be enacted, as Newsom has indicated a willingness to negotiate. But the governor’s reluctance to sign the bill, along with his vested interest in wine production, is only the latest episode in a long, frustrating history of growers and government conspiring to thwart farmworkers’ attempts to organize.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.