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A Self-Inflicted Wound: Cesar Chávez and the Paradox of the United Farm Workers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2013

Miriam Pawel
Miriam Pawel*
Affiliation:
Independent Scholar
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Extract

In the late 1970s, the future of organized labor in the fields of California had never looked brighter. A decade of boycotts, strikes, and marches had generated public and political pressure that culminated in the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act—“the best labor law in the country,” the United Farm Workers’ chief negotiator triumphantly proclaimed in June 1975. Soon thereafter, the Teamsters agreed to withdraw and cede organizing in the fields to Cesar Chávez's union, ending a costly and violent rivalry.

Type
Symposium: Cesar Chávez and the United Farm Workers
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 83: Strikes and Social Conflicts , Spring 2013 , pp. 154 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2013 

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References

NOTES

1. Tape recording of National Executive Board meeting, February 25–27, 1977, Walter P. Reuther Labor Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

2. Peter Mattheissen in “Sal Si Puedes, Cesar Chávez and the New American Revolution” (1969) and John Gregory Dunne in “Delano” (1967) wrote strong, evocative, and largely glowing accounts of the movement in its early days. Jacques Levy's “Autobiography of La Causa” (1975) was an authorized biography, subject to Chávez's approval. “The Fight in the Fields” by Susan Ferriss and Ricardo Sandoval (1997) briefly mentioned and glossed over problems.

3. See Richard Chávez interview, Jacques E. Levy collection, Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT, and tape of UFW National Executive Board meeting, February 1977, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

4. Tape of UFW National Executive Board meeting, December 1974, and Cesar Chávez speaks “On Money and Organizing,” October 4, 1971, in possession of author.

5. Tape of January 4, 1969, meeting.Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

6. Chávez interview, August 1, 1975. Jacques Levy Collection, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

7. Tape of June 30–July 1, 1977 UFW National Executive Board meeting. Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

8. Transcript of organizing conference, July 6–8, 1976, UFW Administration records, Box 29, Folder 21, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

9. Tape of June 30–July 1, 1977 meeting.

10. Salvador Bustamante, symposium at the National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, CA. October 23, 2009.