For a long time in , there were very few union dues paying members. By the UFW got grape growers to accept union contracts and had effectively organized most of that industry, at one point in time claiming 50, dues paying members. The marchers wanted the state government to pass laws which would permit farm workers to organize into a union and allow collective bargaining agreements.
Cesar made people aware of the struggles of farm workers for better pay and safer working conditions. He succeeded through nonviolent tactics boycotts, pickets, and strikes. Cesar Chavez and the union sought recognition of the importance and dignity of all farm workers. It was the beginning of La Causa a cause that was supported by organized labor, religious groups, minorities, and students. Cesar Chavez had the foresight to train his union workers and then to send many of them into the cities where they were to use the boycott and picket as their weapon.
Cesar was willing to sacrifice his own life so that the union would continue and that violence was not used. Cesar fasted many times. In Cesar went on a water only, 25 day fast. He repeated the fast in for 24 days, and again in , this time for 36 days. What motivated him to do this? He said, Farm workers everywhere are angry and worried that we cannot win without violence. We have proved it before through persistence, hard work, faith and willingness to sacrifice.
We can win and keep our own self-respect and build a great union that will secure the spirit of all people if we do it through a rededication and recommitment to the struggle for justice through nonviolence.
Many events precipitated the fast, especially the terrible suffering of the farm workers and their children, the crushing of farm worker rights, the dangers of pesticides, and the denial of fair and free elections. It is a fast for the purification of my own body, mind, and soul. The fast is also a heartfelt prayer for purification and strengthening for all those who work beside me in the farm worker movement. The fast is alsoan act of penance for those in positions of moral authority and for all men and women activists who know what is right and just, who know that they could and should do more.
The fast is finally a declaration of non-cooperation with supermarkets who promote and sell and profit fromCalifornia table grapes. This solution to this deadly crisis will not be found in the arrogance of the powerful, but in solidarity with the weak and helpless.
I pray to God that this fast will be a preparation for a multitude of simple deeds for justice. Carried out by men and women whose hearts are focused on the suffering of the poor and who yearn, with us, for a better world.
Together, all things are possible. Cesar Chavez completed his day Fast for Life on August 21, The Reverend Jesse Jackson took up where Cesar left off, fasting on water for three days before passing on the fast to celebrities and leaders.
The fast was passed to Martin Sheen, actor; the Reverend J. Cesar Estrada Chavez died peacefully in his sleep on April 23, near Yuma, Arizona, a short distance from the small family farm in the Gila River Valley where he was born more than 66 years before. He died standing up for their First Amendment right to speak out for themselves.
He believed in his heart that the farm workers were right in boycotting Bruce Church Inc. After the trial recessed at about 3 p. Many Chavezes still live in the area.
He arrived about 6 p. Chavez leads a 1, mile march through the Central Valley of California, in order to call attention to the union elections. The use of the short-handled hoe el cortito is banned by the Supreme Court. Chavez announces that all general lettuce and grape boycotts are ended. Chavez announces a new grape boycott, due the excessive use of pesticides.
Chavez leads a 1,person march calling for improved working conditions in farms. It is believed that Chavez's hunger strikes contributed to his death on April 23, , in San Luis, Arizona.
Chavez dedicated his life to improving the treatment, pay and working conditions for farmworkers. He knew all too well the hardships farm workers faced. When he was young, Chavez and his family toiled in the fields as migrant farmworkers. After working as a community and labor organizer in the s, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association in This union joined with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee in its first strike against grape growers in California in A year later, the two unions merged, and the resulting union was renamed the United Farm Workers in In early , Chavez called for a national boycott of California table grape growers.
Chavez's battle with the grape growers for improved compensation and labor conditions would last for years. At the end, Chavez and his union won several victories for the workers when many growers signed contracts with the union. He faced more challenges through the years from other growers and the Teamsters Union.
All the while, he continued to oversee the union and work to advance his cause. As a labor leader, Chavez employed nonviolent means to bring attention to the plight of farm workers.
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