Chicano history revisited at commemoration of farmworkers’ 1973 general strike

The first president of the United Farm Workers was César E. Chávez.

Correct?

Wrong!

Delegates at the inaugural UFW convention held Sept. 30, 1962 at the since-demolished Edison Social Hall in southwest Fresno voted 28-11 in favor of Jesús Martínez, a farmworker from Pinedale. Manuel Ayala of Stockton was a distant second.

The rules required the union leadership be filled by someone who worked in the fields. Chávez, who left the fields to organize farmworkers, did not qualify. He was instead unanimously chosen as the union’s general director.

That history lesson was given by retired educator Dr. Paul García last Saturday at the 50th commemoration of La Huelga General, as the UFW grape boycott is known.

“A lot of people think when you talk about the farmworkers’ union, they think it all happened in 1965,” said García during a 14-minute presentation before a crowd of more than 100 inside a classroom in the Old Administration Building.

García was among several speakers who spoke, either in person or on video, about the farmworkers grape boycott and the ensuing civil rights battle.

The birthplace of the UFW is significant enough for García and other members of El Concilio de Fresno to request the Fresno City Historic Preservation Commission recognize the site and place a marker at what is now a private residence.

“As you can probably guess, organizing farmworkers was very difficult in 1962 because many lived in labor camps; many lived in small, rural communities; many spoke only Spanish; many had no transportation,” said García, who will make his request to the commission on Monday (Aug. 28)

If the commission approves the request, the city council will take it up most likely on Sept. 28..

Forty-two delegates from throughout the state showed up for the meeting. They followed Roberts Rule of Order. Dolores Huerta led the Pledge of Allegiance. The delegates determined monthly fees of $3.50.

The delegates also made motions to establish a credit union and to have a hiring hall to avoid contractors from taking advantage of the workers. They also adopted “Viva La Causa” (Long Live the Cause) as the union’s official motto.

Chávez was elected president in January 1963 when Martínez failed to attend UFW meetings and the bylaws were changed.

The UFW grape boycott started in 1965 and continued until 1970 when 40 table grape growers signed three-year contracts. In 1973, growers turned to the Teamsters for new contracts.

Dolores Huerta, the union’s longtime secretary-treasurer and now head of her own foundation, said the grape strike was devastating for the farmworkers. She spoke via video.

“There were many thousands of farmworkers who went on strike,” said Huerta. “They lost their homes. They lost their cars. There was a lot of deprivation that happened. But, they were very, very determined.”

Huerta, 93, said those “huge sacrifices” paid off in better pay and essentials like toilets in the field, drinking water, rest periods and reasonable work hours.

“We’re not there yet,” said Huerta in a 4-minute message. She said farmworkers need a pension plan “so that when they retire from this really hard work that they do they will have some kind of an income to live on.”

Huerta called them “essential workers” who deserve “the same kind of salaries and benefits that other essential workers get, like the firefighters, the police officers and the health care workers.”

Other viewpoints on the general strike

Growing up, Gloria Hernández picked nuts, grapes, oranges, lemons, “everything except strawberries.”

When the grape strike began, she was home because she “kept getting fired because I kept asking for better working conditions.”

She started helping her mother drop off burritos to striking workers in Fresno County, then “graduated to translating/interpreting between the people and the deputy sheriffs.”

“When the arrest came down, I got promoted to La Capitana.”

Hernández worked for the UFW and California Legal Assistance helping farmworkers. She was among hundreds who were jailed in Fresno County for picketing.

“We went to jail because we were fighting for our rights,” said Hernández, who was 19 at the time. “It was fighting for our lives because people died. People got beat up in jail. We got treated like animals, worse than animals.”

Growers, she said, went to court and got injunctions against farmworker protests.

Hernández said the UFW movement led to more Latinos going into professions like education, health and law.

In a video documentary, Tanis Ybarra recalled he wanted to work for the UFW after returning from Vietnam. He was among those who got arrested for protesting against the injunctions and spent days in the Fresno County jail.

“My brother and I, then eventually my mom and my sisters, all joined and we all got arrested at least four times,” said Ybarra.

Teatro Campesino co-founder Agustín Lira and Patricia Wells-Solórzano performed songs that were popular during the movement.

Mujeres Valientes sang ‘De Colores,’ a song favored by Chávez.

The event was organized by the Chicano Youth Center.