UFW march to pass through San Joaquin County with stops in Manteca, Stockton and Lodi

Hundreds of farmworkers have embarked on a 24-day, 335-mile march across 24 Central Valley cities with one purpose: to encourage Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign Assembly Bill 2183, or the Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act.

From Delano to Sacramento’s State Capitol, farmworkers are making their voices heard as they pass through Central Valley cities such as Visalia, Merced, Manteca, Stockton, Lodi, and others.

AB2183, authored by Assemblymember Mark Stone, D-Santa Cruz, would allow farm workers to vote free from intimidation to unionize or not.

‘We deserve this law’: California farmworkers march to urge Newsom to sign voting rights bill

“I’ve worked in all the crops — grapes, cherries, peaches, nectarines. I’m marching because I want representation and to be respected,” Lourdes Cardenas, who has worked the fields in the San Joaquin Valley for more than 20 years, told Capital & Main.

On Thursday, day 16 of the march, farmworkers started in Turlock and headed to Modesto. The march is making its way to San Joaquin County with its first stop in Manteca on Friday.

Early Saturday morning, marchers will gather at Woodward Community Park at 710 E. Woodward Ave. in Manteca, and will march to Constitution Park on 1101 E. Lindsey St. in Stockton for a reception and rally that will begin about 3 p.m., and last about an hour.

Armando Valerio, committee member of the volunteer Stockton town committee for the Stockton UFW rally, said they are anticipating 100-300 people at the Stockton rally.

“I think it's really important … for workers in general, to be cognizant of their rights and the responsibilities they have associated with that. And I think that the employers themselves need to be sensitive to the workers, in order to make sure that they have a happy workforce, to make sure that it's fair and equitable for everybody in the workforce,” Valerio said.

Marchers will gather Sunday morning around 7 a.m. at Constitution Park in Stockton for a blessing before they continue their march to Hale Park on North Stockton Street and East Elm Street in Lodi. They will also have a rally at the conclusion.

“We want the marchers to be received with love,” said the Rev. Nelson Rabell of Iglesia Luterana Santa María Peregrina, a volunteer helping coordinate the Lodi rally.

According to Capital & Main, 50 California legislators have signed and sponsored the bill. On May 25, it passed the state Assembly and on Aug. 11 was sent to the Senate floor.

“The Holy Scriptures are very clear how the workers, the poor, the oppressed, are at the forefront of God's love and God's concern for humanity. So, if we are to claim any kind of moral virtue, we need to show that in how we treat our workers, how we treat the most marginalized people in our community, particularly those who feed us,” Rabell said.

On Friday, Aug. 26, day 24 of the march, farmworkers will gather at the South Side Park at 8th and T streets in Sacramento and march to its last stop, the state Capitol.

“I grew up with the belief that ... anybody who works in the field deserves equal rights, and especially, and I want to stay very focused, especially the right to vote free from intimidation or pressure ... to decide to make their own decision. 'Yes, I want to be in a union or no, I don't,' ” said Alicia Ramirez, chair of the volunteer Stockton town committee for the Stockton UFW rally.

Ramirez, whose father was a farmworker, recalls attending the 1966 UFW rally in Sacramento with her father, siblings, and cousins. That march also passed through Stockton on its way to Sacramento. Her father was a supporter of UFW and of Cesar Chavez, something that has inspired her to be part of the cause.

“This is part of our heritage,” she said.

“We have to provide for the farmworkers. The people that feed us and put food on our table, that they be treated well and that they have the same rights that the majority of all of us have,” Ramirez said.

Edison High School Ethnic Studies and MEChA students are hosting a donation drive where they are accepting water bottles, socks, towels, small snacks, and more for the UFW marchers passing through Stockton. Donations can be dropped off at the front office.

Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: UFW farmworkers march to come to Stockton on way to Sacramento