More than two weeks after 5,000 people, mostly farm workers, trekked the final leg of our 13-day, 200-mile Fair Treatment for Farm Workers march to Sacramento, up the Central Valley during the blazing summer heat, we await Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature on SB 126. That’s the legislative solution the governor proposed that would let the state farm labor board certify the union when growers’ election violations deny farm workers the right to have a union. SB 126, which emerged on Labor Day weekend, transformed the rally on the state Capitol steps at the end of the march, which was planned as a protest, into a victory celebration. SB 126, by state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), represents a triumph for farm workers and all working people in an era when our sisters and brothers in the labor movement are too often fighting defensive battles against Republicans across the nation.
The last few weeks and months of personal sacrifice and hard-fought campaigning also affirm a fundamental principle that guides the United Farm Workers: When we organize, when we vote, when we march, when we sacrifice ourselves for others—in the end we will win!
Si Se Puede!
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America