Students, Workers Organize Solidarity Actions on César Chávez’s Birthday
AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow Jennifer Angarita contributed to this report
Today, on what would have been César Chávez’s 84th birthday, students, workers and immigrants joined together to pay tribute to the legacy of Chávez.
As a renowned labor activist and a leader of the United Farm Workers (UFW), Chávez’s dedicated vision helped elevate the plight of migrant farm workers to a national spotlight. Today, in Wisconsin and other states where the middle class is under attack, working people are reminded of the struggle for economic and social justice that Chávez and others dedicated their lives to.
From San Diego to Phoenix, Ariz., hundreds of thousands of working people are gathering together to hold national days of solidarity to honor heroes such as Martin Luther King Jr. and César Chávez. Hector Sanchez, executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, says local LCLAA chapters across the United States have organized events to build on Chavez’s struggle for jobs and economic justice. Sanchez says:
Today, we reflect on the life of a man who roused nationwide support for the farm workers’ struggle. Through non-violent actions, he organized hundreds of thousands of farm workers into unions, ensuring them better pay and safer working conditions….As we commemorate his life and legacy, we must remember that the fight for social and economic justice for workers persists.
Jobs with Justice and the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) have also organized more than 150 campuses around the United States to hold actions in honor of César Chávez and build solidarity between students and workers. Chris Hick, SLAP coordinator, says:
SLAP has been participating in Farmworker Awareness Week with direct action in Florida, California and Massachusetts while also putting on movie showings across the country in honor of Chávez. The farm worker movement is as strong today as it was in the 60s and 70s, and SLAP is proud to honor that fact.
For Hicks, the struggle for workers’ rights in Wisconsin and other states is intricately linked to the struggle of César Chávez and migrant farm workers.
Chávez was able to see and connect movements. He understood how an attack on the public sector, on students, or the private sector resulted in an attack on all. While he is known for fighting on behalf of farm workers, he was much more visionary than that—and the attacks on workers and the right to collective bargaining in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana reminds us of the importance of solidarity. Today, we are seeing students and labor stand together in a shared struggle.
Years after his death, Chávez continues to inspire millions to commit themselves to workers’ rights, civil rights and environmental justice. While Chávez’s work had a direct positive impact on the lives of migrant farm workers, today’s ongoing legislative attacks on immigrants, students, unions and the poor reminds us that the battle for justice for working people continues. To learn more about the teach-ins, rallies and other actions held in honor of Chávez and Dr. King, visit: www.we-r-1.org.
Chávez’s union, the UFW, also launched a comprehensive online resource center on Chávez. To learn more about Chavez’s life and accomplishments click here and here.
To join online campaign in honor of César Chávez, click here: http://apps.facebook.com/VivaCesarChavez/