Honorable Ken Salazar headlines UFW Friday agenda,
Gathering honors 1960s union pioneers on Saturday
Bakersfield, Calif.—After union leaders are elected during Friday morning proceedings at the Rabobank Convention Center, the Honorable Ken Salazar speaks to farm worker delegates on the first day of the 50th anniversary convention of the United Farm Workers of America. Delegates will hear from Salazar after they travel to the National Chavez Center at the Tehachapi Mountain hamlet of Keene, which hosts Cesar Chavez’s gravesite, a visitor center and museum, and a sprawling renovated educational center.
Saturday’s schedule features a three-hour afternoon program honoring farm worker pioneers from the 1960s who helped build the union in its early years. The following are highlights from the convention’s first two days:
Friday, May 18, 2012
–8:45 a.m. address by UFW President Arturo Rodriguez
–Morning election of union officers, including Arturo Rodriguez
–2:15 p.m. address by OPEIU International President Michael Goodwin
–Convention adjourns at 3 p.m.; delegates travel on chartered buses to Keene for tours of the National Chavez Center
–3:30-4 p.m. Univision network anchor Maria Elena Salinas hosts her half-hour news broadcast live from the National Chavez Center at Keene
–6 p.m. address by the Honorable Ken Salazar at Keene
Saturday, May 19, 2012
–11:45 p.m. address by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
–1 p.m. address by California Democratic Party Chair John Burton
–1:20 p.m. three-hour program honoring the UFW pioneers, including 1965-1970 grape strikers and boycotters, 1966 marchers from Delano to Sacramento and Filipino farm workers who began the 1965 Delano walkouts—all hosted by MC Luis Valdez with old union songs and actos (short skits) performed by a troupe from El Teatro Campesino
–7:30 p.m. dinner addresses by Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo and California state Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg
UFW convention proceedings are at the Rabobank Convention Center, 1001 Truxtun Ave., Bakersfield 93301.
*The UFW’s 50th Anniversary Convention and Awards dinner is sponsored by Chevron, Southern California Gas Co., AT&T, Budweiser, Southwest Airlines, Office & Professional Employees International Union and LatinPointe.
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