Cesar Chavez’s son marks UFW founder’s birthday by discussing what happened to the movement in the six years since his father’s death

Cesar Chavez’s son marks UFW founder’s birthday by discussing what happened to the movement in the six years since his father’s death

Cesar Chavez’s middle son, Paul F. Chavez, will host over-the-phone news conferences–one each in Spanish and English–two days before Americans honor the birthday of his legendary father. The elder Chavez would have turned 72 on March 31, which is celebrated as a holiday in many cities and communities across the nation.

Paul Chavez is president of the non-profit National Farm Workers Service Center Inc. (NFWSC), founded by his father in the 1960s. It operates Radio Campesina, a network of Spanish-language radio stations for farm workers, and builds high-quality housing for farm workers and other poor people. Paul Chavez will discuss what has happened to the farm workers movement since his father’s death in 1993.

• Since United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez kicked off a major new organizing drive in 1994, the UFW has won 18 straight secret ballot elections and signed 22 new contracts with growers. Union membership has jumped by 7,000, to 27,000 members.
• The NFWSC’s Radio Campesina radio network, which targets recent immigrants, now consists of five stations in four markets, including the most popular Spanish-language stations in Phoenix, Ariz. and California’s Central Valley. By summer 1999, Radio Campesina will have nine stations operating in California, Arizona and Washington state.
• The Service Center’s housing program has made home owners out of 600 farm worker and other low-income families, and has built and manages 1,600 units of amenity-intensive affordable rental housing.
• The UFW’s pension plan broke $100 million in assets in January 1999. On March 31, it will announce bonus checks of $1,000 for every pensioner and $500 for every surviving spouse.

for Spanish-language reporters.

for English-language journalists.

In the six years since Cesar Chavez’s death, streets, parks, schools and libraries have been named for him across the U.S. "Yet the greatest tribute to my father is seen in the continuing work of the movement he founded," Paul Chavez says.

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