The Labor Movement
By: Briana
The Labor movement was started when farm workers were treated badly because they got paid horrible for the hours they worked. For example sometimes if they worked 10 hours they only got paid $2 for their work.
Cesar Estrada Chavez
A man named Cesar Estrada Chavez helped those people. Cesar Chavez was Mexican American. He was born in Yuma, Arizona on March 31, 1927. Cesar and a few other people set out to help in 1962 and founded the National farm workers association. The union got together with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee in its first strike against grape growers in California in 1965.“The fight is never about grapes or lettuce It is always about people.” During that time volunteers fanned out across the country to try to convince stores to stop selling grapes and to convince customers to stop buying them. At the end they got many victories. Chavez was one of the important labor leaders. Chavez went on hunger strikes which is believed to have led to his death on April 23, 1993 in San Luis, Arizona.
First Labor Day
The first Labor Day was Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, and is dedicated to the economic achievements of American workers. Matthew Maguire first proposed the holiday but others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire. Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894. Today we celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September. People celebrate with parades, parties, picnics, barbecues, fireworks, displays and athletic events across the U.S.
Farm Workers
For more than a century farm workers had been denied a decent life in the fields. They have tried but failed to organize giant agribusiness farms most of the observers considered it hopeless. But by the 1960’s things began to change. In 15 years more than 50,000 farm workers were protected by the union. The Bracero program is an arrangement between the U.S and the Mexican government’s began to be law 78 in 1951.
Because of the labor movement, farm workers got more rights and now they get payed better but their working conditions aren’t the best for them. Because of this, more work needs to be done.