On this day in 1970, the largest U.S. farm worker strike in history, known as the "Salad Bowl Strike", began when field workers, organized with César Chávez and the United Farm Workers (UFW), struck, doubling the price of lettuce and costing sellers $500,000 a day.

The UFW had just won the Delano Grape Strike, which had lasted an astonishing five years, winning contracts with dozens of grape growers that were the first of their kind in agricultural history.

The origins of the Salad Bowl Strike lay in a jurisdictional dispute with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which had won the right to organize field workers after concluding a successful strike of drivers and packers in the lettuce producing sector in July.

The UFW strongly contested this claim, and, after negotiations broke down, between 5,000-7,000 field workers went on strike. The labor action was not just a strike, but also included mass pickets, boycotts, and secondary boycotts by the participants.

The price of lettuce almost doubled immediately, and the interruption to work cost lettuce growers approximately $500,000 a day. The strike was a bitter dispute which suffered violence and state repression. César Chávez, a leading labor organizer, was jailed after refusing to stop the picketing on court order. On November 4th, 1970 a UFW regional office was bombed.

The strike ended on March 26th, 1971 when the Teamsters and UFW signed a new jurisdictional agreement reaffirming the UFW's right to organize field workers, however jurisdictional disputes between the UFW and Teamsters continued for years afterward. In 1975, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (CALRA) became law, establishing the right to collective bargaining for farmworkers in that state, a first in U.S. history.

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  • President_Obama [they/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Re: megathread topic

    organized with César Chávez and the United Farm Workers (UFW)

    Here's the flag of the UFW, without the sepia of the photo in OP:

    Show

    The symbolism of the flag: The black eagle signifies the dark situation of the farm worker. The Aztec eagle is an historic symbol for the people of Mexico. The UFW incorporated the Aztec eagle into its design in order to show the connection the union had to migrant workers of Mexican-American descent, though not all UFW workers were Mexican-American. The white circle signified hope and aspirations. The red background stood for the hard work and sacrifice that the union members would have to give."

      • President_Obama [they/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yes, that's why I posted this comment tbh. Inverting the red & white colours, or turning the circle into a long square, or something would be better for optics. Of course the colour scheme and eagle should remain - Nazis don't own colours, and the eagle has been used by many countries.

        Then again, I'm not going to tell a union by & for indigenous workers that they should change it while the AFL-CIO waves the actual flag of a genocidal regime in front of its office

        When one knows what the flag actually is, the only valid concern that could be raised (imo) is that it's bad for optics for those not in the know.