The action brought together workers from across the state who have fought for union recognition and contracts with the employers. It reflected the resistance of working people--from longshore workers to field laborers-- to the assaults by the bosses and their government. Many present have been in the struggle to build a farm workers union for years.

The march from César Chávez Plaza to the state capitol capped a 165-mile, 11-day march from Merced to Sacramento. The UFW officialdom organized the march and rally to demand Democratic governor Gray Davis sign Senate Bill 1736. The legislation covers agricultural workers, mandating binding arbitration between a union and the growers if contract talks come to an impasse.

"This march says that all workers and undocumented are legal and should get the same rights and benefits," said Guillermo García, who came from Delano. He has worked for various companies in the fields for more than 10 years. "If they say we don’t have rights because we don’t have papers then why do we have to pay taxes?  
 
A fight for jobs
"I work in the grape fields," García said. "Many companies pay overtime after 60 hours or seven days’ work. But before that it is straight time. In the region of Corcoran many don’t pay overtime even after 60 hours. If we don’t fight for jobs, we won’t win. Those who work in the fields see the reality. The bosses only see their profits." García said.

García’s daughter, Margarita Ayala, has worked for one year in the fields in Delano. "I worked as a computer teacher in Mexico, but work was irregular there. The bosses where I work yell at you a lot and you can’t say anything because they might fire you."

One contingent followed a banner that read, "Justicia para los Braceros!" (Justice for the braceros). In 1942, Washington began the Bracero program, which provided capitalist growers with a steady flow of superexploited immigrant farm labor from Mexico. These workers had no rights, were legally barred from joining unions, and were subject to arbitrary deportations. About 5 million Mexican workers participated in the Bracero program, which ended in 1964.

Part of the program involved employers deducting pay, supposedly to send it to a bank account in Mexico for workers to withdraw upon their return. Many say they never received the funds and are fighting for their stolen wages to be paid.

Workers from Coastal Berry in Watsonville and Salinas in Northern California carried a banner. A UFW organizing drive there was defeated by the company in 1999. UFW workers from Pictsweet and Muranaka Farms in Oxnard and from Calexico in San Fernando Valley marched. Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union joined the action as well. Many placards demanded that Governor Davis sign SB 1736.

The number of workers in the union has dropped from 100,000 to 27,000 over the past 25 years. There are around 500,000 workers employed by the growers in California. U.S. Department of Labor statistics show that 75 percent of California farm workers earned $10,000 a year or less in 1998, while 90 percent didn’t have health insurance.

California has the nation’s largest and fastest growing agricultural industry, valued at $27 billion.

Massive struggles by farm workers, who were an integral part of the mass-based Chicano movement in California, forced the state to recognize their bargaining rights and pass the Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975.

The UFW has won 428 elections in the past 27 years but employers at only 185 of these workplaces have ever signed a contract. The UFW officialdom’s pursuit of Senate Bill 1736 parallels its strategy of relying on the Democratic Party "friends of labor" to counter the antiunion drive of the bosses. Currently the UFW has 50 contracts with growers.  
 
Participation from across the state
A contingent of the Service Employees International Union carried a banner that read, "Justice for Janitors Demands Legalization Now." They raised and lowered the banner in rhythm with their chant of "Arriba la unión! Abajo la explotación" (Up with the union! Down with exploitation!).

A contingent of workers marched from the Volunteers of the Community in San Jose, which has been organizing protests in the Bay Area demanding the state end discriminatory practices that effectively bar many immigrants from being eligible for a drivers license.

Dozens of buses came from around California, including from San Francisco, Bakersfield, Lamont, Arvin, Delano, Los Angeles, and Oxnard.

Herman Monroy, a young construction worker from Sacramento, said this was his first march. "I am here for justice. We would like a union where I work," Monroy said.

Socialist Workers candidate for secretary of state Olympia Newton campaigned at the rally representing the statewide slate, which includes Nan Bailey for governor and William Kalman for lieutenant governor.

Gia Moreno, a student at Sacramento City College, came by a rally and the end of the 165-mile march. "When I heard the drums pass by my house I told my neighbors--’they’re here.’ My grandpa was a farm worker and my father walked with the march yesterday," Moreno said.

Deborah Liatos is a meat packer and member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 120.
 
 
Related article:
Support farm workers’ struggles  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home