Marshall Ganz
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195162011
- eISBN:
- 9780199943401
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195162011.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
This book tells the story of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers' ground-breaking victory, drawing important lessons from this dramatic tale. Since the 1900s, large-scale agricultural ...
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This book tells the story of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers' ground-breaking victory, drawing important lessons from this dramatic tale. Since the 1900s, large-scale agricultural enterprises relied on migrant labor—a cheap, unorganized, and powerless workforce. In 1965, when some 800 Filipino grape workers began to strike under the aegis of the AFL-CIO, the UFW soon joined the action with 2,000 Mexican workers and turned the strike into a civil rights struggle. They engaged in civil disobedience, mobilized support from churches and students, boycotted growers, and transformed their struggle into La Causa, a farm workers' movement that eventually triumphed over the grape industry's Goliath. Why did they succeed? How can the powerless challenge the powerful successfully? Offering insight from a long-time movement organizer and scholar, the book illustrates how they had the ability and resourcefulness to devise good strategy and turn short-term advantages into long-term gains. The book covers the movement's struggles, set-backs, and successes.Less
This book tells the story of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers' ground-breaking victory, drawing important lessons from this dramatic tale. Since the 1900s, large-scale agricultural enterprises relied on migrant labor—a cheap, unorganized, and powerless workforce. In 1965, when some 800 Filipino grape workers began to strike under the aegis of the AFL-CIO, the UFW soon joined the action with 2,000 Mexican workers and turned the strike into a civil rights struggle. They engaged in civil disobedience, mobilized support from churches and students, boycotted growers, and transformed their struggle into La Causa, a farm workers' movement that eventually triumphed over the grape industry's Goliath. Why did they succeed? How can the powerless challenge the powerful successfully? Offering insight from a long-time movement organizer and scholar, the book illustrates how they had the ability and resourcefulness to devise good strategy and turn short-term advantages into long-term gains. The book covers the movement's struggles, set-backs, and successes.
Cindy Hahamovitch
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691102689
- eISBN:
- 9781400840021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691102689.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter details the conflict between domestic workers and guestworkers as the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), with the Florida Rural Legal Services, became involved in a struggle for “the ...
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This chapter details the conflict between domestic workers and guestworkers as the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), with the Florida Rural Legal Services, became involved in a struggle for “the worst jobs in the world.” Florida Rural was working to transform every aspect of farmworkers' lives. Its lawyers sued to gain access to labor camps, to integrate those camps, to get workers transported in buses rather than flatbed trucks, to get any Florida county to set up a Food Stamp program, to get farmworkers paid what they were owed, and to enforce local sanitation and housing ordinances. And although Florida Rural took all sorts of cases—including straight forward divorce and landlord–tenant cases—a great deal of their time would be spent suing on behalf of Caribbean guestworkers who alleged exploitation by sugarcane companies and to prove that domestic workers had been unfairly deprived of those same miserable jobs.Less
This chapter details the conflict between domestic workers and guestworkers as the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), with the Florida Rural Legal Services, became involved in a struggle for “the worst jobs in the world.” Florida Rural was working to transform every aspect of farmworkers' lives. Its lawyers sued to gain access to labor camps, to integrate those camps, to get workers transported in buses rather than flatbed trucks, to get any Florida county to set up a Food Stamp program, to get farmworkers paid what they were owed, and to enforce local sanitation and housing ordinances. And although Florida Rural took all sorts of cases—including straight forward divorce and landlord–tenant cases—a great deal of their time would be spent suing on behalf of Caribbean guestworkers who alleged exploitation by sugarcane companies and to prove that domestic workers had been unfairly deprived of those same miserable jobs.
Brian K. Obach
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029094
- eISBN:
- 9780262328302
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029094.003.0006
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
Social justice concerns have been tied to the organic cause at least since its embrace by the 1960s counterculture, but how social justice is perceived and pursued is complicated and contradictory. ...
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Social justice concerns have been tied to the organic cause at least since its embrace by the 1960s counterculture, but how social justice is perceived and pursued is complicated and contradictory. One interpretation sees social justice in support for family farmers imperilled by competition from big agribusiness. In the minds of many, organic provides an avenue for these farmers to receive a fair return for their products. There is tension between this sentiment and the fact that organic goods command a price premium that places them out of reach of many low income consumers. The struggle for food justice has developed in parallel with the organic movement, yet there is little overlap between them. The matter of farm labor further complicates social justice pursuits as many organic farms employ migrant workers, underpaid interns or engage in other exploitative labor practices. The matter of social justice remains a challenge for the organic movement.Less
Social justice concerns have been tied to the organic cause at least since its embrace by the 1960s counterculture, but how social justice is perceived and pursued is complicated and contradictory. One interpretation sees social justice in support for family farmers imperilled by competition from big agribusiness. In the minds of many, organic provides an avenue for these farmers to receive a fair return for their products. There is tension between this sentiment and the fact that organic goods command a price premium that places them out of reach of many low income consumers. The struggle for food justice has developed in parallel with the organic movement, yet there is little overlap between them. The matter of farm labor further complicates social justice pursuits as many organic farms employ migrant workers, underpaid interns or engage in other exploitative labor practices. The matter of social justice remains a challenge for the organic movement.
