This May 5, Cinco de Mayo, is 18 years since I was called upon to take over leadership of the United Farm Workers of America following the untimely passing of Cesar Chavez on April 23, 1993. It was also the day in 1973, when I first joined the UFW as a full-time staff person while organizing the boycotts of grapes, lettuce and Gallo wines in Detroit, Michigan. Cesar’s passing was a total shock. So was being chosen to lead the UFW in his absence. Since then, we kicked off a major new field organizing and contract bargaining campaign that has produced major new contract victories and has helped grow the union’s membership, although so much work remains to be done. We negotiated the landmark, bipartisan AgJobs bill with the nation’s growers that would let undocumented farm workers earn the right to permanently stay in this country by continuing to work in agriculture. We’ve push labor law reforms in California: the historic 2002 binding mediation law letting farm workers win union contracts when growers refuse to negotiate and the majority sign up bill making it easier for farm workers to choose the union that Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the last four years in a row. My first love has always been organizing and it’s been an honor to do this work for the last 38 years.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America