Since 1965, Cesar Chavez has been leading la huelga (the strike) to unionize California's farm workers and win contracts from the state's powerful agricultural producers. He has concentrated on growers of table grapes, a product that requires intensive labor and is difficult to mechanize. Last week Chavez's United Farm Workers Organizing Committee finally dented the opposition. Three Coachella Valley table-grape producers agreed to contracts with UFWOC raising wages 10¢ an hour, to $1.75, and adding 22¢-an-hour worth of fringe benefits. Said Chavez: "This is a very important day."
Central to the union's...
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