Labor: From Fruit Bowl to Salad Bowl

For Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, the recently settled grape strike was more than La Huelga, The Strike. It was La Causa—The Cause of economic parity and social dignity for Mexican-Americans. The Spanish-speaking field hands who harvest California's crops are, Chavez believes, his natural constituency. So Chavez declared war when growers in the Salinas Valley "salad bowl" signed an agreement, announced on July 28, stating that they had given the Western Conference of Teamsters organizing jurisdiction over some 10,000 workers.

"They're signing contracts for our members," Chavez fumed....

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