The United Farm Workers Movement: An Argumentative Essay Analysis

This argumentative essay delves into the United Farm Workers (UFW) movement, a pivotal chapter in US labor history. It examines the formation of the UFW through the merger of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) and the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), spearheaded by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. The essay analyzes the UFW's strategies, including strikes and boycotts, to improve working conditions, wages, and fight against racial discrimination and the Bracero Program. It explores the perspectives of various scholars, including Bruns Roger, Cruz Adrian, Holmes Todd, Araiza and Wodka, highlighting the movement's achievements, challenges, and the impact of political and social factors, such as Reaganism and alliances with groups like the Black Panther Party. The essay emphasizes the UFW's role in advancing farmworkers' rights, promoting social justice, and its lasting legacy in the labor movement.

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Argumentative Essay on the United Farmworkers Movement
The United Farm Workers was a United States farm workers labor union that stem from
the Alliance formed by the Agricultural Workers Organization Committee (AWOC) and the
National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) that was led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.
In 1962, NFWA led by Cesar Chavez and comprising of the Mexicans and the AWOC made up
of the Filipinos conducted their first convention in separate locations in the rural California, the
conventions that initiated the formation of a multiracial movement which eventually led to the
establishment of the United Farm Workers (UFW) later in 1965 when AWOC and NFWA allied
to become one. Due to their common goals AWOC and NFWA formed the United Farm
Workers Organization Committee in 1966 and later changed its title to the United Farm Workers
Union. The establishment of the United Farm Workers in 1965 became the foundation of new era
of farm labor activism and the era of social justice movements in the United States that resulted
into a number of significant revolutions for most of the racially marginalized Mexican and
Filipino farmers (Garcia, 3). Despite the clarity in the goals and the objectives of the United
Farm Workers, many scholars have provided different views and arguments regarding the United

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Farmworkers Movement. This argumentative work is focused in providing an analysis on the
arguments on the UFW movement.
According to Bruns Roger the United Farmworkers Movement was an era marked and
associated with boycotts, labor strikes, violent attacks and the jailing of many migrant Filipino
farmers in the United States (Bruns, 9). The United farmworkers movement under the leadership
of Cesar Chavez was established primarily to improve the working conditions as well as call for
wage improvements for all the migrant farmworkers. Furthermore, the movement was
established to educate its members on the social and educational issues as well as promoting
nonviolence and mistreatment of the farmers. The movement was developed after long period of
attempted failures and struggles to establish a strong and permanent union for the migrant farm
workers. While the Unification of AWOC and NFWA in 1966 was particularly guided by the
common goals and methods of the labor organizations, however, the merger formed a foundation
of breaking the racial and institutional barriers that existed between the Mexicans and the
Filipinos. It marked the beginning of interracial unity between the Mexicans and the Filipinos as
well as foundation for the contracts for farm workers in California State (Garcia, 15). Perhaps,
one of the major results of the United Farmworkers movement was in 1965 when Cesar Chavez
and other movement leaders mobilized a nationwide strike and boycotts by the California grape
pickers. The boycott and strikes went ahead for more than the next 15years when most of the
migrant farmworkers were granted contracts for higher minimum wage and health insurance
benefits with better working conditions. While Burns Roger goes a great length to discuss the
achievements of the UFW under the leaderships of Cesar Chavez, however, he fails to outline
how the movement was established and the immediate events that led to the movement.
Furthermore, Roger fails to outline the immediate outcomes of the movement and what

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transpired after the merger of the movement. Nonetheless, even though Chavez and his UFW
failed to build a successful permanent national union, the strategies, achievements and successes
of the union formed a foundation for establishment of the farm worker movements that are still
witnessed today.
In his social Movement Studies; “The Union within the Union: Filipinos, Mexicans and
the Racial Integration of the Farm Worker Movement” Cruz Adrian explores the nature of the
experiences that the immigrant farmworkers in California were exposed to and the subsequent
strikes and boycotts that occurred during the 1930s (Cruz, 367). During this era more than 180
farm worker strikes were conducted in the rural California with the primary goal being to
instigate the farm owners to improve working conditions, wage increases and to eradicate
barriers based on the ethnic origin of the immigrants. During the 1960s, the Filipinos AWOC and
the Mexican NFWA merged to form the United Farm Workers, an alliance which was not
expected following the long standing history of racial tension between these two groups. NFWA
and the AWOC merged to form the UFW a movement that initiated a countrywide consumer
strike and boycotts of the grape industries by the grape pickers. Cruz Adrian goes ahead to
explain that the root course of the UFW movement was the establishment of the Bracero
Program, an establishment that resulted into poor pay of farm workers, poor working and living
conditions as well as discrimination. A labor movement was thus needed to improve the situation
of the farm workers. Even though Cruz Adrian successfully shows the chronological events that
led to the establishment of the UFW movement, he however, do not add to his work the
outcomes of the movement and whether or not the movement lived to achieve the objectives it
set to. The UFW after being established marked a period of significant transitions in the lives of
immigrant farm workers. It marked the beginning of farm work contracts and the wage

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increment for all farm workers with better working conditions associated with health insurance
for all farm workers. Furthermore, while Adrian integrates some aspects of the formation of the
Farm Workers Movement, he however does not explain why AWOC and NFWA merged despite
the growing racial tension between Mexicans and the Filipinos. Even though Chavez was
initially reluctant to join forces with AWOC and did not consider strike as the best plan of action
to instigate change, however, the momentum of the moment as well as the difference in
resources available for both the organizations, the two labor organizations were forced to join
forces. Chavez’s NFWA lacked enough funds to finance a serious strike neither did they have a
permanent established home. On the other hand AWOC had strong support of AFL-CIO as well
as the Filipino hall where they could organize strike (Garcia, 17). The AWOC however did not
have enough man power and thus relied heavily on Chavez to persuade majority Mexican farm
workers to join in the strike. These differences and commonality in their goals brought these two
racially different labor organizations together making the beginning of what became the farm
workers movement.
Holmes Todd in his work “The Economic Roots of Reaganism: Corporate Conservatives
Political Economy and the United Farm Workers Movement”, Todd explores how the leadership
of Reagan undermined the efforts of the United Farm Workers Movement to improve the
working conditions, wage increment and abolish racial discrimination and barriers based on
racial ethnicity. In 1965, AWOC and NFWA merged to form the farm workers movement that
garnered the attention of the public in California. The United Farmworkers Movement
established in 1965 under the leadership of Chavez was one of the most successful movements
that marked the beginning of significant changes in the farm labor movements in the United
States (Holmes, 60). One of the greatest achievements associated with the united farm workers

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movements is perhaps the successful mobilization of grape strike in Delano. However, under the
leadership of Reagan, the farm workers were exposed to greater suffering and cruel treatment as
Reaganism favored the farm owners as opposed to the migrant farm workers. Some of the
strategies used by Reagan to undermine the efforts of UFW are the introduction of inmates for
farm labor and being paid 11 cents per working hour. He supplemented the Inmate labor force
with additional welfare recipients. This significantly hindered and affected the operations of the
UFW. Reagan as a leader created a system that supported the farm owners and the business men
at the expense of the farm workers. While Todd explains how the Reaganism era undermined the
works of the UFW movement, he however fails to point out how the farm workers and their
leaders managed to escape from these systematic oppressions. Despite these challenges, the
UFW managed to maneuver and in 1968 managed to mobilize a nationwide grape industry
boycott and was able to gain the rights to collective bargaining through the Agricultural Labor
Relations Act of 1975. The low wages and cruel working conditions stemming from the inmate
labor workforce supplemented by Reagan were perhaps the reasons for the formation of the
UFW movement.
According to the United Farm Workers, the Bracero program which led to the massive reduction
in wages for farm workers following the introduction of inmate workers to supplement
agricultural farm work. According to this program, the farm owners were not allowed to replace
the farm workers (UFW n.d). Bracero workers were paid lower wages which contributed to
decline of in wages for migrant workers. Additionally, farm workers were exposed to harsh
working conditions including lack of electricity and poor housing. The establishment of the
UFW movement was therefore a proper strategy to instigate change and put an end to the
Bracero program that undermined the welfare of farm workers. While Reaganism was marked

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with significant inhumane experiences by the farm workers, however, farm workers experienced
other major problems such as racial discrimination, poor working conditions and barriers which
were ethnic based. The UFW movement under the leadership of Chaves was therefore
established to help improve these conditions and end the suffering of the farm workers through a
system of collective bargaining.
Lauren Araiza in her article “In Common Struggle against a Common Oppression”: THE
United Farm Workers and the Black Panther Party, 1968-1973” Araiza explores the unification
of the United Farm Workers and the Black Panther Party in the fight against systematic
oppression suffered by the Blacks in the hands of the white masters (Araiza, 200). The
unification of these two groups brought together two groups that were, in America’s belief, very
opposing and unlikely allies. The Black Panther Party (BPP) was as a Black American, urban,
militant and social based party which greatly differed with the UFW which was Mexican bases,
nonviolent, rural and Catholic based and was in no place going to share its goals with BPP.
However, despite their outstanding differences the two movements established picket lines
consisting of both the UFW members and the Black Panther Party members together with their
supporters and succeeded in closing down the Safeway store for over a long time. Araiza
explains that the unwitting opposition of the Safeway store against the UFW and the BPP
brought these two groups together (Araiza, 203). However, the two groups were also brought
together by their common goals and the common view of subject of the oppression of the ruling
capitalist class. The alliance of these two racially diverse groups played a role in further breaking
the racial inequality barriers that existed between the Mexicans and the Black Americans,
brought together with common oppression of the whites. This source successfully exploits the

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circumstances that led to the establishment of the two movements and how these two groups,
despite their differences managed to maneuver to obtain public support and recognition
Steven Wodka in his article “OSHA 1971: Bringing Government to Protect the Lives of
Industrial and Farm Workers.” Wodka goes ahead to explain the nature of harmful conditions
that the Farm Workers were exposed to by their employers particularly the exposure to mercury
and other chemicals which are equally dangerous for the lives of the Workers (Wodka, 728).
Before the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act United States did not have
any structure of the government which could protect the workers against the unhealthy working
conditions. Wodka explains how the unhealthy working conditions provided by the employers at
the expense of the workers endangered the lives of the workers, however, there was no
legislation to correct this problem and as such the establishment of the OSHA was very
important for workers as it opened the way in which the workers could complain against
hazardous working conditions. Some of the chemicals that the industry and farm workers were
exposed include Asbestos, Beryllium and mercury (Wodka, 729). The United Farm Workers
through the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee demanded that farm workers also be
protected by the same standards. The introduction of OSHA thus became very significant in the
fight of UFW for better working conditions.
In conclusion, even though Cesar did not establish a permanent national union, however,
the establishment of the United Farm Workers Movements in 1965 was a crucial turning point
for all the migrant farm workers at the time and continues to influence most of the farm workers
labor movement today. The leadership strategies and the methods used by Chavez to gain
support and attract public attention remain crucial in the works of many farm worker movements
who wish to advocate for labor rights within the United States.

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Work Cited
Araiza, Lauren. "" In common struggle against a common oppression": the United Farm Workers
and the Black Panther Party, 1968-1973." The Journal of African American History 94.2
(2009): 200-223.
Bruns, Roger A. Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement. ABC-CLIO, 2011.
Cruz, Adrian. "The union within the union: Filipinos, Mexicans, and the racial integration of the
farm worker movement." Social Movement Studies 15.4 (2016): 361-373.
Garcia, Matt. "Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement." Oxford Research
Encyclopedia of American History. 2016.
Holmes, Todd. "The economic roots of Reaganism: Corporate conservatives, political economy,
and the United Farm Workers Movement, 1965–1970." Western Historical
Quarterly 41.1 (2010): 55-80.
United Farm Workers (UFW). "History of the United Farm Workers."
www.laits.utexas.edu/jaime/cwp2/ccg/historyofufw.html.
Wodka, Steven. "OSHA 1971: Bringing government to protect the lives of industrial and farm
workers." (2018): 728-729.