For Immediate Release
Saturday, March 31, 2001
¡Sí Se Puede! — Commemorating César Chávez (Español)
By Gerald W. McEntee
Photo by Jocelyn Sherman, courtesy of the United Farm Workers Union
¡Si se puede! Yes, we can!
This enduring slogan of the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) is attributed to its founder and longtime president, César Chávez.
The slogan was born at a time when even strong supporters of the union were dismayed at the possibility of overcoming an anti-union state law passed with the backing of established produce growers in Arizona. Chávez, in his gentle but persuasive manner, rallied people back to the cause with the admonition, "yes we can."
As California celebrates its first official state holiday for Chávez, it’s time to reflect on the UFW’s great tradition of labor and civil rights organizing, transforming the role of Latinos in America.
Latinos are emerging as the largest minority group in our country. Latino leaders hold key political offices in every one of the most populous states. But to harness this power for lasting social justice, a new, bigger wave of political organizing must reach every member of the community. The horsepower for this new politics will certainly come from today’s labor movement, which is pulling in thousands of recent immigrants in fields from health care and public services to high-tech manufacturing.
From humble roots as a migrant worker, César Chávez joined nationally noted organizer Saul Alinsky with the Community Service Organization in 1952. In a short time, CSO was vigorously fighting for voting rights, citizenship and more effective community services as the Latino community grew in California and Arizona.
Influenced by the social teachings of the Catholic Church, Chávez then dedicated his life to organizing farm workers and overcoming the system of exploitation that enriched grape growers while keeping workers down. When traditional tools such as strikes and wage demands didn’t work, Chávez and the workers reached out to the public, appealing for support through massive produce and wine boycotts that educated millions of consumers while enjoining them in the struggle.
Chávez believed the injustices faced by farm workers—the long hours working stooped down in someone else’s field, the pressure for children to work rather than attend school, the violence they faced for daring to organize—were a compelling story. He believed ordinary consumers everywhere, from any social strata, would demand better for those who produced for the tables of the wealthiest country in the world.
This demand for change crested, leading to the landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975. Farm workers in California became the first in the nation with the legal right to organize, and the movement spread.
Today the UFW’s tactics and goals influence the entire labor movement. Workers harvesting strawberries and mushrooms have triumphed, and the movement touches agricultural workers in every major farm state. Home health care workers in San Diego and parks workers in Los Angeles are reaching out to the public to fight injustice and win dignity at work.
But while the climate for immigrants has improved, working families again are encountering intimidation and manipulation that suppress their voice at the polling place. A new battle for the heart and soul of America must be waged door-to-door—through registering and turning out informed voters--in every community where people of color work too hard and earn too little for a decent family life.
Let us remember what César Chávez did—fighting the entrenched power of the bosses right up until his death eight years ago. And let us not rest until workers’ voices are heard resoundingly on Election Day and their right to organize for better job conditions is fully protected.
United Farm Workers of America
