Farm Workers and Unionization
Esteban Flores, a doctoral student at UT-Austin, discusses the current state of farm worker organizing and their efforts to enact labor legislation. Throughout the United States Farm Worker efforts to organize have been hindered by Right to Work Laws, which prohibit employers from requiring employees to join the union representing its workers (a closed shop). Flores explains that agribusinesses have lobbied hard for right to work laws as a way of limiting the bargaining power of workers, who would have more power if all employees belonged to the union.
Farm workers have been organizing for much of the 20th century throughout the United States. While the farm workers in California have received the majority of support and attention, farm workers elsewhere have also organized and protested inhumane working conditions. In 1966, farm workers in Texas staged a massive rally that was violently put down by the Texas Rangers. Beyond repression, farm worker unions face several challenges including those posed by illegal immigrants whom agribusinesses hire as strikebreakers. In recent years, however, their unions have reached out to Mexican nationals throughout transnational radio programs and other actions.
Although the farm worker-supported Agriculture Labor Relations Act stalled in congress, the farm workers continue to organize and are aided by support from the Chicano Movement and various religious and civic organizations.
KEYWORDS
AgribusinessAgriculture Labor Relations Act
American GI Forum
Bishop Vincent Harris
Brutality
California
Cannery Association
Cesar Chavez
Closed Shop
Farm Labor Organizing Committee
Farm Workers
Florida
Florida Citrus Association
Florida Farm Bureau
House Agriculture Committee
Illegal Alien
Illegal Immigration
Indiana
Labor
Labor Legislation
Long Road to Delano
LULAC
March
March from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin
Melon Farms
Methodist Church
Mexican Strikebreakers
Midwest Council of La Raza
National Farm Bureau
Office of Spanish Speaking Affairs
Ohio
Ojinaga
Open Shop
Presbyterian Church
Protest
Radio Program
Rally in Austin
Repression
Right to Work Laws
Rio Grande Valley
Sam Kushner
Section 14B of the Taft-Hartley Act
Senate Economic Development Committee
Taft Hartley Act
Texas Farm Workers Union
Texas Rangers
The Chicano Movement
The Labor Management Relations Act
Transnational Labor Organizing
Undocumented Workers
Unionization
Unions
United Farm Workers
Violence
Wagner Act