In September of 1965, the issue of migrant workers' social rights came to the forefront. César Chávez led the Farm Workers Association and specifically Mexican-American farm laborers.
These men and women aimed to protest the negligible pay and atrocious treatment they received at the hands of the owners. In the Plan of Delano, they said:
It is clearly evident that our paths travel through a valley well
known to all Mexican farm workers. We know all these towns
of Delano, Madera, Fresno, Modesto, Stockton, and Sacramento,
because along this very same road, in this very same valley, the
Mexican race has sacrificed itself for the last hundred years.
Our sweat and our blood have fallen on this land to make other men rich…"
By September 18, the National Farm Worker's Association had joined the effort. On the 21st, the California Council of Churches, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality and other organizations pledged to support.
All the strikers felt increased pressure as owners attempted to use violence and intimidation to end the strike
By October 1, over half the help was estimated to have left the fields in protest. As owners attempted to locate alternate sources of labor, strikers began to receive aid that poured in.
Patience wore thin on the part of the growers and the establishment as the strike drew on. Their grapes lay rotting in their fields. One picketer was strangled. Strikers and demonstrators began to square off with police and 44 were arrested.
The scene was bleak and deserted as most men had left the fields by the end of October.
César Chávez, director of the Farm Workers' Association, faced the law himself as he was arrested for flying over fields in an airplane and speaking to the people about protest. The charges were disturbing the peace.
The Farm Workers' Movement itself had basic goals: to seek justice without violence, to seek support of political groups and the protection of the government, to seek the support of the church, to endure the suffering imposed upon them, to unite, and to strike, pursue revolution, and to overcome.
However, it was not until July of 1970 that the farm workers achieved a significant victory. Twenty-six growers signed contracts with the Chávez-led AFL-CIO United Farm Workers' Committee. This brought Union protection to 10, 000 workers. They called for $1.80 an hour plus 20 cents per box. The pact, including a no strike clause, was effective for three years and included two pay raises &endash; to $1.95 in 1971 and to $2.05 in 1972.
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