The Great Delano Grape Strike

Paper Summary:

The first part of the paper examines the working conditions of immigrant farm workers and the reasons that prevented them from forming unions and benefiting from organized labor. The second part looks at the strike itself, concentrating from the first walkout in the spring of 1965 to the signing of the first contract with a California grower in 1966. In the final part, the paper examines the historic achievements the Great Delano Grape Strike made possible for farm workers, as well as for the larger field of women's and immigrant rights and ethnic identity.

From the Paper:

"For more than a century, the valleys of Central California have served as one of the most important agricultural centers of the country. The fields of Salinas, San Joaquin and Coachella, to name a few, have supplied the rest of the country with lettuce, beets, strawberries and other fresh produce. This agribusiness empire is built on backbreaking labor of migrant workers. Since the late 19th century, young male migrants from China, Japan, Mexico and the Philippines were brought in to work as planters and fruit pickers. Because these workers were important sources of cheap labor, farm owners took great pains to keep them isolated and demoralized. Many of these young men did not speak the language and were barred from associating with other groups (Kushner, 1975). By the 1960s, the organized labor movement in the United States was able to enact laws that protected and enshrined worker rights. These included laws pertaining to benefits, fair wages, reasonable working hours and safe working conditions."

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