Transcripts For CSPAN3 Delano Grape Strike 20151025 : vimars

Who participated in the 1965 delano grape strike, joins a panel of historians to discuss its history and legacy as well as the early days of the Farmworkers Movement. California State University bakersfield and Bakersfield College cohosted this event. Its about 90 minutes. The next portion of our program is a Panel Discussion on the history and legacy of the grapestrike the str it is ani honor to have with us one of the heroes of theke. The grape strike. It is an honor to have with us one of the heroes of the strike, ms. Lorraine agtang. She and her family lived for years in the same farm labor camp outside delano. She was 13 when it began. In 1970, she and her family proudly went to work under union contract. Out on strike again in 1973. She was the first manager of the retirement village you saw in delano that the Farmworkers Movement built for elderly and displaced filipino in 1974. Rs in 1975, with the passage of the Agricultural Labor relations act, lorraine organized farmworkers from multiple ethnicities for the first secret ballot state conducted union elections. She has been a dedicated activist with the Farmworker Movement ever since and continues to work to tell the of the contributions to the movement. Dawn, an associate professor of history at San Francisco State University. She received an ma in Asian Americans readies from ucla and a phd in history from stanford. Her research focuses on filipinoAmerican History, historic cultural preservation, foodways. Noamerican shes the author of little making ahe art of Filipino Community in stockton, california, which was awarded an Honorable Mention for the Frederick Jackson turner award. She is working on a biography of the labor leader we just saw a film about. Sifuentes is a professor at the university of california merced who earned his phd in american studies at brown university. He was a worse Generation College students from a farm working background. His first book, by forest and by fields, tells the story of mexican immigrant workers in the agriculture and read for station industry in the pacific northwest. He teaches courses in food history, labor history, and immigrant history. Oregone founder of the history project and is currently curating a Museum Exhibit on the 10th anniversary of steamer said. Rounding out our panel is dr. , a historian and researcher with the bill lane center, for the American West at stanford. He earned a bachelors and masters degree from california State University sacramento and completed his phd at yale. Hes the awardwinning author of numerous publications on the political, economic, and environmental history of. Alifornia at stanford, he helps direct the bill lane centers rural rest initiative and is the principal researcher for the Centers California Coastal Commission project. Just two final reminders, each panelist will have 15 minutes to present. Our timekeeping where will inform you when you have five, and three minutes left. To the audience, i request the silence your cell phones and be respected respectful to our guests. Questions and answers will wallow follow all the presentations. Thank you. Goodg ms. Agtang afternoon. Like he said, i was only 13 years old when the strike again. I remember working that day in like,eld when there was, this big commotion going on and people screaming and yelling. My father said to us, come on, we are leaving. I asked what he meant, and he said there was a strike. I had no clue what a strike meant. That the filipinos were out on the picket lines. It was interesting to me to see them out there screaming and yelling. My experience with the filipino farmworkers are that they were pretty mild. Nice, hard workers. They dont want to make anyone , especially their growers, so what was all this commotion about . From that point on, my whole life story changed. I thought i would still be living in delano with seven kids working in the fields. I was born in delano, born in the labor camp that we lived in with my six siblings. Were finally excited when that whole period was over. I am half filipino, half mexican. The filipinos started a strike. Two weeks later they knew they could not do it alone because the mexicans were working and breaking the strike. They came and asked them to join the cause. Was not quite ready, he knew that this was the time. If they did not get together again, they were never going to get together. Sneakingr the kids into filipino hall, how great it was for me personally to see the the filipinos in the mexicans and workers working together for a common cause. Historically, growers pitted the workers against each other. I remember them telling us that mexican worker crews were picks and more boxes of grapes than we were, so people work harder to catch up with them. Out in the community, they did not have parties together. Seeing them in filipino hall just made me a whole person, finally. , in the 1973 strike began was working and went out on strike again, and thats when the boycott began. I went to work with farmworkers because i had a family and could not boycott. Everyone you see in this picture, they all went on a boycott. They had never been out of the field, and now they are in chicago and new york and most places they send them asking every day americans not to eat grapes in front of the market. Who knew that five years later, unitedmany people in the states denied hitting aiding grapes, and it hit the pocketbooks of many of those growers . They signed the contract. Poly was talking about, they were already old. Those guys never were going to go back to work. That was one of the things they always said. Ecause they were old my job being the first manager to go out to the labor camp was to try to talk filipinos into retiring. Have you ever tried to talk a filipino into retiring . Ugh. [laughter] because thats all they knew, was to work. They worked and died in the labor camps. There were stories of people finding money in their mattresses. Like my article, who never really learned how to speak english. , who neveruncle really learned how to speak english. Many did not get married. By the time they could, they were old. They were hurt. They were jilted. They were not going to get married. Offered a safe place to die in dignity. I first had gone to work with the clinics, so i like seeing the 40 acres, of the clinic, and the service center. Any other forms of paper they needed, they were pieces of equipment. They had doctors 24 hours, like my friend over there says. It was like a fivestar hotel for them. They had a filipino cook. , andhad their gardens people from all over california would come and visit them. Actually, it was a labor of love, bill by labor people and by College Students from san , and theyan francisco grew attached. Is the big celebration at 40 acres. A lot of them will be there tomorrow. They love the men. ,hese were strong crowds hardworking, taught us all some toh about how to be able stand up. It took me years to understand they were standing up for what they wanted when they had not before that. Then, in 1975 when the Agricultural Labor relations act providing for secret ballot and elections, i had the opportunity to go out and organize, and by then we were arabs. Ing puerto ricans, there were workers from all over , and it was a great time. I have always been an activist. I came to the capital of sacramento to receive an award or representing Filipino Workers takenfor rob, when he had av 123 to add to history filipino strike workers to the history books. I testified. And i tell young people you have to get active in your community, work withve to everyone in your community. Unless you do that, you are not going to get anything done. You have got to find out what , and together, youve got to have each others back to get what you want. Thank you. [applause] any questions . Yes. I just want to make a clarification before the panel goes on any other. The history of the Filipino Workers, they have an Organization Called Agricultural Workers association that was founded in stockton, california, they were working with , and that ise time how the organization was founded. They went on to organize another area, and awa continued. Boxesould have their crew full when they would go to follow the harvest. They would go, and their boxes would negotiate with the rays would be for the pay. 1965 toy went in negotiate what rate they wanted, they got it. When they came to delano, the delano growers would not give them the pay raise that they wanted she wants to make her presentation on the topic you are talking about. We want to wait until im not going to get into a lot of detail about awa we will have a conversation after there was a mistake but i want to address. Basically, when they went to negotiate the rays, they did not get it, so their history was if they did not get the rays, they would do a work stoppage, and that is what happened in 1965. Days. K several it was not two weeks, and it was not with the farm workers association. It was not that the farmworkers or mexicans were breaking the strike. At that point, it was just a work stoppage. They wanted to see if the growers were going to give them their pay increase, so thats to join the decided strike eight days later. One of the early workers was there at that time and can also probably talk about what was going on. Thank you. Thats all i wanted to say. [applause] ive got a question. Ms. Mabalon good afternoon, everyone. I want to say what an honor it is to be with all of you and thank you to dean asher for letting me be part of this event. I want to begin with a quote from the lavera crews philip veracruz. How many of you have read this book . My classmate is one of the editors of the book, so i want to give him props for this. [applause] in the book, veracruz says, our role in the union has not been written and sometimes intentionally deleted because the anglos who wrote the story did not know all the facts and we did not speak up. I just want to say what a privilege and honor it has been to be a historian of the Filipino American spirit experience and try to piece together the story of the Filipino Americans in the united role innd the filipino americas back story. We can talk about what happens in the q a in the succeeding panels, but i want to give a little more context about Filipino American labor organizing. Thank you, lori, for talking talk awa, which i will about as well. When the strike began, one of the strikers talked to a local reporter and said this for more than 30 years, i have been in strikes in the yield. I think we are going to win this one, but if we win or not, the growers will know they have been in one hell of a right a fight. I want to talk about militancy and discipline and the long history of the Latino American Union Organizing that brings us 7,that roman, september 1965, in filipino hall in delano. Whichd to go to 1898 in they become a colony of the United States and the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association begins to recruit filipinos into the sugar plantations. In the central part and northern theyof the philippines look specifically for workers who were illiterate and wanted to make sure these were workers who would not try to organize. Many thousands of filipinos wanted to go to this fabled land called america that their teachers had told them about that many of them lied. They were illiterate. Their american educators had told them about something called a labor union. Kind of ironic, right . Empire is funny that way. I want to start with the sugar hawaii,on workers in who come over in 1906 and start to come by the thousands. This man, a selfeducated lawyer, begins to organize. The filipinoeads workers on strike. They lose. In 1924, he also leads Filipino Workers on strike, and they lose. The island ofn hawaii, 17 filipinos are shot dead by police when they are shot when they are out on strike. This is a terrible and violent strike. Again, another strike that filipinos lose. Hspa boycott the filipinos who had participated. Where else will they go . Many of the strike leaders come to california and begin to work in the fields and also start organizing. Cycle abor migration i will just go over this very briefly from february to june, from the 1920s through the 1960s and 1970s, the filipinos are working asparagus, and thats where my roots are. The daughter and granddaughter of farmworkers. From june to august, many of the workers are working in the Alaskans Ammon canneries. Salmon canneries. In october, they are working in mr. Holmes working in grape valleys. These Filipino Workers are working under brutal conditions. Racial violence, rigid segregation. This is the famous positively no filipinos allowed sign in doctrine in stockton. In a way to survive this very brutal work, like particularly asparagus, in which they are and over 10 to 12 hours a day, they begin to work in crews under ,ontractors and are to innovate like working by the piece or by the pound, and depending upon the contractor, for much of in payeeds for advances and finding them jobs. The contractor system later on in the history of united arm workers will be something kind of controversial, especially as we get into the history of the hiring hall, and we can talk about that later on. Latinos filipinos also are working in the alaskan salmon cannery. There, whichunion becomes local seven, and that union is actually still in existence now. Many of the leaders of the Agricultural Workers organizing committee came out of the alaskan salmon Cannery Union. It was known as one of the most radical unions in the entire labor landscape. So radical that they were kicked out of the cio right after world war ii because so many of their leaders were either communist or accused of being communist. These were the founders of the union. United statesthe at the age of 15 in 1930. He became Vice President and dispatcher. Amongst other labor organizing activities, he goes on strike. He organizes sardine workers in san pedro and becomes a leader. N this union the leaders of the Cannery Workers Union were murdered in 1934. Much of this labor Union History is marred by violence. Leaders protecting the cells against police violence, against violence from employers, from other contractors, etc. So the leaders are murdered. At about the same time, filipinos working in the lettuce in salinas form the Filipino Labor Union and go on strike in 1930 or. This strike is also brutal and broken, but amongst the veterans of this strike are people like the alaskan salmon Cannery Union and becomes a mentor of sorts for many latino labor organizers. In 1939, asparagus workers in stockton for him union called the filipino Agricultural Laborers association. Many leaders are people like chris, larry. They were also members of the alaskan salmon Cannery Union. Filipinos had gone on dozens of work stoppages and strikes throughout california and the west coast. Many had been trained by communist organizers working in agriculturalnd workers industrial union. By this point, farmers and new filipinos were among the most organized militant and disciplined strikers organized, militant, and all ofined strikers in america, not just agriculture. In 1939 on but write a, 5000 filipinoamerican asparagus inkers walked off the fields stockton, crippling the easter. Unday harvest filipinos knew if they walked up the fields together militantly, organized, that they could win. In 1939 on good friday. You have to understand this is all about this longer history of how filipinos are walking off and winning in certain ends as is. This is a meeting of the filipino Agricultural Laborers association. That union, actually, died by world war ii. Most of the men in that union the military and there is a no strike pledge, and when they come back, they are red. Aited many of them, pretty much, stopped on labor organizing with the exception of one union, that canneryalaska salmon workers union, local seven. They decided to start organizing in the fields, and why not . Before they come to work salmon, they were working asparagus in stockton. Ou can see larry right here you can see chris also here in the photograph. They are planning a huge forragus strike in stockton 1948. This is the strike. 5000 again asparagus workers walk off the field in stockton. Philip veracruz this is the firstever strike he has participated in. Unfortunately, they lose. The community is split. They are red baited. They win some concessions, but essentially, that union dies. This is a building in this is where they were headquartered. Christmas all this chris mensolvas, many of them have to lay low. Folks emerging out of the union, essentially they no longer are organizing because of surveillance. Ms. Mabalon however, larry continues to organize and he settles in stockton. And one of his friends who had been a leader in the strikes, they begin to meet with an Organization Called awa, led by thomas mcauliffe. They also put pressure on the aclu to start organizing farmworkers and that was the Agricultural Workers organizing commi