|
Texas farm workers begin 420-mile march to Austin
On this day in 1977, members and supporters of the Texas Farm Workers
Union set out on a 420-mile march from San Juan, Texas, to Austin to
lobby for passage of a state law granting fieldworkers the right to vote
on union representation. TFWU had faced an uphill battle since its
founding two years before. Its leader, Antonio Orendain, had worked for
the rival United Farm Workers, but had grown frustrated with what he
perceived as UFW's lack of enthusiasm for organizing Texas workers.
Growers in the Rio Grande valley opposed unionization and claimed that
the union did not represent a majority of their employees. In addition,
TFWU could not count on the support of the AFL-CIO, which was officially
allied with UFW. TFWU carried out nonviolent strikes in the Valley and
pressed the farmworker cause in the media. The marchers reached the
Capitol on April 2, but the legislation died in subcommittee. Though
TFWU, which ceased to exist in the 1980s, did not achieve its goal of
winning collective-bargaining rights for farmworkers in Texas, it did
force public attention on the substandard conditions under which
farmworkers lived.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- TEXAS FARM WORKERS UNION
- SAN JUAN, TX
- RIO GRANDE VALLEY
- UNITED FARM WORKERS UNION
- LABOR ORGANIZATIONS
- TEXAS SINCE WORLD WAR II
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Black activist seeks admission to segregated university (1946)
- Clint and Jeff Smith captured by Indians (1871)
|
