Andy Imutan on uniting Filipino and Mexican laborers
Larry Itliong and I decided to take action by seeing Cesar Chavez, the leader of the National Farm Workers Association. We met to come up with a plan that would be beneficial for everyone, including the Mexican workers. However, Chavez said his organization wasn't ready to go on a strike. It took several discussions and a lot of faith, but finally the Filipinos and Mexicans joined as one on September 16, to picket the Delano growers. On March 17, 1966 we set out on a march from Delano to Sacramento that initially only had 70 farm workers and volunteers. But by April 11, as we climbed the steps of the state Capitol, there were 10,000 supporters who had joined us in the cause.
A few months later our union, AWOC, and the NFWA joined as a single union. Out of this union the United Farm Workers was born. (Complete article can be found at UFW: What happened when Mexicans and Filipinos joined together.)
The UFW Remembers Andy Imutan
All of us in the farm worker movement and the Chavez family were deeply saddened to learn of the recent passing on Feb. 2 in the Philippines of Andy Imutan, the last remaining leader of a largely Filipino American farm workers union that made history in 1965 by beginning the Delano grape strike and sparking creation of the first successful farm workers union in American history. Andy reached across racial barriers to join forces with members of the mostly Latino farm workers’ union led by Cesar Chavez who joined the grape walkouts. Andy was a key leader of the strike and of the merged union that became the United Farm Workers of America. (Complete article can be found at the UFW's Facebook Page.)
 |
| Left to right: Andy Imutan, Dolores Huerta, Larry Itliong, and Robert Kennedy at a rally in Delano, California before the breaking of Cesar Chavez’s 25-day Fast, Delano, California, March 10,1968. Photo by Dick Darby. |
0 comments:
Post a Comment