UFW March and Rally: fotos and story

Center photo: Arturo Roriguez, President of the UFW with Dolores Huerta, UFW co-founder.

The United Farm Workers concluded a 165 mile, 11 day march from the Central Valley to Sacramento Sunday with a rally that brought out over 3,000 supporters. They are demanding that Governor Gray Davis sign SB 1736, which would legislate binding arbitration between farm workers and growers in California. The governor, who has been receiving large cash donations from growers in recent weeks, may veto the bill.

The United Farm Workers have not had great success in getting contracts because of the ability of growers to delay resolution of contract disputes. The UFW says it needs arbitrators to settle negotiations between them and growers when the growers are not bargaining in good faith.

Arturo Rodriguez, President of the UFW, said to the rally that 75 percent of California Farm Workers earn less than $10,000 a year, and 90 percent have no health coverage. Growers say SB 1736 would put some of them out of business, but they have cried wolf many times over the years, saying each step towards lifting farm workers out of poverty, be it outlawing the short handled hoe or instituting hiring halls, was going to make them bankrupt.

Two granddaughters of the late Cesar Chavez addressed the crowd, as did Dolores Huerta, the charismatic UFW leader. Huerta, 72, walked the full distance of the march, and said it was tough in the heat, but no tougher than what farm workers go through every day in the fields.