Today in labor history: Farm Workers win after 17-year boycott

On May 29, 1996, the United Farm Workers of America reached agreement with Bruce Church Inc. on a contract for 450 lettuce harvesters, ending a 17-year-long boycott.

The pact raised wages, provided company-paid health benefits to workers and their families, created a seniority system to deal with seasonal layoffs and recalls, and established a pesticide monitoring system.

To this day, the UFW continues the fight against harmful pesticides. Other key issues for the UFW include the fight against heat related death and illness, and the new immigration process that will affect a million agricultural workers and their families.

Photo: Coretta Scott King and Cesar Chavez, 1973. United Farm Workers and the Lettuce Boycott.

 

 

 


CONTRIBUTOR

Special to People’s World
Special to People’s World

People’s World is a voice for progressive change and socialism in the United States. It provides news and analysis of, by, and for the labor and democratic movements to our readers across the country and around the world. People’s World traces its lineage to the Daily Worker newspaper, founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists in Chicago in 1924.

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