Central Coast Farm Labor Organizing Collection

Chavez addresses Guadalupe residents in a local grammar school, campaigning for Proposition 14, a state initiative that attempted to secure permanent funding for the ALRB and require a statewide vote on any attempts to weaken the labor relations act. Former Santa Maria UFW organizer, Paulino Pacheco, stands on Chavez's left. Chávez se dirige, en su campaña para la Proposición 14, a los residentes de Guadalupe en una escuela primaria. Dicha proposición era una iniciativa estatal que intentaba asegurar fondos para el ALRB y requerir un voto mayoritario estatal para cualquier intento de debilitar el acta de relaciones laborales. Previo organizador de la UFW en Santa Maria, Paulino Pacheco se encuentra a la izquierda de Chávez en esta foto.

And UAW support came in all ages. Supporters march near the Hermosa and Main Street intersection. (Today, Hermosa does not intersect Main Street)

Local UFW members and supporters march down Main Street near West Alvin St. in Santa Maria. Partidarios y miembros locales de la UFW desfilan en la calle Main, cerca del oeste de la calle Alvin, en Santa Maria.

The setback in Santa Maria's chile fields signaled a discouraging trend. Grower-influenced legislators would cut off funding o the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), the agency created to enforce the state's new labor act, while growers used bureaucratic and legal maneuvers to undermine or delay implementing hard-won contracts. The UAW would turn to the ballot box for justice.

UFW marches in Santa Maria followed the same route. They started on Main St. then onto Broadway until reaching Preisker Park, or "parque huelga" (striker's park) as the union workers called it. Los desfiles de protesta de la UFW en Santa Maria tomaron siempre la misma ruta. Iniciaban en la calle Main, seguian por Broadway y llegaban hasta el Parque Preisker, comunmente conocido como 'el parque huelga'.

Marching down Santa Maria's streets became a regular activity in which thousands of local residents expressed their support for la causa -- the UFW cause during the expanding Grape Boycott. Los desfiles de protesta en las calles de Santa Maria eran una actividad frecuente en la cuál miles de residentes locales expresaron su apoyo por la causa de la UFW a lo largo del boycoteo de las uvas.

Cesar Chavez, center right, and an unknown UFW female sympathizer, far right, attend one of several meetings held in Santa Maria cultivating support for Proposition 14. Chavez had community support from Pete Cohen, and Raul Ceja, two of the UFWs local strategists.

That same year, Santa Maria strawberry pickers took on the International Brotherhood of Teamsters when local growers signed sweet heart contracts with the Teamsters to avoid bargaining with the UFW. The UFW responded by striking Santa Maria growers who had signed with the Teamsters.

Tensions ran high during the picketing. UAW supporters shout at a rancher driving his car out of the packing house parking lot while the ever-present police, left, watch from the sidelines.