Central Coast Farm Labor Organizing Collection

During the same picketing campaign, UAW supporters Maria Vac, far left, and Rosa Ischioneli, right, form groups to walk into the fields to urge workers to walk off their jobs.

Cesar Chavez, bodyguards at his side, tells workers how they can organize themselves to receive better wages, working conditions, and, most importantly, earn self-respect. Chavez had invited Santa Maria's UFW chapter to Coachella to help organize grape strikes and picket Teamster interference. Chávez, con sus guardaespaldas a sus lados, indica a los trabajadores como ellos pueden organizarse para recibir mejores salarios, improvisar las condiciones laborales, y, muy importante, ganar dignidad. Chávez había invitado la UFW de la región de Santa Maria a Coachella para ayudar a organizar boycoteos de uvas y vigilar las intervenciones de los traileros.

The hired "gorillas," as the UFW members called them, stand with Teamsters as the black-hatted man points his finger to underscore threats made against UFW supporters and organizers. Los gorilas contratados, como miembros de la UFW los llaman, se alinean junto a los traileros al momento que el hombre de sombrero negro apunta con su dedo para subrayar amenazas hechas contra los partidarios y organizadores de la UFW.

A day's work ends with UAW supporters and organizers picketing a vineyard at dusk.

A quiet moment in an escalating struggle. A UFW supporter takes time-out to snuggle up to his son. The eagle on the back of the boys shirt is the emblem of the UFW flag. The black eagle represents a re-birth and is borrowed from the Aztec myth.

During the early 1970's, UFW organizers and supporters took to the streets more than once to dramatize the union struggle. Durante los primeros años de la década del 70, organizadores y partidarios de la UFW se lanzaron a las calles más de una vez para enfatizar la dramática lucha de la UFW.

Constant bending over in the fields permanently injured the backs of many field workers. Working with the short-handled hoe, or el cortito, was considered one of the worst of agricultures labor-intensive jobs.

A family of sharecroppers, including children, plant strawberries the old fashioned way-- with the short-handled hoe [el cortito]-- in Santa Maria Valley fields. The UFW and its supporters succeeded in banning the backbreaking tool in 1975.

Immigrant workers marching with two flags expressing bicultural determination to preserve cultural identity while embracing a new national identity.

But not all was lost. Although the UAW would suffer some of its worst setbacks in the coming years, farm workers had won important social gains. Thanks to the UAW, toilets and fresh drinking water in the fields became work place improvements upon which campesinos now depend.

Early signs of a coming struggle. In 1969, Pete Velasco, UFW Treasurer, center facing right, came to spread the union's message in Tagalog, to immigrant Filipino workers in the Oceano area. Thirty-year resident, Paulino Pacheco, strands in the center joined by other Filipino farm workers. Tempranas señales de la lucha próxima a librarse. En 1969, Pete Velasco, tesorero de la UFW, al centro de cara a la derecha, vino para difundir el mensaje de la UFW en Tagalo a los trabajadores migratorios filipinos en el área de Oceano. Residente por 30 años en el área, Paulino Pacheco, de pie al centro, está acompañado de otros trabajadores agrícolas filipinos.

Members of the Santa Maria chapter get a national perspective when they attend their first UFW union meeting in Fresno. Chavez addresses the gathering from podium; UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta stands to his right. Miembros de la UFW de la región de Santa Maria pudieron apreciar una perspectiva nacional cuando asistieron a su primera reunión con la UFW en Fresno.

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.