United Farm Workers Strike Photograph

Table of Contents

United Farm WorkersStrike Photograph
Photograph
About the Artist
Context
Document Image
Explanation and Analysis of theDocument

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Abstract

The California grape and lettuce strikes of 1970 were initiated by farm workers, many of whom were Filipino and Mexican immigrants. Workers used strikes and protests in an attempt to gain better wages and working conditions. The lettuce strike of 1970 came after a much longer and more successful campaign to raise wages for grape workers from 1965 to 1970. Workers on strike refused to pick grapes or lettuce, and farm owners lost the crops as a result. An even more effective way of protesting low wages was to enlist the American public in boycotting produce. In solidarity with the striking workers, many Americans refused to buy table grapes in the late 1960s, and labor organizers gave credit to the boycotts for bringing grape growers to the negotiating table. The attempt to replicate the same success with lettuce boycotts in 1970 was not as effective since the lettuce boycott was not taken up by the public to the same extent as the grape boycott.

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