Labor Hall of Fame Inducts Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez, who organized the United Farm Workers union and stirred public awareness of the plight of migrant laborers, has recently been inducted into the U.S. Labor Department’s Hall of Fame.

A Labor Department spokesman said Chavez was selected for making considerable advancements in the treatment of farm workers while promoting the nonviolent teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

“He was a visionary and a man of courage who fought for the dignity of all workers,” Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman said.

The department’s Hall of Fame posthumously honors Americans deemed to have improved the quality of life for U.S. workers by pushing for wage increases, safer working conditions and more job opportunities.

Chavez is the hall’s 22nd member. Past honorees include former Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, who helped spearhead passage of the Social Security Act in 1934; Eugene V. Debs, a labor activist in the late 19th century who later ran as a socialist candidate for president; and former Sen. Robert F. Wagner (D-N.Y.), sponsor of the Wagner Act in 1936 that guaranteed workers the right to organize and bargain collectively.

The display honoring Chavez includes his photograph, union memorabilia (such as buttons and bumper stickers promoting the grape boycott that gained the UFW wide attention), one of his signature plaid shirts and a rosary he used.

At the time of Chavez’s death in 1993 at age 66, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, noted that the labor leader’s efforts were “deeply rooted in his Catholic faith and inspired by the gospel and the church’s social teachings.”

The display’s personal items were donated by Chavez’s wife, Helen.

One of five children, Chavez was born in 1927 on a farm near Yuma, Ariz. During the Depression, the family took to the road as migrant laborers. After service in the Navy during World War II, Chavez returned to the fields, but he increasingly focused on labor organizing activities.

In 1962, while living in Northern California, he established the National Farm Workers Assn., which later would become the UFW, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

Ultimately, he succeeded in getting the first contracts for farm workers after a lengthy boycott against California grape growers. Using marches, strikes, fasting and civil disobedience, Chavez and his followers were able to increase wages and benefits for workers.