700 Rally on Chavez Holiday

Cesar Chavez Day was marked Monday with a march, Mass and rally in downtown Los Angeles, where political, labor and religious leaders told more than 700 union members that Chavez’s work for social justice is an example for them to follow in the current campaign by janitors to win better wages and benefits.

The founder and leader of the United Farm Workers, Chavez died in 1993 at age 66. His birthday was commemorated Monday as a state and city holiday.

Chavez was praised at a rally by more than a dozen civic leaders including Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-Culver City), Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, who said Chavez showed the way for today’s union leaders by using nonviolent means to protect the rights of migrant workers.

“The sacrifice that they were taught by Cesar Chavez will lead to justice, so that working families will have better wages and better conditions,” Hahn said during the morning rally at Pershing Square.

After the rally, the civic leaders and union members marched up Grand Avenue to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, where Mahony presided over a special Mass in honor of Chavez.

“As Cesar Chavez showed us, a small group can have an enormous positive impact, and we have to have that faith and hope to continue,” Mahony said.

The rally and march were organized by the Service Employees International Union Local 1877, which represents about 8,000 janitors who won a wage increase and health benefits in 2000 and are in contract talks with area building owners.

Union President Mike Garcia said the struggle for decent wages and working conditions that Chavez headed in the fields of California is similar to the one taking place in the office skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles.

Garcia said Chavez “was the champion of his time here in California, fighting for justice and breaking the chains of exploitation.”

The rally was also attended by state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblywoman Judith Chu (D-Monterey Park), county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles City Council members Alex Padilla, Ed Reyes and Jan Perry, and City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo.

Dolores Huerta, vice president of the UFW and a longtime friend of Chavez’s, said there are strong parallels between Chavez’s work for migrant workers and the efforts of the janitors’ union.

“Cesar was a man of nonviolence, and this is what this is about, extending the hand of peace to the employers,” Huerta said.

“The employers have to realize the workers are a part of their team. They are not their enemies.”

Padilla said the City Council would vote soon on a resolution to support the janitors in their contract talks.

“We know [building owners] have the resources to pay the janitors the wages they deserve and the benefits they deserve,” Padilla told the crowd.

Gov. Gray Davis attended the Mass and praised both Chavez’s legacy and the efforts of janitors to win fair wages and benefits.