Unsung Filipino Marks in World Affairs

Filipinos Build a Movement for Justice in the Asparagus Fields
by Salomon, Larry

Mention of the conditions faced by California farm workers invariably calls attention to Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) in the 1960s and 1970s. But the UFW was not the first successful farm worker union in U.S. history. Filipino farm workers built a movement for justice in the fields when the treatment of agricultural workers was at its worst, decades before the UFW.

California's diversified agricultural production of more than 300 commodities made farming a lucrative industry for the state's agribusiness elite in the 1920s. Farmers realized early on that by using cheap, unorganized migratory labor -- mainly Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and Filipino -- they could keep the cost of production down.

Largely as a result of grower recruiting in the Philippines and Hawaii, where thousands of young Filipinos worked in the sugar fields, the California Filipino population grew from only five in 1900 to over 30,000 by 1930, when Filipino workers made up nearly 15 percent of all California agricultural workers.

The influx of predominately male laborers became concentrated in particular areas and on particular crops. Filipinos comprised nearly the entire asparagus-picking work force in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys and handled over 80 percent of the Salinas Valley lettuce crop. They were also employed in fruit picking, rice harvesting, sugar beet cultivation, grape picking, celery planting and general ranch labor.

As the newest recruits into the labor force, Filipino workers were paid the lowest wages in the industry, and in the case of certain crops like asparagus, growers found it more profitable to work more laborers per acre, ensuring efficient and more productive harvesting. Of course, this profit-making strategy also had the effect of decreasing the already low wages of the workers.

Typically paternalistic and complacent, the big growers believed that labor organization was too complex for young Filipinos to master. Apparently, the growers were ignorant of labor history in Hawaii, where Filipino and Japanese laborers went on strike in 1919. Three thousand workers stood fast, demanding that sugar planters pay higher wages, provide an eight-hour work day, create an insurance fund for retired employees and give paid maternity leave. Despite attempts by the white owners to break the strike by importing laborers from other countries, the workers won most of their demands.

So when conditions demanded a similar response in California's fields, many Filipino workers had the organizing sophistication and experience, having already been involved in work slow-downs, stoppages and full-fledged strikes.

THE FILIPINO LABOR MENACE

White American Federation of Labor (AFL) leaders were startled by the aggressive pro-union stance of Filipino workers, but AFL leaders made it clear that the "Filipino labor menace" could not be included in their unions. The rejection of Filipino farm workers by the mainstream labor movement led organizers to build their own unions.

Though most of the early attempts at unionization, such as the Filipino Labor Association of Stockton and the Filipino United Labor Economic Endeavor, were small in membership and politically ineffective, they exploded the myth of a docile Asian labor force and set the stage for a larger movement.

The drive to organize was given a sharp prod by local white civic organizations like the American Legion, which were aided by the police and the media and provoked violent mob riots aimed at Filipinos throughout the state. "In many ways it was a crime to be a Filipino in California," explains union organizer and writer Carlos Bulosan. Filipino labor leaders believed that the right to demand better wages would lead to social equality.

The struggle for better working conditions was given a decided boost when a group of Filipino farm workers organized the Agricultural Workers League in 1930. The organization was set up to initiate large-scale unionization of Filipino workers and threaten field owners with the real possibility of paralyzing strikes.

With the seeds planted, unionization moved forward. In 1933 Rufo Canete and other Filipino labor leaders met in Salinas and formed the Filipino Labor Union (FLU). In less than a year, the FLU launched a drive to organize farm workers of all nationalities around the goals of an increased minimum wage (to 35 cents per hour), an eight-hour day, employment without racial discrimination, recognition of the union as a bargaining agent and the abolition of labor contractors.

Under the leadership of Canete, D.L. Marcuelo, Johnny Estigoy, Nick Losada and others, the FLU grew rapidly to seven chapters and over 2,000 members. Soon after the demands were rejected, the FLU called the first strike. Almost 7,000 men and women employed in the lettuce fields and packing sheds in Salinas went on strike. The Salinas Lettuce Strike completely shut down the lucrative industry and the union's demands were soon granted.

With renewed strength, the Filipino labor movement began finding recognition from the AFL and the California Federation of Labor. Some progress was made, but constant intimidation of union leaders by white vigilante mobs across the West Coast reinforced the need for unions with an active interest in protecting people of color. Canete's own camp was burned to the ground by terrorists in 1935.

In 1938 representatives from all the Filipino organizations on the Pacific Coast voted to form the Filipino Agricultural Laborers Association. However, Filipino organizers such as Francisco Varona, Macario Bautista and Lamberto Malinab believed inclusion of all farmworkers was critical, and invited Mexican workers and other ethnic groups into their ranks. They later changed the union's name to the Federated Agricultural Laborers Association (FALA).

In 1939 FALA won its most significant victory with a successful strike of the asparagus industry. After a one-day stoppage involving thousands of workers, all 258 growers signed an agreement guaranteeing unprecedented worker rights. The success in the asparagus industry prompted other victories in the celery, brussels sprouts and garlic fields from San Mateo to San Benito counties. By 1940, there were nearly 30,000 FALA members.

A decade later, after the decline of FALA, Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Dulay Itliong and Pete Velasco picked up the struggle with a new Filipino farm labor movement. Itliong was a key organizer and later the vice president of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). AWOC, formed in 1959 by the AFL-CIO (the CIO was far more receptive to the needs of Filipino labor), led the first grape strike in Delano in 1965. AWOC and Cesar Chavez's small National Farm Workers Association would soon combine their efforts under the banner of the United Farm Workers, opening a new era of farm-worker organizing.

Article copyright: Center for Third World Organizing.

Alam ba natin to? Habang nagbabasa ako at conscious na ito ay isang artikulo mula sa Estados Unidos, feeling ko tuloy bigla ako naging proud na isang manggagawang Pinoy.