john,

Last night, I had the honor of speaking at the annual Arizona César E. Chávez Holiday Coalition Vigil to commemorate the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez, the late Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías, as well as our good friend and fellow trade unionist, Jon Miles.

In the nearly 140 year history of union organizing in Arizona, few labor leaders have shaped and influenced our movement to the same degree as Cesar Chavez. Cesar and the United Farmworkers paved the way for so much of our movement’s work here in Arizona.

With the help of his contemporaries Dolores Huerta, Larry Itliong, and many others, Cesar built a formidable worker-led movement that continues to stand as a model for union power building. Along the way, securing collective bargaining rights, health insurance, employer-paid pensions, unemployment insurance, improved sanitary conditions, and more for his members.

Decades after his passing, Cesar’s legacy is alive and well. From the infrastructure of Arizona’s largest unions to the organizing tactics of the burgeoning Starbucks Workers United movement, these bottom-up, worker-led organizations are a direct reflection of the grassroots movement that Cesar Chavez built. Still, there is a long road ahead in our collective fight for fair, equitable, and safe workplaces.

Today, migrant farmworkers are still largely unprotected by the U.S. legal system. Due to long-term exposure to harmful pesticides, many farmworkers experience serious health damages from constant chemical exposure, including cancer, asthma, Parkinson’s Disease, birth defects, and more.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, farmworkers have been forced to live in close quarters, often left without sufficient PPE and access to medical care. When farmworkers needed relief most, many were excluded from receiving federal CARES Act funds because of their immigration status.

And as climate change continues to expose workers to extreme heat stress and poor air quality from wildfire events, farmworkers have been expected to endure these dangerous conditions with little reprieve. To be sure, the treatment of farmworkers is shocking and unacceptable. However, it makes matters even worse to know that more than half a million of these workers are under the age of 18. 

There is still so much work to do in this movement. We cannot, we will not stop!

In solidarity,

Fred Yamashita
Executive Director
Arizona AFL-CIO

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