Heat, fiery speeches kick off farmworkers’ 24-day ‘March for the Governor’s Signature’

Showered with encouragement from United Farm Worker leaders and shouts of “Sí Se Puede,” about 250 marchers left the historic Forty Acres Wednesday morning on their 335-mile march to Sacramento in an effort to persuade Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that will make it easier for farmworkers to vote for union representation.

With temperatures hitting 100 degrees, marchers protected themselves with umbrellas and clothing that left little exposed to the sun. Support vehicles provided water and other assistance.

The participants, who were led by UFW President Teresa Romero, dwindled to about 75 once they reached Delano, are trying to persuade Newsom to sign AB 2183. Last year, the governor vetoed similar legislation that would have permitted farmworkers to vote by mail in union organizing efforts rather than casting a ballot at the place of employment.

Romero argues that farmworkers should be allowed that right.

“Farmworkers continue to work to put food on our tables. They do it under the pandemic. They do it in high temperatures, where there are fires, when there are pesticides being sprayed,” Romero told an outdoors gathering of about 300.

“They are there every day in the fields harvesting the food that we enjoy every day. They are essential workers.”

The ‘March for the Governor’s Signature’ march through 23 mostly rural communities will conclude Aug. 26 at the state Capitol where the union hopes to rally 15,000 supporters in support of legislation that modifies the Agricultural Labor Relations Act to reduce the possibility of intimidation or interference from employees.

Civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, who tested positive for COVID last week, showed up to support the marchers. The 92-year-old Huerta, who co-founded the UFW with César E. Chávez in 1962, won’t be a marcher.

The march’s audience, said Huerta, is more than just the governor.

“This march is also a message to the growers because the union has won elections and the growers have not signed the contract,” said Huerta, who heads her own foundation. “Growers save a lot of money in fighting the union.”

She hopes the march will “reach (the growers’) hearts and their consciousness.”

Huerta isn’t sure that Newsom will sign the bill.

“I have no idea on that,” she said. “We hope that they can come to an agreement on whatever the objectives the governor and the union have.”

Huerta was a prime supporter of Newsom during the 2021 recall election.

The workers want union representation, said Huerta, and be able to benefit from “the wealth that comes from agriculture.”

“Farmworkers are still the families that are the poorest in the state. That is not right. That is not fair. That’s what needs to change.”

Angélica Salas, executive director of the Los Ángeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights (CHIRLA), showed up to support the march. A CHIRLA office in Porterville will host some of the marchers on Friday night, she said.

“When we stand for immigrant rights, you have to say we stand for immigrant worker rights,” said Salas. “Workers have to have more power in protecting their wages and protecting their health.”

The bill, she added, will offer “so many more protections that farmworkers have missed for centuries.”

Farmworkers, added Salas, “deserve more power. This bill, when it becomes law, will give them the power that they long deserve.”

Delano Vice Mayor Verónica Vásquez teared up talking about her lifelong support for the UFW and farmworkers that was planted by her grandparents, Florentino and Jenny Vásquez.

“I grew up here at Forty Acres,” said Vásquez, a county social worker and president of her union. “I grew up knowing labor. It’s a big deal for me to be here today.”

Vásquez said her grandparents ingrained her about labor, and the importance of negotiations and organizing.

“Without me realizing it, I’ve been fighting the good fight since I was a little kid,” said Vásquez, 44.

Vásquez never worked in the fields because her parents stressed education. “I have my bachelor’s and I have my master’s,” she said.

Paul Chávez, president of the César E. Chávez Foundation, said the UFW march remains vital in today’s world of social media.

“The thing about a pilgrimage is that it requires a lot of sacrifice,” said Chávez. “I think you can touch people’s hearts in ways that you can’t in texts, or even with speech.

“I remember in past marches, it was amazing the visceral reaction that people have to those people who dedicate themselves to a long, long trip. This is a message that resonates with us as Christians.”

Roberto ‘El Capitán’ Bustos was in charge of the 1966 march from Delano to Sacramento six months into a 5-year grape boycott. He marched with Wednesday’s group and carried a black-and-white photo of him leading the 1966 march.

“I’m here again. I’m still marching,” Bustos told the marchers.

Then, he gave them some advice.

“You can’t get lost. Follow our footprints. You’re going to see our footprints along the way.”

March details here.