The politics of agricultural labor: Braceros and Farmworkers in the 1950s
Description:
The Mexican American Experience, a radio program produced by the Longhorn Radio Network, includes interviews, music, and informational programs related to the Mexican American community and their concerns. Program summary: Richard Goodman first discusses the Bracero Program and its effects on Mexican Americans. In this episode combining two previous programs (1977-06 and 1977-07), host Richard Goodman explores the Bracero Program and its effects on Mexican Americans. He then discusses the first major attempt by Mexican American farm workers to unionize at the DiGiorgio Corporation in California. Facing a growing labor shortage during World War II, the U.S. government established the Bracero Program, which permitted a designated number of Mexicans to enter the U.S. to work for a certain period of time. The Mexican government agreed to the program provided that the United States adhere to certain guidelines that would protect the workers from discrimination and mistreatment. From 1942 to 1947, over 200,000 workers entered into the United States, many through screening and recruiting centers the Mexican government set up throughout Mexico. Under the direction of the War Food Administration, the program often failed to live up to its provisions, including the wage guarantees the Mexican government had demanded. At the end of World War II, the Department of Labor took over the administration of the program and negotiated its continuation. In doing so, the U.S. government acted as a labor contractor for the growers, and Mexican workers continued entering into the United States without the rights guaranteed to other immigrants and citizens. Growers often used the braceros to break strikes, depress wages and block organizing. Chicanos opposed the program because of the exploitation it engendered and worked to organize the farm workers. The House of Representatives eventually terminated the program in 1963. Goodman then discusses the first major attempt by Mexican American farm workers to unionize at the DiGiorgio Corporation in California. In 1947, workers at the DiGiorgio farm picketed for better wages, grievance procedures, seniority rights and the recognition of their union Local 218 a branch of the National Farm workers Union (NFWU). Joseph DiGiorgio, the company's founder, refused their requests and launched a crusade to ruin the union. The union responded with work stoppages and a national boycott. However, Local 218, which counted Filipino, Anglo and Mexican members, lacked the funds to support such lengthy actions. Moreover, DiGiorgio sent the police to attack the picketers, hired strikebreakers and spread rumors about the union. When these tactics failed to break the strike, DiGorgio found other ways to attack the union and its supporters, which included the Hollywood Film Council. In 1959, his company produced a report denouncing the union. Congressmen Richard Nixon, Thruston Morton, and Tom Steed signed and filed it in the Congressional Record, which lent the report an aura of authority. The report effectively ended the strike and ruined the NFWU. This episode slowed organizing among Mexican-Americans, but the struggle continues on. Keywords: 1952 Melon Picker's strike, AFL-CIO, Agribusiness, Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, Aguascalientes, Alfred Elliot, American Federation of Labor, Anglos, Arvin, California, Bakersfield, California, Bob Whately, Border, Border Patrol, Bracero Program, Bureau of Employment Security, California, California Federation of Labor, California State Senate Committee on Un-American Activities, Chicanos and the Bracero Program, Chihuahua, Cleveland Bailey, Communism, Congressional Immunity, Congressional Record, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Labor, DiGiorgio Farms, DiGiorgio Farms, DiGiorgio Fruit Corporation, Ernesto Galarza, Ernesto Galarza, Farm Security Administration, Farm Workers, Farmers, Filipinos, Guadalajara, Guest Worker Programs, H.L. Mitchell, Henry Hasiwar, Hermosillo, Hollywood Film Council, Hugh M. Burns, Illegal Alien, Jack Tenney, Kern County, Labor, Labor Shortage, Libel, Local 218, Los Angeles Examiner, Los Angeles Media, Merchants of Labor: the Mexican Bracero Story, Mexican Bureau of Migrant Labor, Mexican Government, Mexicans, Monterrey, National boycott, National Farm Labor union, National Farm Workers Union, NFWU, Occupied America, Open border, Picketers, Poverty in the Land of Plenty, Public Law 78, Red-baiting, Richard Nixon, Rodolfo Acuña, San Joaquin Valley, Screening Centers, Spiders in the house and workers in the field, State Farm Placement Service, Strike, Strikebreaker, Tampico, Texas, Thomas Werdell, Thruston Morton, Tom Steed, Union, Unionization, Unions, Urban Migration, War Food Administration, War Manpower commission, Wetbacks, Work Stoppage, World War II, Zacatecas. Broadcast date: 1979-08-30. An ethnic slur is used in this program at 4:06 and 15:24.
Creator/Contributor:
Longhorn Radio Network (creator) and Goodman, Richard (host)
Date Created/Date Issued:
1/28/1977
Owning Repository:
Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin