California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975

"The growers want to stop us but they can't they can't keep us from having our own Union. In the old days, whenever farm workers tried to organize a Union, we were fired from our jobs and thrown out of homes and camps. But times have changed. The new farm worker law [ALRA] that Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers won for us protects our right to organize."
~El Malcriado Leaflet Series, No. 10, June 30, 1975
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The employees are able to discuss about their union without forced grower influence, protected by "Brown's Law". (Click to view important passages of the ALRA)

Workers' Rights

After decades of struggle for farm workers' rights, the UFW experienced their greatest success with the enactment of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975 (ALRA) by Governor Brown. With the goal to "ensure peace in the agricultural fields by guaranteeing justice for all agricultural workers and stability in labor relations," the ALRA reduced exploitation of farm workers by giving employees the rights to unionize and practice collective bargaining.

Government Responsibility


"Since hope continues to fade for national action in this field, action by California's Legislature is even more urgent. This past summer's experience [Salad Bowl Strike] should leave no doubt about that urgency. The basic right of our citizens whose lives are dedicated to growing and harvesting California's great agricultural bounty to determine for themselves what affiliation they choose, if any, is a right too long denied. Please be assured of my continuing support for legislation in this field, and my encouragement to your Committee to provide a solution for these people who need the protection of the law as never before."

~Governor Ronald Reagan to Leo McCarthy, 
Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Labor Relations

Juan de la Cruz Pension Plan

"I feel proud. I have no words to thank for this special moment I am living. Our union, Cesar Chavez, all the people who made possible this plan should be happy and proud of this historic event in our cause. My pension check is the result of a lot of sacrifice. I want to say that I will continue fighting for our cause for the rest of my life." 
~Gonzalo Ramirez, Mexican Farm Worker
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"Pensioners receiving checks in Coachella" (UFW magazine).
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"Cesar Chavez helped present the first pension checks to farm worker retirees in Salinas last year" (UFW magazine).
As the first farm worker pension plan, the Juan de la Cruz Pension Plan established that agricultural laborers, like other employees, had the right to a financially stable retirement, and that for the first time, employers were directly responsible for their welfare.
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Statement by Senator Robert F. Kennedy on Cesar Chavez- March 10, 1967

Contract Wages

"Year-to-year wage changes indicate steady but uneven increases in farm wages between 1976 and 1985."
~Philip L. Martin, UC Davis

Improved Health Conditions

With UFW calling for the right to a safe working environment that did not jeopardize their health, the priority of limiting such risks was put into the hands of growers and contractors who became responsible for ensuring that farm workers were well-protected while putting food on the tables of Americans.   
  • "California farmworkers were required to spend hours at a time stooped over using a short handle hoe to weed or thin crops. In 1965, because of Cesar Chavez and his farm worker movement, the California Supreme Court forbade the use of the short handled hoe." -Leroy Chatfield
  • "Under Cesar the UFW achieved unprecedented gains for farm workers. Among them were...the first union contracts requiring...protective clothing against pesticide expose, prohibiting pesticide spraying while workers are in the fields, and outlawing dangerous pesticides." -Cesar Chavez Foundation
~Mouse over images above to view quotes on improved health conditions~
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