User:WaltzingwithWeasleys/new sandbox

Additions in bold.*

Hispanics comprise a large fraction of the farm labor force, but due to the fact that agricultural workers were not protected under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935, there was little successful unionization before the arrival in the 1960s of Cesar Chavez (1927–1993) and Dolores Huerta (1930), who mobilized California workers into the United Farm Workers (UFW) organization.

Chavez's use of non-violent methods combined with Huerta's organizational skills allowed for many of the bigger successes of the organization.

A key success for the UFW, which at the time was still being called the National Farm Workers Association, was in partnering with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), which primarily worked with Filipino farm workers, and creating the eventual United Farmworkers Union in 1972. Together, they organized a worker strike and consumer boycott of the grape growers in California that lasted for over five years. Through collaboration with consumers and student protesters, the UFW was able to secure a three-year contract with the state's top grape growers to increase the safety and pay of farm workers. Their efforts continued to grow throughout the United States where in 1973 they secured another 3 year contract with Minute Maid's parent company Coca-Cola that addressed the low wages and poor living conditions of Florida citrus farm workers. The UFW worked in Arizona beginning in 1968 to address the health standards of Arizonan farmworkers and the risks of pesticide drift after an incident in which residents of Maricopa County reported experiencing "breathing problems, coughing, [...] burning eyes" and other common side effects of inhaling pesticides. It was their investigation into this incident that led to the knowledge that growers in Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) Reservation sprayed their crop fields with pesticides only a mile away from where residents reported their symptoms. Other UFW successes include securing with political allies, as the result of California's continuing strikes, an Agricultural Relations Board in the state, after much conflict and union-busting by the Teamsters in the mid-1970s, and maintaining the ability to invoke consumer boycotts there after.

Chavez had a significant political impact; as Jenkins points out, "state and national elites no longer automatically sided with the growers." Thus, the political insurgency of the UFW was successful because of effective strategizing in the right kind of political environment. In the decades following this success, the UFW has experience a steep decline in membership that could be explained by the loss of key organizational leaders and the shift in administrations both nationally and in the organization's home state of California.

Nationwide unions have been seeking opportunities to enroll Hispanic members. Much of their limited success has been in the hotel industry

Peer Review
If I remember correctly, you mentioned to the class that your Wikipedia page did not effectively incorporate the work of Chavez and Huerta into the writing. I believe that you accomplished this with your addition to the article and provided adequate citations to support your findings.