The Salad Bowl strikeBernstein, Harry. "Harvest, Shipping Near Standstill in 'Salad Bowl' Strike." Los Angeles Times. August 26, 1970. was a series of strikes, mass pickets, boycotts and secondary boycotts that began on August 23, 1970 and led to the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history."Coast Workers Vote Strike At 27 Vegetable Ranches." Associated Press. August 24, 1970; Bernstein, Harry. "Massive Farm Strike Begins." Los Angeles Times. August 25, 1970; Bernstein, Harry. "5,000–7,000 Strike in Largest Farm Walkout in U.S. History." Los Angeles Times. August 25, 1970. The strike was led by the United Farm Workers against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The Salad BowlBecause of the large number of vegetable growers in the Salinas Valley and the diversity of crops grown there, the Salinas Valley is known as "the Salad Bowl." See: Anderson, Burton. America's Salad Bowl: An Agricultural History of the Salinas Valley. Salinas, Calif.: Monterey County Historical Society, 2000. strike was only in part a jurisdictional strike, for many of the actions taken during the event were not strikes. The strike led directly to the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975.Feriss, Susan; Sandoval, Ricardo; and Hembree, Diana. The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998.
Background Collective bargaining rights for most hourly workers in the United States were first given legal protection in 1933 by Section 7a of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). Although NIRA did not specifically exempt agricultural laborers from the protection of the Act, the Roosevelt administration, eager to win the political support of farm-state members of Congress, argued that farm workers were excluded.Weber, Devra. Dark Sweat, White Gold: California Farm Workers, Cotton, and the New Deal. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1996. When the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was enacted in 1935, it specifically exempted agricultural workers due to pressure from the "farm bloc" in Congress.Higgins, John E. and Janus, Peter A. The Developing Labor Law: The Board, the Courts, and the National Labor Relations Act. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: BNA Books, 2006. The NLRA was not the only federal law to discriminate against farm workers; the Social Security Act of 1935 and Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 also excluded them. Although a number of attempts were made in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s to organize farm laborers, these efforts were unsuccessful.Bernstein, Irving. The Lean Years: A History of the American Worker, 1920–1933. Paperback ed. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1972. (Originally published 1960); Bernstein, Irving. The Turbulent Years: A History of the American Worker, 1933–1941. Paperback edition. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1970. (Originally published 1969.)
In August 1966, the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) and Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), two unrecognized and relatively minor labor unions claiming organizing jurisdiction over farm workers in California, merged to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (the predecessor organization to the United Farm Workers). Adopting the philosophy of pacifism in the face of often violent reaction to its organizing efforts and engaging in strikes, hunger strikes, boycotts and secondary boycotts (including the successful Delano grape strike), marches, rallies and cutting-edge public relations campaigns, the United Farm Workers (UFW) began organizing large numbers of agricultural laborers into unions. In some cases, the UFW even won recognition and negotiated contracts.Hurt, R. Douglas. American Agriculture: A Brief History. Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, 2002.
Strike By 1969, the UFW was on the verge of winning its four years old Delano grape strike. In June 1969, about 25 small growers broke ranks with the rest of the industry,Bernstein, Harry. "Grape Growers Group Offers to Talk With Union." Los Angeles Times. June 14, 1969; Roberts, Steven V. "United Front Against Union Is Broken, But Majority of Growers Stand Firm." The New York Times. June 19, 1969; Bernstein, Harry. "Federal Mediators Enter Grape Strike." Los Angeles Times. June 19, 1969; Bernstein, Harry. "Further Breaks in Ranks of Grape Growers Reported." Los Angeles Times. June 29, 1969. and by the end of July 1970 the strike had ended.Bernstein, Harry. "Grape Growers in Delano Sign Union Contracts." Los Angeles Times. May 21, 1970; "Farm Workers Sign Largest Pact to Date." United Press International. June 11, 1970; Boyarsky, Bill. "Handshakes Seal Pact Ending Grape Boycott." Los Angeles Times. July 30, 1970. The UFW believed that success over the Delano grape growers would lead hundreds of growers to recognize the union and negotiate contracts with the union.
But the UFW was not the only union to see the end of the Delano grape strike as an opportunity. Six thousand drivers and packing workers in the Salinas Valley in California, represented by the Teamsters, struck on July 17, 1970 effectively preventing most of the nation's summer lettuce crop from reaching consumers."Strike By Teamsters Hits Produce Crops." Los Angeles Times. July 18, 1970. The price of iceberg lettuce tripled overnight, and thousands of acres of lettuce were plowed under as crops spoiled on the ground."Strike Triples Lettuce Price." Los Angeles Times. July 22, 1970; "Acres of Lettuce Plowed Under in Strike at Salinas." Los Angeles Times. July 23, 1970. The strike ended on July 23, but the contract included a special agreement by the growers to give the Teamsters, not the UFW, access to farms and the right to organize workers into unions."From Fruit Bowl to Salad Bowl." Time. September 14, 1970."Salinas Agreement Ends Lettuce Strike." Los Angeles Times. July 24, 1970; "6,000 Back in Lettuce Fields." Los Angeles Times. July 25, 1970."Chavez Union Plans Salinas Protest Walk." Los Angeles Times. July 31, 1970.
The UFW, which had long asserted jurisdiction over the field workers, was outraged, especially when the Teamsters signed a contract with the growers days later without having to do much organizing or build support among the workers."Contract for Farm Workers." Los Angeles Times. August 2, 1970. Even as UFW leader César Chávez went on a hunger strike to protest the Teamsters' actions and a state district court imposed a temporary injunction to preempt UFW members from walking off the job,"Chavez Goes on Fast and Assails Injunction." United Press International. August 12, 1970. the UFW held secret talks with the Teamsters to avert a strike by the UFW.Bernstein, Harry. "Battle Between Teamsters and Chavez Looms." Los Angeles Times. August 5, 1970; Bernstein, Harry. "Chavez Union and Teamster Talks Revealed." Los Angeles Times. August 7, 1970. An agreement to return jurisdiction over the field workers to the farm union was reached on August 12,Bernstein, Harry. "Teamsters Give Chavez Clear Field to Organize Farm Hands." Los Angeles Times. August 13, 1970. and FreshPict Foods (then owned by the Purex Corporation) and Inter-Harvest (part of the United Fruit Company) broke ranks with the other lettuce growers and signed contracts with the UFW."Grower Breaks Ranks, Talks With Chavez." Los Angeles Times. August 23, 1970; "Farm Union Signs a Contract With Lettuce Grower on Coast." United Press International. August 31, 1970.
But the August 12 agreement collapsed, and 5,000–7,000 UFW workers struck the Salinas Valley growers on August 23 in what was the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history. More workers walked off the job in the next few weeks, while other unions supported the strike, shipments of fresh lettuce nationwide almost ceased, and the price of lettuce doubled almost overnight. Lettuce growers lost $500,000 a day."Price of Lettuce Doubles As Coast Strike Continues." United Press International. August 27, 1970; Bernstein, Harry. "Growers Losing $500,000 a Day in Lettuce Strike." Los Angeles Times. Aug 27, 1970; Bernstein, Harry. "Lettuce Strike Gaining Support of Other Unions." Los Angeles Times. August 28, 1970. A state district court enjoined Chávez personally and the UFW as an organization from engaging in picketing, but both Chávez and the union refused to obey the court's orders."Chavez Defies Court Order on Picketing but Escapes Arrest." Los Angeles Times. September 10, 1970; "Court Enjoins Chavez Union." The New York Times. September 17, 1970. In late September 1970, the UFW asked consumers to join in a nationwide boycott of all lettuce which had not been picked by members of the United Farm Workers."Chavez Is Pressing Nationwide Boycott In Lettuce Dispute." Associated Press. September 20, 1970. Violence, sporadic at first but increasingly widespread, began to occur in the fields. On November 4, 1970 a UFW regional office was bombed.Roberts, Steven V. "Fear and Tension Grip Salinas Valley in Farm Workers' Strike." The New York Times. September 6, 1970; "Union Office Is Bombed." The New York Times. November 5, 1970.
On December 4 federal marshals arrested Chávez and, for the first time in his life, César Chávez was put in jail.Roberts, Steven V. "Chavez Is Jailed In Lettuce Strike." The New York Times. December 5, 1970; "Chavez Jailed First Time, Urges Union to Press Boycott." Los Angeles Times. December 5, 1970. Two days later, he was visited in the Monterey County jail in Salinas by former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete Rafer Johnson and Ethel Kennedy, widow of slain Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy and Johnson were attacked by an anti-union mob on the steps of the jail, and only intervention by city police, Monterey county sheriff's deputies, and the Brown Berets prevented a riot and injury to the visitors. Chávez was released by the Supreme Court of California on December 23, but the next day called a strike against six additional lettuce growers."Chavez Ordered Freed By Court." United Press International. December 24, 1970; "Chavez Union Calls Strike Against 6 Lettuce Growers." Associated Press. December 25, 1970.
The bitter strike ended on March 26, 1971 when the Teamsters and UFW signed a new jurisdictional agreement reaffirming the UFW's right to organize field workers.Bernstein, Harry. "New Pact to End Unions' Long Lettuce Dispute Reported Near." Los Angeles Times. March 17, 1971; Turner, Wallace. "Chavez-Teamsters Pact Ends Lettuce Labor Rift." The New York Times. March 27, 1971; Bernstein, Harry. "New Teamster-Chavez Peace Treaty Signed." Los Angeles Times. March 27, 1971; Kendall, John. "Chavez Signs Nation's Largest Independent Lettuce Producer." Los Angeles Times. April 24, 1971; Bernstein, Harry. "Teamsters Ask Farms to Sign Chavez Pacts." Los Angeles Times. May 12, 1971.
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