Today begins a historical, 24-day long march where Farm Workers and Farm Worker advocates will be marching 335 miles, starting from Delano CA and ending at the Sacramento State Capitol.
This march is to convince Governor Gavin Newsom to sign AB 2183, the Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act. This bill will give Farm Workers the right to vote for a union, free from intimidation and threats, allowing them to vote in secret whenever and wherever they feel safe.
Today, they must nearly always vote on grower property, amidst cynical voter suppression through abuse and intimidation by foremen, supervisors, and labor contractors.
Twenty-five full-time marchers will join 500 workers and supporters at 8 a.m. on Wednesday August 3 to kick off the trek at the farm workers’ historic “Forty Acres” complex in Delano, where the union began 60 years ago in September 1962.
Volunteer Town Committees have formed in the two dozen towns along the march route to receive, feed, and house the marchers each day. The march route traces the path of the historic Cesar Chavez-led 1966 peregrinacion (pilgrimage) that first brought the farm workers’ grievances before the Nation’s conscience.
The march will end on August 26th, the day that Governor Newsom proclaimed as Farm Worker Appreciation Day in California.
Farm workers are asking people to listen to them, to join in conversation, and to help their voices be heard by those in power.