HR0079 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0079 LRB102 11932 ECR 17268 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Throughout history, farmworkers had been denied a decent life in the fields and communities of our agricultural valleys; they were considered essential to the State's biggest industry, but only as long as they remained exploited and submissive; and

WHEREAS, Farmworkers had tried but failed so many times to organize the giant agribusiness farms that most observers considered it a hopeless task; and

WHEREAS, Farm labor contractors played favorites with workers by selecting friends first and sometimes accepting bribes; child labor was rampant, and many workers were injured or died in easily preventable accidents; the average life expectancy of a farmworker was 49 years; and

WHEREAS, By the early 1960s, things were beginning to change beneath the surface thanks to grassroots organizations that attempted to represent and organize farmworkers; within another fifteen years, more than 50,000 farmworkers were protected by union contracts; and

WHEREAS, In 1962, a young Chicano named César Estrada Chávez founded The National Farm Workers Association; the son of a family of extremely poor farmworkers, he had risen through the ranks of the grassroots Community Service Organization to become its national director; and

WHEREAS, César Chávez worked with communities to solve problems through organizing and direct action; from his base in Delano, he traveled for three years from town to town in the central valleys of California to meet with groups of farmworkers in their homes and to tirelessly build an organization that he hoped would one day become an effective union; and

WHEREAS, César Chávez spent a great deal of his life promoting and leading boycotts of preying companies and organizations; this eventually led to legislation changes and collective bargaining agreements aimed at guaranteeing field workers the right to more humane working conditions and the right to unionize; and

WHEREAS, Because of individuals like César Chávez and his undeniable duty of selfless service, farm work has evolved, not only in the State, but throughout the agricultural global community; this has enhanced the lives and life expectancy of all farmworkers alike; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare March 31, 2021, the birth date of César Estrada Chávez, as Farmworkers Awareness Day in order to help raise awareness of these often forgotten bastions of the economy and remind us to be thankful for their hard work; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the Governor's Office and all members of the Illinois General Assembly.