Heroes In America

The “Struggle in the Fields” has always been a controversial issue. In the PBS series, we get to learn how many obstacles came along, when many Filipino farm workers along with Mexican American workers began to demand a change in the fields.

According to the documentary, Viva La Causa, farmworkers have gained minimum wages, rights, and a union. During the strike, the Delano growers had connections with the police, therefore, they were armed with strong forces against the picketers. The picketers were cruelly treated and we know this because the article, Fighting for Farmworkers' Rights: Cesar Chavez, The Delano Grape Strike and Boycott stated, “Picketers were sprayed with pesticides, threatened with dogs, verbally assaulted, and physically attacked.” However, Cesar Chavez responded with the nonviolent way of sending his allies in the clergy to walk the picket lines. In June of 1975, The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the only law in the country that protects farmworkers’ right to unionize, was passed. The act stated, in Section III: Unfair Labor Practices, “The purpose of establishing an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) procedure is to prevent employers and unions from interfering with, restraining or coercing farm workers in the exercise of their rights as defined by the

With Babies and Banners the major accomplishments of the labor movement gave women respect and dignity during the time because society only looked at women as stay home mothers/wives. After they helped the union men during the strike they were able to have a voice in the workforce and be seen as equal in the work environment as well. With the help of women the union was able to organize and collectively bargain with General Motors. This was the first time the union was successful in doing so because before women got involved there were many strikes and riots in the town amongst workers and the police. In Bruce Nelsons Radical Years Working Class details the major accomplishments of the labor movement. The “Big Strike” railed other workers coast

The many heroic feats we hear of from 9/11 were not only committed by the hands of emergency personnel, but also by untrained civilians. In the air, flight attendants on hijacked flights managed to retain their composure, hunt down crucial information,and make contact with airlines. Passengers fearfully rallied together and rebelled against the enemy, knowing very well that they may not even survive. The courageousness of civilian heroes on the hijacked planes may not have stopped the attacks from happening, but it did help expose the hijackers, and even saved thousands of lives on 9/11.

The Father of Operation Pedro Pan, a Legacy of Freedom and Hope for Cuban Children.

n the year 1930 during the subsequent decade, about 2.5 million left the state plains due to the event called the dust ball which affected most of, the migrant workers who worked in the agriculture and this created chaos. During that time about 1.3 million people migrated to the state of California so that the people could become seasonal farm workers laborers. About a Approximately 40 %of the migrant workers who migrated to California ended up picking cotton and grapes in the state's central San Joaquin Valley, where they displaced hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Mexico. Migrant workers in the San Joaquin Valley earned 75 cents to $1.25 per day, Very often the money that the farmers gained didn’t last long because many of the

The Seattle General Strike of 1919 was a five-day general work stoppage by more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, it went from February 6 to February 11 of that year. Dissatisfied workers in several unions began the strike to gain higher wages after two years of World War I wage controls.

It happened in the anthracite coal fields in eastern Pennsylvania. It started out due to the fact that the miners demanded safer working conditions, shorter working hours and a 20% wage increase. As the strike lasted up to winter, businesses and school had to shut down as they lacked coal for heating. Mine operators refused to comply the miners demand because they complained that their profit was low and that the United Mine Workers of America ruined discipline. As the protest got worse, miners resorted to President Roosevelt in hoping for changes from him.

The UAW went on strike nationwide for a period of 113 days against the General Motor. After the World War II, for the returning of the Vets, they could find any job, everything were low paying job. American workers went to strike from 1945 to 1946.

As conditions worsened at the mills with wage cuts and longer hours the women began to go on strikes. The first strike (the strike of 1834) was to prevent a wage cut but Unfortunately for the mill girls the strike failed and they returned to work days later. The second strike (the strike of 1836) was to prevent a rent hike and this time the mill girls were successful. Getting tired of the women workers demands for more pay and better working environment the factory owners began to hire poor Irish immigrants who were flooding into America to escape the “Irish potato blight”. The Irish men and women were willing to work for low wages and were much more compliant to the demands of the

The conditions of the aforementioned workers were improved greatly as a result of their efforts to organize and demand higher status as a response to industrialization. These responses started as local, then national, and ultimately international in nature. International organizations such as the International Workers of the World (IWW), who organized workers across racial and craft barriers, were able to unite large groups of people, which gave them a lot of power (Mason, 2010, p. 136). Many workers often went on strikes in order to improve their conditions, and were often successful but also failed and were repressed by the state. An example of this repression would be the African Mine Workers strike in 1946, which involved 60,000-80,000 workers, that was forcefully repressed by the state (Oberst, 1988, p. 126).

          As urban industrial workers expanded in the 19th century, industry and the industrial work force boomed as well. Workers , however, were met with difficult situations that ultimately led to violent outbursts. Low wages could not buy food and clothes at the same time and conditions in the work place brought about countless deaths and injuries. Growing number of immigrants caused the reduction of wages and insecurity of the workers caused unemployment. There were hostilities between workers, employers, and organizations and complaints of no social safety nets. Due to these chaotic dilemmas, union members decided to emerge as one, in order to overcome the corporations. Methods of

This however, did not stop the President of the company, Texan John Trotter, from sending Boche Morales home after he heard about the union. Indignity from this action immediately drew 167 more signatories to the pliego, 80% of the work force, in the next ten days (Frundt 5). The workers created a large single union between the plant workers and post-mix workers (including the drivers) which made them stronger in the face of management. The management, in an attempt to instill divisiveness, tried to convince the workers that they would negotiate wage increases and other protections as long as they did not unionize. The workers knew there would be no guarantees and rejected this offer. With the help of Marta Torres of the Confederacion Nacional de Trabadores, they were able to get manager Armando Fong sent to jail for five days with a $500 fine for dismissing Boche Morales because of his part in organizing the union. Again management tried to appease leaders of the workers by offering them $15,000 each and residence in the United States to stop organizing. When they refused, the management threatened the lives of all the union members. Israel Marquez, a union leader, recalled the early attempts at forming a union, “We continued to receive all sorts of threats and harassment. Trotter personally threatened me, saying, ‘The army is going to get you.’” (Riding, Strife in

The main group in this was the knights of labor, some of their goals included better pay, less work hours, paid leave, sick days, and support from the companies for a work-related injuries that prevented them from working. The people who backed this movement was mainly working class citizens. Through thousands of strikes and protests, few companies gave in to their workers protesting. The rest just made the worker’s lives more miserable and hard. A common tactic was having guards always on call and lowering wages and firing any people who stood out of line, then hiring someone else. Resulting in the working class had little authority less people, less money, and less time. Their employers in turn bribed government members, to keep the laws the way they were. Leaving the hands of the working class in the hands of time, the court systems, and the honesty of politicians for slow changes to spread but with more and new leadership they in turn organized a system that was extremely successful. The supporting factor for their success was that most of that class was men, who had the right to vote, and were

My grandfather was a warm-hearted man; he was benevolent; and filled with integrity. My grandpa was a father of ten children; who was surrounded by oodles of grandchildren. He gave them equal affection and attention to everyone of his grandchildren. On the weekends when my family and I would travel to Allende, Coahuila I was always filled with commotion: I knew that weekends besides my grandpa and cousins were always an adventure. The sleepless, sizzling, summer nights by my cousins and grandpa consisted of bonfires, eating burned marshmallows, singing along to my grandfather’s songs, telling scary stories or staring at the dazzling stars. My grandfather was a man of action; he was never listless. If there was one thing he disdain; it were indolent people.