Background
The United Farm Workers originates from two leading labor and agricultural associations in California's Central Valley: the
predominantly-Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) and the predominantly-Mexican National Farm Workers
Association (NFWA).
On September 8, 1965, AWOC voted to strike against Delano's table grape growers, with NFWA joining the strike a week later.
In 1966, the two organizations rallied farmworkers and allied groups to a march from Delano to Sacramento. Shortly after,
the two groups were merged into the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), and continued the grape strike until
the collection bargaining agreement was signed in 1970. In 1967, the organization was re-organized into the United Farm Workers
(UFW).
In 2022, Assembly Bill 2183 was approved by both houses of the California legislature, however, California Governor Gavin
Newsom has yet to sign the bill into law. The bill expands voting options for farmworkers by allowing them to choose if they
want to vote at a physical location, or vote by mailing or dropping off a representation ballot card to the Agricultural Labor
Relations Board (ALRB) office. Mirroring the 1966 Delano to Sacramento march, the United Farmworkers set off from Delano to
Sacramento starting on August 3, 2022. The Sacramento portion of the march marked the final rally in support of AB 2183.
Restrictions
Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC 4.0), Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. Non-commercial use is permitted. For
commercial use, please contact archivist Jason Sarmiento at ajsarmiento@ucdavis.edu.