Biography of Cesar Chavez | American trade union leader.

together migrant laborers, most of them Hispanic, to fight for the improvement of their working conditions.

Cesar Chavez belonged to a family of Mexican immigrants employed in agricultural work. His childhood was stage a succession of fields of work between California and Arizona, which began working from a child. He shortly attended school, who left before the end of compulsory education.

Cesar Chavez

During the second world war, Cesar Chavez enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After two years of service, he returned to Arizona to be used again in the field. In 1952 he went to work as an educator in the Organization of services to the Community (OSC), a group dedicated to self-help that belonged to philanthropist Saul Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation. Its great organization skills became you the general director of the OSC in 1958, put he resigned four years later to the creation of an agricultural Union that fought for labor rights of the Chicano population.

The Union, called in principle National Association of agricultural workers (NFWA), in 1966 was renamed organizing Committee, joined workers agricultural and, in 1971, adopted the final name of the unit of the agricultural workers of America (UFW), becoming its President Chavez.

During the tide of social unrest that shook the American society in 1968, Cesar Chavez won a significant public relevance to initiate a boycott of nationwide against California table grape producers, in order to achieve a fairer agreement for the seasonal grape. Chavez got widespread nationwide support and forced grape growers to negotiate with the UFW.

Trade union struggles continued throughout the Decade of 1970, achieving the recognition of labour rights of migrant agricultural workers. The UFW membership grew rapidly during these years, but, at the end of the 1960's, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters was introduced in the agricultural sector in the South-West, dividing the affiliation of seasonal workers. The Teamsters Union had the support of agrarian employers that offered more advantageous agreements. The competition between both unions caused a prolonged conflict, which is settled in the courts and in direct clashes between their members. In 1977 both organizations, they arrived at an agreement of concordia, which recognized the exclusive right of affiliation among agricultural workers to the UFW.

However, internal divisions reduced the ability of the Union of Chavez. This controlled the Organization authoritatively, what caused the defection of many of his closest collaborators, some of whom accused him give a preferential treatment to relatives within the Union.

Chavez began to be interested in medicine holistic, vegetarianism, healing by faith and other esoteric beliefs, which tried to force his colleagues into the UFW. Union membership declined rapidly in the 1980s, becoming a minority organization between the grape of California.

Extracted from the website: Biografías y Vidas