Agricultural Labor Relations Board

Irwin L. Deshetler Papers

drice — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:49:43 -0400

Material collected by Mr. DeShetler as secretary-treasurer of the AFL Flat Glass Workers Union (1935-37), president of the CIO Federation of Glass, Ceramic and Sand Workers (1939-42), CIO regional director of southern California (1946-52), CIO assistant regional director of Region 13 (1952-55), AFL-CIO assistant regional director of Region 22 (1955-68) and National AFL-CIO coordinator for Farm Workers (1968-71). Various activities of the Glass Workers Union, such as Executive Board meetings (1935-39), factional disputes and organizing, political campaigns in California (1953-68), jurisdictional raiding, AFL-CIO merger, the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, and welfare programs in Los Angeles (1947-56) are covered.

Marc Grossman Papers

kschmeling — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 16:47:30 -0500

Marc Grossman became involved with the United Farm Workers in 1969 while an undergraduate student at the University of California, Irvine; where he graduated with a B.A. degree in American History in 1972. During that time he helped organize the Grape Boycott. From there he went on to obtain a Master’s degree in journalism at UCLA in 1973.

Grossman knew Cesar Chavez the last 24 years of his life, serving most of that time as his press secretary, speechwriter, and personal aide. Among his duties were, responsibility for the UAW’s press relations, writing public statements, crafting press releases, commentary pieces, and public relations and publicity material. Although he resigned from this position in 1981, he continued working closely with the legendary civil rights and farm labor leader on all his major speeches, writings, and news events until Chavez’s death in 1993.

In 1981 Grossman joined the staff of California State Senator Richard Alatorre. In that same year he transitioned from the staff of the Assembly Majority Consultants to the position of Legislative Aide for the Capitol Office. His duties included legislative research and political analysis for Democratic Assemblymen. By 1984 he was writing over 300 pieces of mail for every Democratic campaign in California by himself; and he advanced on to schedule nationwide and statewide media tours and news events, prepared press packets for numerous legislative candidates, created direct mail fundraising and political campaign packages, was a copywriter for TV commercials and brochures, and ghosted numerous speeches and Op Ed pieces all for major labor and political leaders.

In 1987, he became associated with Ross Communications as a writer and publicist. Over his career, he has written more than a dozen books and has worked on other projects such as being the technical advisor for Diego Luna’s major motion picture, Cesar Chavez, in 2014. Today Grossman still serves as spokesman for the Cesar Chavez Foundation and the United Farm Workers of America.

Dolores Huerta Papers

drice — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:04:27 -0400

Dolores Huerta champions the rights of farm workers and Latinos. As a young teacher her experiences in classrooms filled with hungry children of migrant farm workers led her to believe that an even greater need was organizing farm workers. Dolores first met Cesar Chavez in the late 1950s while organizing farm workers under the name of the Agricultural Workers Association. In 1962 they founded the National Farm Workers Association in Delano, California. Today, Dolores Huerta continues to place La Causa first. She remains a boundlessly energetic and charismatic leader for the United Farm Workers union as an executive board member, union negotiator and lecturer. In addition, Huerta has been honored with numerous awards across the country for her work as an advocate for the rights of women, immigrants and people of color.

The papers of Dolores Huerta primarily deal with boycotts, strikes, and the ongoing struggle for workers’ rights and organizations involved in such matters.

UFW Pennsylvania Boycott: Pittsburgh Office Records

kschmeling — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 16:02:46 -0500

The Pittsburgh boycott office was set up and coordinated by the United Farm Workers Union to handle the organization of boycotted products and establishments in the state of Pennsylvania and its surrounding region. The office, headed by Frank Ortiz, Sr. Carol Dougherty, Barbara Macri and a number of others, dealt mainly with the boycotting of stores, which sold non-union products, or were involved in anti-union activities. As well, the office involved itself with other UFW interests including migrant workers operating in Pennsylvania, pesticide abuse and the lobbying for or against specific legislation being proposed at the state and federal levels.

The records of the Pittsburgh Boycott office relate to the grape and lettuce strikes that were initiated by the United Farm Workers Union and the national boycott efforts that followed.