PCUN

Last updated
PCUN headquarters in Woodburn, Oregon Pcun headquarters in woodburn oregon by andrew parodi lec.JPG
PCUN headquarters in Woodburn, Oregon

Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (in English, Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United), more commonly known by the acronym PCUN, is the largest Latino union in the U.S. state of Oregon. PCUN is located in Woodburn. According to the Statesman Journal , the meetings that led to the formation of PCUN were held at Colegio Cesar Chavez, the nation's first fully accredited and independent Latino college. [1] PCUN was founded in 1977 by Cipriano Ferrel, who graduated from Colegio Cesar Chavez and worked closely with Cesar Chavez himself. [2] [3] Ferrel was motivated to create the organization after an increase in immigration raids in Oregon. [4] PCUN has organized the creation of migrant housing and farmworker housing. Cipriano Ferrel worked closely with Cesar Chavez. [3]

Contents

History

Founding of the PCUN

Cipriano Ferrel was born to farmworkers in Delano, California in 1949. [5] Ferrel attended school with Cesar Chavez's daughters and was known to have an early activist spirit. [6] While in high school, Ferrel joined the Chicano Movement by founding a chapter of the Brown Berets. He also helped start a community periodical called La Fuerza and was a counselor for young men who faced the draft during the Vietnam War. [6] [5] Ferrel joined the United Farm Workers (UFW) after high school and was involved in the Grape Boycott campaigns with Chavez. In 1975, Ferrel moved to Eugene, Oregon to study at the University of Oregon but, shortly after enrolling, he transferred to Colegio Cesar Chavez in Mount Angel the first accredited, independent four-year Chicano/Latino college in the United States. Ferrel received his bachelor's degree in 1977, the same year he co-founded the Willamette Valley Immigration Project (WVIP) with Larry Kleinman in response to an increase in raids in Oregon by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). [5] WVIP was the precursor to the PCUN and focused on providing legal representation and consulting to undocumented farmworkers, particularly with regard to deportation. [7] [4]

The WVIP combated the INS through a legal strategy to slow down deportations. Between 1984 and 1985, WVIP’s staff, reforestation workers, and farmworkers had meetings to discuss strategies in Colegio Cesar Chavez, and on September 15, 1985, WVIP agreed upon the formation of a new labor union. Thus, the Piñeros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, or PCUN, was formed with 80 initial members. [8] The WVIP was subsequently terminated but PCUN created "Centro de Servicios para Campesinos" (Service Center for Farmworkers), to provide immigration services.

1980s

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 allowed undocumented immigrants to apply for residency under certain conditions. The PCUN helped 1,300 immigrants apply for residency under this Act and 98% of the immigrants were approved by the INS. [4] In 1988, PCUN worked on the "Project to Stop Pesticide Poisoning". This project focused on educating farmworkers of the dangers of pesticides, offered them resources, documented farmworker exposures to various pesticides on different farms in Oregon. [4] PCUN also focused on improving farmworker conditions and wages this year under the leadership of Cipriano Ferrel (president), Ramon Ramirez (vice president), and Larry Kleinman (secretary-treasurer). [7] In September 1989, PCUN partnered with Oregon's AFL–CIO and filed a lawsuit against Governor Goldschmidt's "Stranger's Picketing Law", which resulted in its ruling as unconstitutional, a victory for the union. [7] It is during this time that PCUN also moved its headquarters to a former church home. On June 9, a strike fund was announced at a joint conference with PCUN, the Oregon Public Employees Union (OPEU/SEIU), and Clergy and Laity Concerned. [7]

1990s

In 1990, the PCUN started its minimum wage campaign, or "Red Card" campaign after the discovery that cucumber and berry farmworkers were losing an estimated $2,000,000 due to minimum wage violations after Oregon raised its minimum wage the year before. [7] PCUN instructed the workers to keep track of their hours and earnings on red cards and were able to collect $155,538 in back wages. [7] The first farmworker strike in Oregon was organized by PCUN and workers at Kraemer Farms who demanded pay raises in 1991. On September 13, 1992, after Kraemer failed to meet the demands of the strikers, PCUN called for a nationwide boycott on a co-owner of Kraemer Farms, NORPAC Foods, Inc. to pressure Kraemer. [4] By March 1993, the boycott had been endorsed by 23 organizations, including the UFW. [7] In 1994, Kraemer raised the wages for workers and the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) fined Kraemer for covering the scales used to weigh harvested fruit. [7] In 1995, PCUN targeted the strawberry harvest in its Tenth Anniversary Organizing Campaign to raise wages for strawberry workers. They managed to increase the wage per pound of harvest through a series of strikes and organizing. That year also saw an effort to focus on the demands and issues faced by the women in farmworker communities. Thus, the Farmworker Women's Leadership Project was created to give these women a safe space to talk among themselves, learn public speaking skills, learn other practical skills such as driving and project planning, and set up a co-op for them to sell handcrafted goods. [7] In 1988, Nature's Fountain Farm and PCUN established a contract that included novel protections for farmworkers such as overtime pay and seniority. [4] In 1999, the NORPAC boycott was prominent in college campuses nationwide and resulted in Gardenburger's separation from the corporation. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cesar Chavez</span> American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist (1927–1993)

Cesar Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) to become the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union. Ideologically, his worldview combined leftist politics with Catholic social teachings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Farm Workers</span> Labor union for farmworkers in the United States

The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) led by organizer Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta. They became allied and transformed from workers' rights organizations into a union as a result of a series of strikes in 1965, when the mostly Filipino farmworkers of the AWOC in Delano, California, initiated a grape strike, and the NFWA went on strike in support. As a result of the commonality in goals and methods, the NFWA and the AWOC formed the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee on August 22, 1966. This organization was accepted into the AFL–CIO in 1972 and changed its name to the United Farm Workers Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bracero Program</span> 1942–1964 migrant worker program

The Bracero Programs were the result of a series of laws and diplomatic agreements, initiated on August 4, 1942, when the United States signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement with Mexico. For these farmworkers, the agreement guaranteed decent living conditions and a minimum wage of 30 cents an hour, as well as protections from forced military service, and guaranteed that a part of wages was to be put into a private savings account in Mexico; it also allowed the importation of contract laborers from Guam as a temporary measure during the early phases of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colegio Cesar Chavez</span> First accredited Latino college in the United States

Colegio Cesar Chavez was an American college-without-walls in Mount Angel, Oregon. The college was named after Mexican American civil rights activist César Chávez. Colegio was established in 1973 and closed in 1983. Colegio was the first accredited, independent four-year Chicano/Latino college in the United States. In 1975 it was granted candidacy status from the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. In 1977, Colegio granted degrees to 22 graduates, a number exceeding the combined number of Chicanos who graduated that same year from University of Oregon and Oregon State University. In his book Colegio Cesar Chavez, 1973–1983: A Chicano Struggle for Educational Self-Determination, author Carlos Maldonado writes that Colegio Cesar Chavez was one of the few institutions that was named after Cesar Chavez during his lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolores Huerta</span> American labor leader (born 1930)

Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta is an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Cesar Chavez, is a co-founder of the United Farmworkers Association, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta helped organize the Delano grape strike in 1965 in California and was the lead negotiator in the workers' contract that was created after the strike.

Obreros Unidos (1966–1971) was an independent agricultural labor union founded in Wisconsin in 1966 by Mexican American civil rights activists Jesus Salas, Francisco Rodriguez and many more, originally Texas-based farm workers from the small town of Crystal City. The union took root after a march from Wautoma, Wisconsin, to Madison, Wisconsin that state's capitol to protest the working conditions of the thousands of annual Mexican-American migrant workers who traveled from Texas to Wisconsin each year. This protest march was inspired by the similar march of César Chávez' United Farm Workers (UFW) in California earlier that spring, and the Texas Farmworker march on Austin, Texas of 1966. Obreros Unidos engaged in its first labor action by seeking to organize migrant potato harvest and processing workers in the town of Almond, WI, and received support from the AFL-CIO, Cesar Chavez, and other labor unions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Teatro Campesino</span>

El Teatro Campesino is a Chicano theatre company in California. Performing in both English and Spanish, El Teatro Campesino was founded in 1965 as the cultural arm of the United Farm Workers and the Chicano Movement with the "full support of César Chávez." Originally based in Delano, California, during the Delano Strike, the theatre is currently based in San Juan Bautista, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Vera Cruz</span> American labor leader (1904–1994)

Philip Villamin Vera Cruz was a Filipino American labor leader, farmworker, and leader in the Asian American movement. He helped found the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), which later merged with the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) to become the United Farm Workers (UFW). As the union's long-time second vice president, he worked to improve the working conditions of migrant workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delano grape strike</span> Labor strike in California, USA

The Delano grape strike was a labor strike organized by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a predominantly Filipino and AFL-CIO-sponsored labor organization, against table grape growers in Delano, California to fight against the exploitation of farm workers. The strike began on September 8, 1965, and one week later, the predominantly Mexican National Farmworkers Association (NFWA) joined the cause. In August 1966, the AWOC and the NFWA merged to create the United Farm Workers (UFW) Organizing Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliseo Medina</span>

Eliseo Vasquez Medina is a Mexican-American labor union activist and leader, and advocate for immigration reform in the United States. From 1973 to 1978, he was a board member of the United Farm Workers. He is currently secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union. He was previously an international executive vice president, the first Mexican American to serve on the union's executive board. Medina announced his resignation as an SEIU executive vice president effective October 1, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDNA</span> Radio station in Yakima, Washington

KDNA is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Variety format including music, children's programming, local and international news and a unique show each weekday morning highlighting employment opportunities in the Yakima area, all in Spanish. Licensed to Yakima, Washington, United States, the station serves the Yakima area. The station is currently owned by Northwest Communities Education Center, and has a studio in Granger, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salad Bowl strike</span> 1970–71 farm worker strike

The Salad Bowl strike was a series of strikes, mass pickets, boycotts and secondary boycotts that began on August 23, 1970 and led to the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history. The strike was led by the United Farm Workers against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The Salad Bowl strike was only in part a jurisdictional strike, for many of the actions taken during the event were not strikes. The strike led directly to the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975.

The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (CALRA) is a landmark statute in United States labor law that was enacted by the state of California in 1975, establishing the right to collective bargaining for farmworkers in that state, a first in U.S. history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Itliong</span> American activist (1913–1977)

Modesto "Larry" Dulay Itliong, also known as "Seven Fingers", was an American labor organizer. He organized West Coast agricultural workers starting in the 1930s, and rose to national prominence in 1965, when he, Philip Vera Cruz, Benjamin Gines and Pete Velasco, walked off the farms of area table-grape growers, demanding wages equal to the federal minimum wage, that became known as the Delano grape strike. He has been described as "one of the fathers of the West Coast labor movement." He is regarded as a key figure of the Asian American movement.

The Cesar Chavez Convocation was an annual event at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) during the month of May, commemorating Cesar Chavez and his legacy. Keynote speakers were invited to partake in the convocation to honor Cesar Chavez by relating social justice issues to the Hispanic and Latino community on campus. The convocation aimed to create a space where students could have dialogue about engaging with social justice issues and leadership. This annual event was organized largely by the Chicanx/Latinx Resource Center, also known as El Centro, and students of UC Santa Cruz. The event was open to the Santa Cruz community and was free of charge. The 16th annual convocation took place in 2019, with a focus on community organization. In 2020, the event was renamed to Nuestras Raíces: The Art of Community Empowerment.

Jessica Govea Thorbourne was a labor activist, United Farm Worker union leader, and educator. She is best known for her lifelong efforts to achieve justice, equality, education, and economic opportunity for Latino laborers. At age 58, she died from breast cancer in West Orange, New Jersey. However, she believed that the true source of her illness later in life was related to the damaging pesticides that she had worked with for years.

El Malcriado was a Chicano/a labor newspaper that ran between 1964 and 1976. It was established by the Chicano labor leader Cesar Chavez as the unofficial newspaper of the United Farm Workers during the Chicano/a Movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. Published in both English and Spanish editions, El Malcriado provided a forum for migrant workers to criticize working conditions and served as a way to organize the collective voice of Mexican American farmworkers. The newspaper's contents ranged from articles on union activities, coverage of labor issues, political commentary, cartoons, satire, and artwork. It is an example of ethnic press or alternative media that developed from political movements and immigrant communities within the United States to challenge existing power structures and gain political leverage.

Marion Theresa Moses was an American physician, nurse, and labor activist, closely associated with Cesar Chavez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farmworkers in the United States</span>

Farmworkers in the United States have unique demographics, wages, working conditions, organizing, and environmental aspects. According to The National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health in Agricultural Safety, approximately 2,112,626 full-time workers were employed in production agriculture in the US in 2019 and approximately 1.4 to 2.1 million hired crop workers are employed annually on crop farms in the US. A study by the USDA found the average age of a farmworker to be 33. In 2017, the Department of Labor and Statistics found the median wage to be $23,730 a year, or $11.42 per hour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Ross Jr.</span> Labor organizer (1947–2022)

Fred Ross Jr. was a labor and political organizer in California, working closely with the United Farm Workers (UFW) and other progressive causes.

References

  1. ↑ Thelma Guerrero (September 29, 2006). "Short-lived college offers lessons". Statesman Journal.
  2. ↑ "Celebrating the life, work and vision of Cipriano Ferrel". Celebrating the life, work and vision of Cipriano Ferrel ~ Causa Oregon -- News and Comment. 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  3. 1 2 Farmworkers Housing Development Corporation Archived 2009-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "History of PCUN". PCUN. 2013-10-11. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  5. 1 2 3 "Cipriano Ferrel". PCUN. 2013-10-11. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  6. 1 2 Sifuentez, Mario Jimenez (8 March 2016). Of forests and fields : Mexican labor in the Pacific Northwest. Rutgers University Press. p. 59. ISBN   9780813576893. OCLC   928888330.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sifuentez, Mario Jimenez (8 March 2016). Of forests and fields : Mexican labor in the Pacific Northwest. Rutgers University Press. ISBN   9780813576893. OCLC   928888330.
  8. ↑ "Archives West: PCUN records, 1962-2012". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.