[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 54 (Wednesday, March 28, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E683-E684]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING CESAR CHAVEZ ON THE OCCASION OF THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS 
                                 BIRTH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 28, 2007

  Mr. DINGELL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute and to honor 
the legacy of one of our nation's most important advocates of civil 
rights and labor organization. Cesar Chavez answered one of the highest 
callings of human life--to lead others in the struggle for social 
justice. It is for this reason that we proudly observe the 80th 
anniversary of his birth by voicing our support for House Resolution 
76, to establish a national Cesar Chavez Holiday.
  Born near Yuma, Arizona, on March 31, 1927, Cesar Estrada Chavez 
endured a difficult adolescence as a migrant farm worker when his 
formal education ended after the 7th grade. Migrant workers of this era 
suffered very harsh working conditions, and were routinely refused pay 
by farm owners. Chavez was able to escape this life by joining the 
United States Navy in 1944, at the age of 17.
  In 1946, after 2 years of service, Chavez returned to California 
where he married Helen Fabela and resumed life as a farm worker. Before 
long, he joined the Community Services Organization, CSO, as a 
community organizer. Chavez traveled up and down the coast of his State 
urging Mexican-Americans to register to vote and become legal U.S. 
citizens, and frequently speaking on the topic of workers' rights.
  By the late 1950s, Chavez was convinced that farm workers would be 
treated fairly only if they were able to form unions to represent their 
rights. After leaving his post as CSO president in 1962, he used his 
meager life savings to co-found the National Farm Workers Association, 
NWFA, the precursor to the United Farm Workers. Though past attempts to 
organize migrant workers had failed, Chavez traveled to dozens of camps 
in California and Arizona, teaching workers the fundamentals of union 
organization and inspiring many to become organizers themselves.
  In 1965, Chavez and the NFWA led a strike on behalf of California 
grape-pickers that culminated in a 250-mile march from Delano, 
California, to the state capital in Sacramento. Senator Robert F. 
Kennedy, investigating the strike with the Senate Subcommittee on 
Agriculture, fully endorsed Chavez and his organization, and pronounced 
Chavez, ``one of the heroic figures of our time.'' The Delano strike

[[Page E684]]

was the first major step in the battle for farm worker rights in the 
U.S., setting the stage for the 1975 Agriculture Labor Relations Act, 
the only law in the United States that protects farm workers' rights to 
unionize. This landmark legislation increased pension benefits, heath 
insurance coverage and pay for thousands of workers.
  Chavez continued to demonstrate his devotion to nonviolent advocacy 
of workers' rights until his death in 1993, at the age of 66. In 1994, 
President Clinton posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom, saying that Chavez had faced ``formidable, often violent 
opposition with dignity and nonviolence''. The legacy of Chavez's 
life's pursuit--his tireless fight for the basic civil rights of 
millions of workers--remains one that we must not let slip from the 
collective consciousness of this body. My home State of Michigan has 
been celebrating Cesar Chavez Day since 2003, and it is time for the 
Federal Government to follow our example.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to pay tribute to Cesar Chavez on 
this day, and to commemorate his legacy by supporting H. Res. 76 to 
honor a true hero of our Nation.

                          ____________________