Changes

With the UFW and Teamsters in competition, by 1980 the entry-level hourly wage moved up over $7, and working conditions had significantly improved. The UFW had 50,000 workers under contract and hundreds of militant activists and organizers.   

With the UFW and Teamsters in competition, by 1980 the entry-level hourly wage moved up over $7, and working conditions had significantly improved. The UFW had 50,000 workers under contract and hundreds of militant activists and organizers.   

Under Chavez the essential activity of the UFW was support work and publicity, primarily the boycott, rather than organizing farm workers in the fields. The very best farmworker activists, the strongest "Chavistas," were removed from the fields and direct contact with farmworkers, so that they could be sent to work in the boycott offices of major cities.  The UFW was one of the least democratic unions in the country, with local officials appointed by the UFW executive board and under the direct control of Chavez. Most union staff served at his pleasure, and any local leaders who sought any real power independent of Chavez were fired by him. Chavez's insistence that the union's best strategies were marching and fasting resulted in the departure of key staffers who needed more than the union's salary of $5 a week and room and board.But by 1990 all the gains were lost. The lack of organizational strength among farm workers, together with fading support for boycotts, and a new Republican governor in Sacramento in 1983, allowed the largest growers to replace union contracts with labor contractors or to refuse to renegotiate UFW contracts when they expired. Average hourly wages fell to to $5 and the UFW lost 80% of its membership as only 1% of California farm workers were union members.<ref>Frank Bardacke, "Cesar's Ghost: Decline and Fall of the U.F.W.", ''The Nation'' (July 26, 1993) [http://www.thenation.com/doc/19930726/bardacke/single online version]</ref>     

Under Chavez the essential activity of the UFW was support work and publicity, primarily the boycott, rather than organizing farm workers in the fields. The very best farmworker activists, the strongest "Chavistas," were removed from the fields and direct contact with farmworkers, so that they could be sent to work in the boycott offices of major cities.  The UFW was one of the least democratic unions in the country, with local officials appointed by the UFW executive board and under the direct control of Chavez. Most union staff served at his pleasure, and any local leaders who sought any real power independent of Chavez were fired by him. Chavez's insistence that the union's best strategies were marching and fasting resulted in the departure of key staffers who needed more than the union's salary of $5 a week and room and board. But by 1990 all the gains were lost. The lack of organizational strength among farm workers, together with fading support for boycotts, and a new Republican governor in Sacramento in 1983, allowed the largest growers to replace union contracts with labor contractors or to refuse to renegotiate UFW contracts when they expired. Average hourly wages fell to to $5 and the UFW lost 80% of its membership as only 1% of California farm workers were union members.<ref>Frank Bardacke, "Cesar's Ghost: Decline and Fall of the U.F.W.", ''The Nation'' (July 26, 1993) [http://www.thenation.com/doc/19930726/bardacke/single online version]</ref>     

[[Image:Chavez1969.jpg|thumb|300px|''Time'' magazine July 4, 1969]]

[[Image:Chavez1969.jpg|thumb|300px|''Time'' magazine July 4, 1969]]

==Image and Memory==

==Image and Memory==

[[Category:Civil Rights Leaders]]

[[Category:Civil Rights Leaders]]

[[Category:Labor Union Leaders]]

[[Category:Labor Union Leaders]]

[[Category:United States History]]

[[Category:1960s]]

[[Category:Latinos]]