Continuing La Causa: Organizing Labor in California's Strawberry Fields

TitleContinuing La Causa: Organizing Labor in California's Strawberry Fields
Publication TypeBook
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsMireles, Gilbert Felipe
PublisherFirst Forum Press
CityBoulder, CO
KeywordsCalifornia, Latino immigrants, migrant workers, organizing, strawberry industry, United Farm Workers
Abstract

Gilbert Mireles explores the legendary United Farm Workers' campaign to organize laborers—predominantly Latino immigrants—in California's strawberry industry. Tracing the UFW's actions from the picking fields to the world of government offices and corporate boardrooms, Mireles shows how the very traits that made the union such a successful advocate for farm workers also inhibited the meaningful participation of those same workers in the union. His systematic analysis of one of the most influential social movements in the country points to troubling implications for the place of immigrants—and the role of civil society and participatory democracy—in US society.