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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Throughout history, farmworkers had been denied a
3decent life in the fields and communities of our agricultural
4valleys; they were considered essential to the State's biggest
5industry, but only as long as they remained exploited and
6submissive; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Farmworkers had tried but failed so many times to
8organize the giant agribusiness farms that most observers
9considered it a hopeless task; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Farm labor contractors played favorites with
11workers by selecting friends first and sometimes accepting
12bribes; child labor was rampant, and many workers were injured
13or died in easily preventable accidents; the average life
14expectancy of a farmworker was 49 years; and
 
15    WHEREAS, By the early 1960s, things were beginning to
16change beneath the surface thanks to grassroots organizations
17that attempted to represent and organize farmworkers; within
18another fifteen years, more than 50,000 farmworkers were
19protected by union contracts; and
 
20    WHEREAS, In 1962, a young Chicano named César Estrada
21Chávez founded The National Farm Workers Association; the son

 

 

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1of a family of extremely poor farmworkers, he had risen
2through the ranks of the grassroots Community Service
3Organization to become its national director; and
 
4    WHEREAS, César Chávez worked with communities to solve
5problems through organizing and direct action; from his base
6in Delano, he traveled for three years from town to town in the
7central valleys of California to meet with groups of
8farmworkers in their homes and to tirelessly build an
9organization that he hoped would one day become an effective
10union; and
 
11    WHEREAS, César Chávez spent a great deal of his life
12promoting and leading boycotts of preying companies and
13organizations; this eventually led to legislation changes and
14collective bargaining agreements aimed at guaranteeing field
15workers the right to more humane working conditions and the
16right to unionize; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Because of individuals like César Chávez and his
18undeniable duty of selfless service, farm work has evolved,
19not only in the State, but throughout the agricultural global
20community; this has enhanced the lives and life expectancy of
21all farmworkers alike; therefore, be it
 
22    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE

 

 

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1HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
2we declare March 31, 2021, the birth date of César Estrada
3Chávez, as Farmworkers Awareness Day in order to help raise
4awareness of these often forgotten bastions of the economy and
5remind us to be thankful for their hard work; and be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
7delivered to the Governor's Office and all members of the
8Illinois General Assembly.