Full Text of HR0079 102nd General Assembly
HR0079 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Throughout history, farmworkers had been denied a | 3 | | decent life in the fields and communities of our agricultural | 4 | | valleys; they were considered essential to the State's biggest | 5 | | industry, but only as long as they remained exploited and | 6 | | submissive; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Farmworkers had tried but failed so many times to | 8 | | organize the giant agribusiness farms that most observers | 9 | | considered it a hopeless task; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Farm labor contractors played favorites with | 11 | | workers by selecting friends first and sometimes accepting | 12 | | bribes; child labor was rampant, and many workers were injured | 13 | | or died in easily preventable accidents; the average life | 14 | | expectancy of a farmworker was 49 years; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, By the early 1960s, things were beginning to | 16 | | change beneath the surface thanks to grassroots organizations | 17 | | that attempted to represent and organize farmworkers; within | 18 | | another fifteen years, more than 50,000 farmworkers were | 19 | | protected by union contracts; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, In 1962, a young Chicano named César Estrada | 21 | | Chávez founded The National Farm Workers Association; the son |
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| 1 | | of a family of extremely poor farmworkers, he had risen | 2 | | through the ranks of the grassroots Community Service | 3 | | Organization to become its national director; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, César Chávez worked with communities to solve | 5 | | problems through organizing and direct action; from his base | 6 | | in Delano, he traveled for three years from town to town in the | 7 | | central valleys of California to meet with groups of | 8 | | farmworkers in their homes and to tirelessly build an | 9 | | organization that he hoped would one day become an effective | 10 | | union; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, César Chávez spent a great deal of his life | 12 | | promoting and leading boycotts of preying companies and | 13 | | organizations; this eventually led to legislation changes and | 14 | | collective bargaining agreements aimed at guaranteeing field | 15 | | workers the right to more humane working conditions and the | 16 | | right to unionize; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Because of individuals like César Chávez and his | 18 | | undeniable duty of selfless service, farm work has evolved, | 19 | | not only in the State, but throughout the agricultural global | 20 | | community; this has enhanced the lives and life expectancy of | 21 | | all farmworkers alike; therefore, be it
| 22 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE |
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| 1 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 2 | | we declare March 31, 2021, the birth date of César Estrada | 3 | | Chávez, as Farmworkers Awareness Day in order to help raise | 4 | | awareness of these often forgotten bastions of the economy and | 5 | | remind us to be thankful for their hard work; and be it further
| 6 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 7 | | delivered to the Governor's Office and all members of the | 8 | | Illinois General Assembly.
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