Historic Delano Grape Strike Remembered. Filipino workers went on strike that summer in Coachella (Riverside County), where Californias grape harvest begins. They probably dont know that the organizers were Filipino American labor leaders Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee. In June 1969, about twenty-five (25) small growers broke ranks with the rest of the industry, and by the end of July 1970 the strike had ended. The Delano Grape Strikes gained national attention with millions of people boycotting these previously unbeatable grape companies, and after five years of arduous work, the government enacted legislation that BROKE multiple BARRIERS in the agriculture industry, and these strikes coupled with other civil rights movements facilitated equality for all types of people in America . The Delano chapter was formed June 2015 and is the 32nd chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society. Ask your students who organized it then ask again. Migrant farm workers expressed discontent and frustration over the low wages offered to grape pickers. That is the power in the Delano Grape Strike." In many ways, Filipino farmworkers and labor organizers had prepared for the Delano Grape Strike for decades. The Delano Grape Strike grew from a long history of labor organizing and protest by Filipino workers in agriculture and canning on the West Coast. The strike began on September 8, 1965, and lasted more than five years. Notes. He ordered strikes, meetings, taught nonviolent ways, and brought the farmworkers close to one another to help strengthen their party. 9:30 'Delano': Cesar Chavez, President of the National Farm Workers Association, spoke in Berkeley under the auspices of Citizens for Farm Labor (C.F.L. With the coming of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, many Mexicans fled north to the United States in order to escape the bloodshed in search of new lives. Submitted by: Alex B. Edillor, Filipino American National Historical Society/Delano. It was there in Delano on September 7, 1965, a small town four hours outside of Stockton, that he convinced the grape workers at Filipino Hall to vote to go on strike. Chavez and his largely Mexican American supporters voted to support them. At 15, Larry Itliong came to America with a dream. Sound: Yuen, Hoh-Kun (H.K.) The growers were very successful in dividing us and creating conflict between the two races. Itliong was one of the main leaders of the more than 1,000 Filipino laborers who voted to strike. The next day, t he Delano Grape Strike began, and more than 2,000 Filipino farmworkers, members of AWOC, marched off the vineyards, demanding $1.40 an hour, 25 cents a box, and the right to form a union. DELANO Fear weighed heavy on the hearts of the dozens of farm workers assembled at the Filipino Community Hall on Sept. 8, 1965. 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