United Farm Workers of America is a well-known union of farm laborers. The union, commonly called the UFW, is active in many parts of the United States, especially in California and Florida and in the Northeast. It seeks job security and higher wages for migrant workers and other farm laborers and works to improve their living and working conditions.
Cesar E. Chavez, a leading spokesman for Mexican American farmworkers, founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. Chavez received help from cofounder Dolores Huerta, a farmworker activist. The association and another union merged in 1966 to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee. This committee became the UFW in 1972. In its efforts to organize farm laborers and obtain union contracts for them, the UFW often urged consumers to boycott farm products produced by nonunion workers. These boycotts brought national attention to the farm labor movement and were supported by many church and student groups, by members of various minority groups, and by other unions. The UFW joined the labor organization Change to Win in 2005. In 2006, the union ended its affiliation with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
The UFW’s headquarters are in Keene, California, near Bakersfield. For membership, see Labor movement (table: Important U.S. labor unions) .
See also Chavez, Cesar E ; Huerta, Dolores Fernandez .
