No sector of the American economy, no group of Americans, has made greater contributions to our strength, our national prosperity, the health and amenity of our lives, than the American farmer
It is sometimes said that the decline in total net farm income is not so bad because more than 2 and 1/2 million farmers have left the land since World War I
We know that freedom has many dimensions. It is the right of the man who tills the land to own the land; the right of the workers to join together to seek better conditions of labor;
Time and time again the American people, facing danger and seemingly insurmountable odds, have mobilized the ingenuity, resourcefulness, strength and bravery to meet the situation and triumph. In this long and critical struggle, the American system of free enterprise must be our major weapon. We must continue to prove to the world that we can…
The right of agricultural workers around the country to organize into unions and bargain collectively has now been recognized in the fields of one grower in California
Lucas Benitez was born in Guerrero, Mexico, and moved to Immokalee, Florida, at the age of 16 to work in the tomato fields. The wages were barely enough to live on, and workers faced a climate of intimidation, fear, and violence. The grueling conditions angered him, and he had to act. Benitez got together with…
Huerta was born in 1930 in a small mining town in New Mexico—her father was a farmworker and miner who became a state legislator, and her mother was a waitress, cannery worker, and activist with an entrepreneurial and independent spirit that greatly influenced her daughter. In spite of prejudice against Hispanics, young Huerta excelled in…
Lech Walesa was born in Poland in 1943. He worked as a car mechanic, served in the army for two years, and was employed in the Gdansk shipyards as an electrician. In 1970, during the clash between the workers and the government, Walesa was one of the leaders of the shipyard workers. In 1978, along…
Librada Paz defends the dignity of immigrant farmworkers in the United States. At the age of 15, she left her indigenous community in southern Mexico in search of an opportunity to improve life for her family. She eventually made her way to New York where she found work in the fields picking vegetables and fruits.…
Biography: Zbigniew Bujak led the Solidarity underground in the Warsaw region from the imposition of martial law in 1981 until his arrest in 1986. Born in 1954 and trained as an electrical technician and soldier, Bujak became active in the opposition in 1978 while he was working at the Ursus tractor factory. After organizing a…
Tags Share The Boston Herald notes Kerry Kennedy’s involvement in a new ballot initiative that seeks to provide a standard minimum wage for tipped workers. Read the full article for more information about the One Fair Wage campaign.
Tags Share New York, NY, November 14, 2023 – Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights today announced that Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president, actor, writer, and activist, will receive the 2023 Ripple of Hope Award in recognition of her leadership advocating for workers’ rights. Drescher will join fellow 2023 honorees, including The Edwin Barbey Charitable Trust, a…
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