The Politics of Produce · Episode 13 of 17 · 25 min
The Salad Bowl's Machine: Lettuce and the Law
The Salinas Valley, the Salad Bowl of the World, was the stage for the 1970 lettuce strike and the landmark 1975 California law that finally gave farmworkers the right to organize. The episode adds the Bracero legacy and today's card-check and enforcement fights. It is a personal episode: the host practiced medicine here and treated these workers.
Who's who
- Cesar Chavez+3 more episodesUFW co-founder jailed in Salinas in December 1970
- Jerry Brown+2 more episodesgovernor who signed the 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act
- Dolores Huerta+3 more episodesUFW co-founder
- Gavin Newsom+11 more episodesgovernor who signed the 2022 farmworker union law
- Woody Guthrie+1 more episodewrote the song Deportee about the 1948 plane crash
Where it happens
- Salinas Valley, California+7 more episodesthe Salad Bowl of the World
- Los Gatos Canyon, California1948 plane crash that killed deported braceros
- Monterey County, California+7 more episodesjail where Chavez was held; rising H-2A use
Timeline
- 1935Wagner Act excludes agricultural workers
- 1942Bracero Program begins
- 1964Congress ends the Bracero Program
- July-August 1970Salinas workers strike after growers sign Teamsters contracts
- December 1970Chavez jailed for defying a boycott injunction
- June 1975Brown signs the Agricultural Labor Relations Act
Still debated
Was the Bracero Program a net good or harm is argued, with growers stressing an orderly labor channel and workers stressing wage theft and suppressed organizing. The UFW-Teamsters conflict is also read as either principled or opportunistic.
← PreviousBlood and Wine: Grapes, Delano, and a MovementNext →Picked by Hand: Tomatoes, Immokalee, and a Penny
Connected episodes in other series
The Accord: The Treaty of Detroit and Who Was Left OutThe Long Argument: Capital vs. Labor · Episode 8Also features Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta
The Golden State's MarketThe Price of a Tonne · Episode 5Also features Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown
The View from the Salad BowlSafe to Eat? American Food Safety · Episode 1
Was It Genocide? Putting the American Record on TrialAs Long as the Grass Grows · Episode 13Also features Gavin Newsom