From 1909 to 1910, the public performance of soap-box oratory began to effect dramatic changes in the composition of migrant workers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Municipal authorities in Spokane attempted to curb the formation of a union of hobo orators by outlawing public speech-making within the city fire limits. The ensuing confrontation…

The study is focused on four major themes: (1) A search for a population of successful migrants and the ways this population sustains the life of migrancy; (2) The continuing development in the Agricultural Economy of the large scale agribusiness and the impact of this growth on the employment opportunities of the migrant worker; (3) A detailed…

EARLY ATTEMPTS DURING THE 20TH CENTURY TO ORGANIZE FARM WORKERS, TO GAIN WAGE INCREASES, AND TO SECURE EMPLOYER RECOGNITION OF A UNION AS THE WORKERS' AGENT FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FAILED. AN ESTIMATED 380 AGRICULTURAL STRIKES INVOLVED OVER 200,000 WORKERS IN 33 STATES BETWEEN 1930 AND 1948. THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT, ENACTED AS A RESULT…

In 1983, personal interviews with 38 adult, Mexican American, migrant farmworker, male heads of households working tomato crops in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan revealed living and working conditions and views and involvement regarding labor rights and the farmworker movement among the estimated 65,000 Midwestern migrant farmworkers. Interview data…

This paper is concerned with the scholarly treatment accorded to Mexican American and Mexican National farm workers by historical, legal, social work, and social science journals. Only those articles published after the arbitrary date of 1960 are reviewed due to space and time limitations. Works published since then are briefly summarized and…

Finds that, for 147 Florida migrant farm workers interviewed in 1978, support for unionization was related, in descending order, to being Black, to perceiving mechanization as a threat, and to being dependent on farm work, married, a non-citizen, illiterate, and poorly educated. Contains 22 references. (SV)

Written for young people, this book traces the accomplishments of Cesar Chavez, a labor leader who fought to improve the lives of Mexican-American farmworkers in California. Chavez was born in 1927 in the Gila Valley, Arizona. When Chavez was 10, his family lost their farm and was forced to move to California and become migrant workers. Chavez and…

The problems of agricultural laborers were discussed in this report on the public hearings held by the National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor. Problems were identified in the areas of wages of farm workers, labor standards and labor shortages, welfare, marginal farmers, Federal aid, public assistance in rural areas, family farmers, and the…

Farmworkers suffer from the same economic and social problems as other poor people but to a greater degree. Among classes of the disadvantaged designated for special Federal attention, only farmworkers are an occupational group. Their plight is unique because it is their working conditions which give rise to most of the other problems endemic to…

During the 1980s, the rise of independent farm labor contractors and Republican labor policies led to a deterioration in the economic well-being of farmworkers and their families. Delays in the implementation of new safeguards under the Worker Protection Standards Act have resulted in continuing exposure to pesticides, causing such exposure to…

In spite of recent advances in mechanization, farmworkers continue to be a vital and necessary element in the harvesting of American crops. However, farmworkers, whether migrant or non-migrant, continue to have the lowest annual income of all occupational groups. The overriding concern is one of powerlessness. Farmworkers have been excluded at the…

Migrant is a relative status which historically has been quite diverse, not only in origin and makeup, but in style. The trends in migrant workers' status and method of operation by broad historical epochs are described. Wherever the migrant is, he has wandered there through a series of circumstances, identities, and relationships which have…

Summarizes the findings and recommendations of "Una Vida Dura" ("A Hard Life"), a 1988 study by Charles Kyle and others, that criticizes the services provided to migrant farm workers in Illinois by the Catholic Church. (FMW)

THERE ARE SEVERAL FACETS TO THE PROBLEMS FACING FARM WORKERS AND SMALL FARMERS. THE AVERAGE RATE OF FARM RESIDENT DECLINE SINCE 1960 IS ABOUT 4 PERCENT FOR WHITE AND 10 PERCENT FOR NEGRO FARM PEOPLE, ALTHOUGH FROM 1959 TO 1964, EIGHT SOUTHERN STATES HAD A NEGRO FARMER DECLINE RATE OF 32.4 PERCENT. THESE PEOPLE LEAVE TO ESCAPE THE POVERTY WHICH IS…