Four years ago, an OG of the movement got some much deserved recognition. Imagine being sold the idea of a land full of opportunity and prosperity all throughout your youth (I'm sure many of us can relate)… Then when you're 14, you take the plunge and move overseas to that promised land, only to learn that the opportunities available to you are limited to manual labor in atrocious conditions, paying bare bones wages.
May 17, 2018: Larry Itliong to be Inducted into Labor's International Hall of Fame
Rising from an impoverished childhood in the Philippines, Larry Itliong immigrated to California in 1929 at the age of 15 and quickly became a driving force in the farm and fishery labor movement.
While working primarily among Filipino laborers from Southern California to Alaska, Itliong used his natural organizing and linguistic skills to initiate protests, actions and strikes that lifted the employment conditions of workers of all nationalities and races.
Itliong's work culminated in the 1965 Delano Grape Strike where he was instrumental in successfully leading a five-year effort that changed the dynamic between growers and field workers forever.
The strike, which quickly spread to more than 2,000 laborers, led to a historic coalition between Filipino and Mexican workers who joined forces to form the United Farm Workers.
After attracting nation-wide attention which sparked a highly effective consumer boycott, the workers gained substantial improvements in wages and working conditions and negotiated their first contract with the California grape growers.
Itliong has rightly been termed “one of the fathers of the West Coast labor movement.”