5. The 1973 Strike

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Picket lines for the 1973 UFW Strike.

While volunteers were contructing Agbayani Village, the UFW renewed strike operations on 1973. During the 1970s, the UFW was not only organizing and recruiting Filipino and Latino workers, but also the new wave of Arab immigrants. As many Arab immigrants did not speak English, the UFW assisted them by providing free ESL night classes. Some of the Arab laborers soon joined the union, including Nagi Daifallah. Daifallah, an immigrant from Yemen, was an active UFW member and organizer, who quickly learned English and served as a de facto interpreter for the Arab workers and the UFW.  

When the contract between the UFW and Delano’s table grape growers expired, the growers refused to cooperate with the union. A series of “sweetheart” contracts with the Teamsters caused the UFW strike once again. Several of the Manongs who would reside at Agbayani Village re-entered into the fray, just as they did during the '65-'70 strike.[13]

The 1973 strike was marred with violence against several UFW members and organizers. Tensions between the UFW, Delano’s table grape growers and the Teamsters were at an all-time high. Lorraine Agtang, a Mexican-Filipino UFW Organizer during the 1970s, recalled several threats of violence when attempting to speak to farmworkers living in the labor camps. Sadly, on August 15, 1973, Nagi Daifallah was shot and killed by a Kern County sheriff. “They had a huge funeral for him,” recounted Agtang. “It was a huge march from Delano out to the Forty Acres, and the Arab Community was carrying his coffin, [wearing] all black, and the precision of the all Arab workers. It was just beautiful because it was in their own language and they were all chanting, singing.” Two days later, Juan De La Cruz was shot and killed on the picket line at Arvin, California.[14]

The sacrifices made by Daifallah and De La Cruz were not made in vain. The 1973 strike eventually resulted in the passage of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which allowed farmworkers to the right to a secret ballot elections when choosing a union and required growers to bargain with unions which won elections.[15]