California farmworkers are ten days into their 24-day march in support of legislation giving laborers more choices in how they can vote in their union elections. On Thursday, they received a blessing from Fresno’s Catholic bishop as they completed the final mile of the day. Farmworkers marched nearly 20 miles that day, at times during temperatures as high as 100 degrees.
United Farm Workers (UFW) said that Bishop Joseph Brenna prayed with the marchers at a nearby park and expressed hope that Gov. Gavin Newsom will be convinced to support the legislation. “That’s the purpose,” he said. “That’s our prayer.”
RELATED STORY: Community members rush to donate water, snacks to farmworkers on 335-mile labor rights march
“Community enthusiasm across the state is building around the march,” UFW said this week, with towns working to provide “food, water, cold drinks, shoes, and other supplies, plus housing. Nurses are tending to health needs. Supporters from near and far are turning out to hand out water, drinks, and food as the marchers pass by.”
UFW had noted earlier this week that when one community member noticed that a marcher’s shoes were literally falling apart, he took off his shoes and gave them to the man. As noted above by UFW, community members have rushed to support marchers with water, snacks, and words of encouragement. Some community members who collected donations for the procession also had decades-old ties to past union efforts, UFW shared.
In one video shared by UFW, a marcher said she was trekking to Sacramento (the march’s final destination) to urge the governor to give her the same rights as any other worker. Farmworkers and advocates had previously noted that the state’s popular vote-by-mail system helped him beat back a right-wing-led recall effort. ”The governor was voted in by people who voted by mail,” San Francisco Labor Council’s Kim Tavaglione previously told local CBS affiliate KPIX. “Farmworkers have never been allowed to vote by mail. Big Ag has always fought it.”
“The peregrinacion (pilgrimage) aims to convince Governor Gavin Newsom to sign AB 2183, the UFW’s Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act that would give more choices to farm workers so they can vote for a union free from intimidation,” UFW said. Click here for more information on the legislation and how you can directly support farmworkers as they continue this march for their workplace rights.
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