USAC passes resolution honoring Pilipino farmworkers in labor movement

The undergraduate student government unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday to recognize the contribution of Pilipino farmworkers in the Delano labor movement.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council passed the resolution in light of Cesar Chavez Day. External Vice President Conrad Contreras, Transfer Student Representative Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed and Academic Affairs Commissioner Allyson Bach sponsored the resolution.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Pilipinos made up 15 percent of California’s farmworkers. Under the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, Pilipino farmworkers throughout California initiated a five-year strike in the Delano grape fields on September 8, 1965.

“The contribution of Pilipino workers is not really recognized in textbooks, so a lot of people don’t know about it,” Contreras said. Contreras added that he thinks the Pilipino community is not well-represented politically and he hopes the resolution will educate students about the community’s involvement in past political activism.

The resolution claims the media has ignored the importance of the Pilipino farmworkers. In response to recent legislation by Gov. Jerry Brown, the resolution calls on the USAC Office of the President, the External Vice President’s office and the Academic Affairs Commission to collaborate with Pilipino organizations on campus regarding the passage of Assembly Bill 7. The bill would establish Larry Itliong Day in California as a day to commemorate all Pilipino workers in California.

The resolution also honors Itliong as a leader in the Delano labor movement, as well as Chavez.

The resolution mentions that in 1966, under Itliong’s leadership, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee combined with the National Farm Workers Association under the Chavez’s leadership and formed the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee.

“When people hear about this, it makes them proud to be Pilipino and want to put Pilipinos in the forefront of movements,” Contreras said.

The resolution calls for the collaboration of USAC and Pilipino organizations on campus to restore Pilipino heritage through the establishment of a Pilipino studies major and the UCLA diversity requirement, which is currently a proposal and up for a faculty vote.

UCLA didn’t comment directly on the feasibility of creating a Pilipino studies major but said Pilipino studies courses are already available in the Department of Asian American Studies.

Compiled by Catherine Kidder, Bruin contributor.