DOLORES HUERTA 1930 LABOR ACTIVIST AND ORGANIZER HUERTA DOLORES 1930 LABOR/LABOR UNIONS REFORM MOVEMENTS AGRICULTURE AMERICAN CULTURE ECONOMY AND LABOR DOLORES HUERTA WAS BORN IN NEW MEXICO AND WAS RAISED IN STOCKTON CALIFORNIA SHE EARNED A TEACHING CERTIFICATE IN THE EARLY 1950S IN 1955 HUERTA JOINED THE COMMUNITY SERVICE ORGANIZATION CSO WHICH ENCOURAGED URBAN HISPANICS TO BECOME MORE POLITICALLY ACTIVE WHILE WORKING AT THE CSO HUERTA MET CESAR CHAVEZ IN 1962 THEY FORMED THE NATIONAL FARM WORKERS ASSOCIATION NFWA TO HELP MIGRANT FARMWORKERS MANY OF WHOM WERE MEXICAN AMERICANS THE NFWA LATER BECAME THE UNITED FARM WORKERS AS VICE PRESIDENT OF THE NFWA HUERTA PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE WHEN THE ASSOCIATION JOINED THE FILIPINO GRAPE WORKERS STRIKE IN DELANO CALIFORNIA IN 1965 THE FOLLOWING YEAR HUERTA NEGOTIATED THE FIRST COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN FARMWORKERS AND AN AGRICULTURAL CORPORATION IN 1970 SHE NEGOTIATED THE WORKERS CONTRACTS WITH THE MAJOR DELANO TABLE GRAPE GROWERS IN THE EARLY 1970S SHE ORGANIZED LETTUCE AND GRAPE BOYCOTTS IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES THIS WORK LED TO THE PASSAGE OF THE AGRICULTURAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT IN 1975 HUERTA CONTINUED TO SUPPORT LABOR STRUGGLES SHE LOBBIED FOR AN AMNESTY PROGRAM TO ALLOW MIGRANT WORKERS WHO WERE NOT LEGAL CITIZENS BUT WHO HAD BEEN WORKING AND PAYING TAXES IN THE UNITED STATES FOR YEARS TO GAIN CITIZENSHIP THIS AMNESTY WAS PART OF THE IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1985 IN 1993 HUERTA WAS INDUCTED INTO THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S HALL OF FAME
