On the occasion of Cesar Chavez Day 2020, LUPE executive director Juanita Valdez-Cox shared a special message with the LUPE community. As we witness farmworkers and undocumented workers left out of the COVID-19 relief coming from Congress–despite continuing to work essential labor to keep our food supplies and stores available–it is now more important than ever to recognize the dignity of farmworkers and work to win legal status for them and their families.

Dear LUPE community,

On March 31st we celebrate Cesar Chavez Day, the birthday of a great civil rights and labor leader, and the incredible acts of courage required to advance Civil Rights & Worker’s Rights for which Cesar is known.

Cesar Chavez and the UFW helped push to national attention the unconscionable working conditions of farmworkers. Through workers strikes and boycotts, they showed how important farm labor is to a prosperous nation. The current public health crisis reminds our nation how important it is to have hard-working farm workers making sure our grocery stores are stocked with produce and food for us to enjoy.

That's why today in honor of Cesar Chavez’s legacy, we ask you to join LUPE and the UFW as we push the Senate to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. That law would provide a path for farmworkers and their families to earn protected immigration status and a higher standard of living.

Today we see videos and photos of farmworkers toiling in the fields to make sure that all families have food on their tables. Many of these farmworkers were left out of the most recent stimulus bill due to being undocumented even if they filed taxes the past two years.

As one of the founders of LUPE, Cesar Chavez continues to inspire our work and commitment towards social change and community involvement in all matters that affect us.

Follow us on our social media pages as we share posts about Cesar Chavez Day, his legacy and push for the passage of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

For the last 17 years, we have been celebrating Cesar Chavez's legacy with a yearly march. Unfortunately this year due to the community health implications we decided to postpone the march and ask you to support the Farm Workforce Modernization Act in place.

Thank you for your time,

Juanita Valdez-Cox, Executive Director of La Unión del Pueblo Entero

FACEBOOK: Que viva Cesar Chávez!!! Hoy en su Día Nacional unas palabras de nuestra Directora.