by Elpidio R. Estioko
Labor Day is celebrated to recognize the achievements of the United States labor movement in the late 19th Century when American workers began to form labor unions and advocate for better working conditions, reasonable hours, and fair wages.
In Hawaii and the Mainland, we have our history of the labor movement but many might not know that our FilAm farm workers/laborers contributed heavily to California and Hawaii’s farm labor movement.
According to Dr. Arcelita Imasa in a Hawaii Workers Corner column, she wrote:
“Most schoolchildren and even college students know little or nothing about the labor struggles of the past and the role Filipino workers played. These struggles have helped Hawaii attain a higher standard of living in the islands.”
One key struggle, Imasa said, was the Great Strike of 1920, launched by Filipino sugar plantation workers and joined in by their Japanese coworkers in 1920 and 1924.
The strike was led by Pablo Manlapit of the Filipino Labor Union. He was an immigrant worker who became a lawyer and labor organizer.
Our kababayans staged the strike because the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association (HSPA) refused the workers’ demands and the Japanese workers in the Federation of Labor united with their Filipino coworkers and joined the strike.
“The sugar plantation owners refused to negotiate and instead evicted 12,000 workers and their wives and children from their plantation homes,” Imasa wrote.
“About 5,000 went to Honolulu and stayed at Aala Park outside Chinatown, and the rest, nearly 7,000 workers and their families set up makeshift camps in the countryside.”
Even suffering from illnesses and lack of food for six months, they continued the strike and suffered the consequences. About 150 people were estimated to have died in the makeshift strikers’ camps at Aala Park and elsewhere during the strike until the strike ended on July 1, 1920.
But the Filipino workers under Manlapit tried again in 1924 and Manlapit was subjected to legal prosecution and deportation for his continued courageous efforts to help Filipino sugar workers improve their working and living conditions.
In the mainland, one must have heard of the Latino labor organizer Cezar Chavez.
But not Filipino activist Larry Itliong and the rest of our farm labor leaders and members who are popularly known as “Manongs,” a designation usually given to the elderly as a sign of respect.
I was shocked when I asked my students if they knew Itliong and they said no but when I asked Chavez, almost all of them knew him.
Why? Because, in the classroom, students were taught of Chavez and the rest of his Mexican coworkers who pioneered the labor movement in California.
The Filipinos were never mentioned in their participation, not even Itliong who was the leader of the 1,500 Filipino farmers who staged the first farm labor strike in California, the Delano Grape Strike in 1965 and later joined by Chavez and his group.
In 1965, Filipino farm workers, or “Manongs,” went on strike in the Coachella Valley after learning that farmers were paying some workers $1.40 an hour while paying Filipino workers $1.25
This strike was staged by the American Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) led by FilAms Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz whose pivotal roles in the farm labor movement left a long-lasting legacy for all of us Filipino-Americans.
On Sept. 8, 1965, the Manongs led by Itliong demanded wages equal to the federal minimum wage and better working conditions during the strike.
But later, Itliong knew that for the strike to succeed, they needed members of the National Farm Workers Association to join.
So, Itliong approached NFWA’s leader, César Chávez, with the proposal, so on Sept. 16, the AWOC and NFWA joined forces to stage the Delano Grape Strike the merger of AWOC and NFWA led to the formation of the United Farm Workers with Chavez as director and Itliong as assistant director.
The strike lasted for five years and was one of the most important social justice and labor movements in American history, ending with victory for the farm workers.
However, their legacy somehow is not remembered and not celebrated by many, unlike that of Chavez and Dolores Huerta.
But due to consistent educational campaigns and initiatives from our leaders and no less than Larry Itliong’s son, my friend Johnny Itliong, the government declared the month of October as Filipino-American month with Larry Itliong at the helm for people to know how he and his group contributed to California’s labor movement.
It’s been said that Cesar Chavez inspired the world, but not known to many, Larry Itliong actually was the one who inspired Cesar Chavez, as shown in the Delano Grape Strike in 1965 which was started by Itliong and his Delano Manongs and was later joined by Chavez.
In an era known for civil rights movements, Itliong fought for better working conditions in a country thousands of miles from his homeland of the Philippines, by the time he landed on US soil up to his death.
One of Itliong’s major successes was securing funding for the construction of the Paulo Agbayani Retirement Village in Delano, which has provided housing and support for retired Filipino farmworkers since 1974.
Itliong spent his life standing up for his belief that “everyone has equal rights and justice, but you have to make that come about.”
In 2022, recognizing his heroic efforts, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation declaring October 25, 2022, as “Larry Itliong Day” in the State of California.
The proclamation states:
“Today we celebrate the trailblazing Filipino American labor leader, civil rights champion, and California Hall of Fame Inductee Larry Itliong. Born on this day in 1913 in a province of the Philippines, Larry Itliong immigrated to the United States as a youth in 1929, where he trailblazed the farm labor movement… We honor the great contributions of Larry Itliong and the Manongs whose hard-fought battles helped advance farm workers’ rights and social justice. Let us remember their message of “Isang Bagsak!” – we are all connected together in our fight for justice, and we rise and fall together.”
In October 2013, Assembly Bill 123, authored by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, CA District 18, sought the inclusion of Filipino American farmworker history into the K-12 curriculum.
California Gov. Edmund “Jerry” Brown signed Bonta’s AB 123 on October 2, 2013. The law will help students gain a more complete understanding of the farm labor movement in California.
In 2013, a documentary entitled, The Delano Manongs: Forgotten Heroes of the UFW, highlighted the role of Filipinos in the farm labor movement led by Larry Itliong.
That same year, the New Haven Unified School District in Union City, California, renamed Alvarado Middle School to Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School in honor of Itliong and labor partner, Philip Vera Cruz, the first school in the United States to be named after Filipino Americans.
We need to continue remembering the role of our Delano Manongs in California’s labor movement and the contributions of our kababayans in Hawaii, not only during Labor Day but every day in our lives!
ELPIDIO R. ESTIOKO was a veteran journalist in the Philippines and an award-winning journalist here in the US. He just published his book Unlocking the Chain of Poverty: In Pursuit of the American Dream which is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Xlibris Publishing. For feedbacks and comments, please email the author at estiokoelpidio@gmail.com.
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