Roots of Resistance: Three Stories of Latina/o Worker Organizing

REGISTRATION OPEN: Latina/o Workers Leadership Institute, Sept 17-19

Dear friend in labor,

The end of summer and back-to-school season are upon us! At the Center for Labor & Community Studies, we're preparing for the upcoming Latina/o Workers Leadership Institute, September 17-19. Running for over thirty years, this conference brings together workers of all backgrounds to build the skills and solidarity we need to grow the Labor Movement. We really hope you can join us!

One of the courses at this year's conference is called Roots of Resistance: Latina/o Labor History, where participants discuss the rich legacy of Latina/o workers in the U.S. This was a very popular class at the 2025 conference, for good reason!

For this month's newsletter, we'll zoom in on three stories of resistance that highlight the struggles and contributions of Latina/o, Latin American, and Hispanic workers. These moments also highlight the power of solidarity among marginalized groups of workers.

In the late 1800s, the American Beet Sugar Company formed and quickly recruited workers from the non-white neighborhoods of the segregated coastal city of Oxnard, CA. Migrant laborers from Asia and Central America worked growing and harvesting beets to be processed as sugar.

Around this time, the federal government was passing laws excluding Chinese migrants from entering the country, which led to an increase of Mexican and Japanese workers.

Beet farming in the area was near-monopoly of workers, and Bosses often refused to pay laborers in cash, instead forcing them to use company credit to shop at price-gouged company stores.

By 1903, workers had had enough.

On February 11, 1903, 700+ workers became the charter members of the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association, organizing to confront management and demand dignity on the job. It's a very early example of workers from different minority/marginalized groups uniting in solidarity.

JMLA members employed Spanish-English-Japanese interpreters to overcome language barriers and strategize their demands of management.

By March, JMLA's membership was 1,200 workers, representing 90+% of the nation's beet workers. As more workers came into the union, the beet sugar industry came to a halt.

Workers held demonstrations across Oxnard, displaying the size, strength, and diversity of its membership.

On March 23, the conflict turned violent. Strikebreakers killed one JMLA worker and wounded four more. The JMLA worked to recruit scab workers into the movement, successfully convincing strikebreakers to walk off the job.

The workers won, after breaking up management's monopoly on hiring practices.

While this story tells a compelling story of multi-racial worker solidarity, the aftermath is less positive.

JMLA went on to charter a new union, the Sugar Beet Farm Laborer's Union of Oxnard (SBFLU), to be affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. At the time, the AFL was led by president Samuel Gompers.

Considered a key figure in American labor history, Gompers was a strong opponent of immigration from Asia and spoke frequently about the threats of non-white worker power.

When beet workers brought forward their charter, Gompers refused to recognize the membership of Asian laborers under the AFL.

The power of this multi-racial movement—a movement that overcame obstacles of language, worker repression, and gun violence—was squashed by the highest office of American labor.

The Farah Manufacturing Company was founded in El Paso, TX, in 1920. By the late 60s it had become the country's largest producer of men's and boy's slacks, employing 7,000 workers, most of them Chicana. By 1972, the company was the second largest employer in Texas.

Despite the company's success, production rates remained high, wages stayed low, and working conditions were poor.

That May, 4,000 garment workers walked off the shop floor. 85% of the strikers were Chicana/Mexican women.

The workers were asking for basic dignity and fairness, and only wanted a voice in the workplace. Workers sought out representation from the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Worker's Union (ACWA).

ACWA then-President Anthony Sanchez saw an opportunity to organize the entire industry and force abusive Bosses to abide by a contract. The ACWA also called for a national boycott of Farah products.

This strike came on the heels of the successful United Farm Workers' Delano grape strike. Workers across the country—especially Latina/o workers—were leading a wave of labor actions.

Over the course of the TWENTY-TWO MONTH strike in El Paso, the Boss used arcane Texas law to hamper picketers and persuaded the local bank to cut off strikers' loans. CEO Willie Farah surrounded plants with cameras, barbed wire, armed guards, and attack dogs.

Farah was successful in turning the local community against workers and strikers. One striker stated, "We thought...our only enemy was Farah...we found out it was also the press, the police, the businessmen" (quoted in this book).

After nearly two years of work stoppage, the workers won.

Willie Farah adopted a contract that included union recognition, company-paid healthcare, a grievance process, job security, and arbitrable quotas.

The negative national media attention and the boycott had a serious impact on Farah's bottom line—if they had met workers' demands, this damage could have been avoided.

The Texas Monthly described the events at Farah as "the strike of the century."

Starting his career as a labor organizer in the 1990s with the Justice for Janitors campaign, L.A.-born David Huerta fought to secure better wages and conditions for low-wage workers in Los Angeles.

As a leader rising through the ranks of SEIU, Huerta has put the rights of immigrant workers at the center of his field of vision. As SEIU President, he's worked to build programs to support immigrants entering the American workforce: English classes for union members, resources for pursuing U.S. citizenship, and legal advocacy in the halls of power.

Immigration has been increasing since the 1980s, and in the last two decades we've seen intense rhetoric and action against immigrant populations from politicians across the ideological spectrum.

On June 6, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began raiding homes and businesses across Los Angeles. In turn, thousands of protestors, including many labor leaders, took to the streets for over a month.

David Huerta was out on the streets, alongside workers and community members.

ICE agents were attempting to raid a clothing wholesaler in Los Angeles. Community members arrived to peacefully block a gate, to prevent ICE vehicles from entering. David encouraged more to join, standing together, harnessing the power of solidarity.

He was thrown to the ground, suffering a head injury, and arrested on felony charges. For trying to protect workers on the job.

In the aftermath of the arrest, Huerta's message was clear: labor movement leaders have an obligation to stand up and protect the people—workers, families, neighbors—that make up our communities.

 Huerta's work has inspired other labor leaders across the country who are standing up to protect our immigrant neighbors. This past winter, during ICE's Operation Metro Surge, many unions stepped up: providing necessities to homebound workers, equipping members with whistles and legal knowledge, and eventually calling for a general strike.

Locals from across the labor union (AFSCME, CWA, IWW, IATSE, IBT, SEIU, UE) led an estimated 50-100 thousand protestors, filling the streets of Minneapolis in subzero weather. This solidarity championed a central labor principle: "An injury to one is an injury to all."

While the near-future remains uncertain, it's clear that labor unions can best serve their members and their communities by standing with immigrenants.

15 leaders from the actions in Minneapolis now face federal charges. Just last month, the Department of Justice dropped all charges against Huerta.

Across more than a century, these struggles look very different, but they share a common thread: workers build power by refusing to let race, nationality, immigration status, or language divide them.

That history also reminds us that solidarity isn't just something the labor movement inherits. Instead it's something each generation of workers has to build and defend. These three stories are only small glimpses into the rich history of Latina/o worker organizing.

Join us in September for Roots of Resistance: Latina/o Labor History at LWLI, where we'll dig deeper into this history and what it can teach us about building worker power today.

In Solidarity,

Dom Bouavichith

CLCS Communications Coordinator

We want to share information that is relevant and interesting to YOU and your networks; if you have feedback or have something you'd like us to share, don't hesitate to shoot us an email! (clcs.labor@umich.edu, or reply directly to this newsletter!) This might include news stories, events to promote, job postings, or anything labor related you'd like shared out!

(CLCS is happy to share opportunities with our network when they also advance worker education, leadership, or collective capacity—not simply because they're beneficial to union members.)

Monthly newsletters typically will include announcements of upcoming events, media and recaps from past conferences and symposia, and research reports on labor in Michigan. Each newsletter will also have a Labor in the Headlines section, with news items on current events in the labor movement, so be sure to scroll all the way through!

Newsletters will also live on our website, under "News".

The CLCS staff has moved into our new offices! Our new space is in Fairlane Center South, where both of our fall conferences are also held.

We need to decorate our walls! We're looking for donations of memorabilia, picket signs, and other labor union swag to hang up on display! Reach out to us at clcs.info@umich.edu if you have something you can contribute!

Date: September 4, 2026
Time: 4:00–7:00 PM
Location: Fairlane Center South, Suite 262
19000 Hubbard Drive, Dearborn, MI

Join us September 17-19 for the 2026 edition of LWLI!! We have courses that touch on democratic participation, AI in the workplace, and personal finance! Come build power and solidarity with your fellow workers. Respond to this email with questions or to apply for a scholarship!

SAVE THE DATE: Fall Leadership Institute 2026

November 19-21, Dearborn, MI

Just a few months away! We'll have our annual Fall Leadership Institute at the UM-Dearborn campus in November. This conference is a great place to develop advanced leadership skills or to pick up some fundamentals. Join us!

Upcoming Labor Notes Workshops on Contract Negotiations

Bargaining Fundamentals

August 27, 7-9pm, on Zoom

$10 Registration Fee

Winning a Strong Contract

September 2 & 9, 7-9pm, on Zoom

$15 Registration Fee

Looking to build skills ahead of contract negotiations? Hoping to refresh some of your understanding? Labor Notes has two upcoming workshops focused on bargaining contracts!

The Economic Policy Institute recently published a report predicting what America would look like if we tripled union membership. Last month, they took a look at the effects of high union density in public education.

They find that high union density among education workers has a positive effect on the quality of education and helps to keep public schools public.

In early June, CLCS moved offices! Our new (very large!) space is in Fairlane Center South (19000 Hubbard Dr.), in Suite 262.

This building is where we typically hold conference planning meetings, as well as three of our conferences: Latina/o Workers Leadership Institute, Fall Leadership Institute, and Workers' Pride Conference.

We invite faculty from all three campuses to join for our Faculty Affiliate cohort, which will be meeting in February.

During this meeting, we'll discuss plans for the Winter 2026 semester and start developing programming and research plans.

All faculty (any campus, any position) are invited, and the meeting will happen over Zoom.

Respond to this email to get the Zoom link! Feel free to forward this newsletter to faculty who might be interested!

CLCS volunteers and staff shall act honestly and ethically while in the performance of their duties. They shall treat all CLCS employees, volunteers, and program participants with respect, courtesy, and dignity. CLCS staff and volunteers shall not discriminate and shall be respectful of ethnic, national, gender, and cultural differences. 

Any concerns should be brought promptly to CLCS Staff.

Center for Labor & Community Studies

University of Michigan - Dearborn

Fairlane Center South, Suite 262, 19000 Hubbard Dr,

Dearborn, Michigan 48126

Email: CLCS.labor@umich.edu, Phone:  313-583-6400; Fax 313-583-6430