Yes, Obama Can Honor Cesar Chavez's Legacy

[AlphaCentauri]

When Barack Obama adopted "Yes We Can" as his campaign theme, he harkened back to the "Si Se Puede" rallying cry popularized by Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers (UFW). As we celebrate Cesar Chavez Day on March 31, the President should consider a more lasting action to honor the UFW leader's legacy: revising the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) so that it no longer excludes farmworkers.

In 1935, racially discriminatory laws prevailed in much of the United States. In drafting the NLRA, Congress deferred to such laws by excluding two categories of predominately non-white workers--- "agricultural laborers" and "domestics"-- from labor protections. Despite the progress in racial attitudes that paved the way for Obama's election, this primarily race-based labor exclusion has remained.

Jerry Cohen, who was UFW General Counsel from 1967-1981, is among those who think it is time for the NLRA to protect farmworkers. On March 8, Cohen sent a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, in which he cited the parallel between the United States in 1935 and South Africa. Cohen observed that the foundation of apartheid was solidified in 1924 when an alliance of white workers and Afrikaner nationalists formed a Nationalist Labor Pact government. That same year the Industrial Conciliation Act was passed, setting up the legal machinery for collective bargaining. "Blacks" were specifically excluded from the definition of "employees" who were to receive the protections of the Act.

As Cohen writes, "Now while Congress was not so blunt as to deal out "blacks" and "browns" specifically in their New Deal labor legislation, most farm workers and domestics are in fact black or brown. For 73 years our sleight of hand has been more subtle but no less damaging because race, powerlessness and economic injustice are inextricably intertwined."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-shaw/yes-obama-can-honor-cesar_b_180596.html