Life in the Fields
Life in the Fields
Embedded Files
Overview
Overview
In this section, I will show the way that everyday work looked like for Imperial Valley workers, by examining their working conditions, family dynamics and hardships. We will look at how these conditions would influence many farmworkers to later join the UFW.
Map of Labor:
Even though the home of my family was Holtville, my family would travel all across California for work. The work of being a farm worker usually means that you have to migrate from place to place to ensure that you always have work. This is something that I did not know about my family before interviewing them, as I thought that they only migrated in Southern California. This map represents the places all across California that my family traveled in order to find work, and often having to move every month. They would leave family and children behind in order to just make a living in this new country.
Experiences at Work:
Talking about the past is a very impactful thing, which is something I learned when doing this project. This time period was more than 50 years ago however my great-grandmother who is now 100 years old remembered exact dates and her experiences. As these experiences shaped them and they will always remember the struggles and triumphs that they experienced working as an Imperial Valley farm worker. Working in the fields was very difficult and varied from place to place, however no matter where they went they worked the hardest they could.
Where did Migrant Workers stay at?
Hotels
Hotels
My family remembers that in many cities that they worked in did not have migrant labor camps at the time, therefore they would rent hotels. They would rent one room and sleep in there as a family.
Migrant Labor Camps
Migrant Labor Camps
These labor camps would house all of the workers that were working in the fields for that harvesting season, which was mostly families. When it came to the Silva family, they would all share one room and would live in these labor camps even in Holtville before they had enough money to buy a home.
Nana2.mp4Outside
Outside
This video clip details the experience of Maria Silva when all the hotels were full and there was no space in the labor camps.
How much would workers get paid? What type of work would they do?
In this little section, Gustavo and Isabel Silva talk about their experiences working in the fields. There was different working conditions depending on where they worked. Everything depended in what type of work that you did or who you worked for regarding treatment, wages and conditions. Workers would get very small breaks which would be about 10 minute breaks for 4 hours of work, and this was time for them to eat, go to the restroom or go care for their children and they would go right back to work.
atdghgvan.mp4Struggles that Imperial Valley workers faced in the 1960s and 1970s:
Long Hours
In this clip, Gustavo Silva explains how it was normal for irrigators to work more than 24 hours in one day. This is something that his brother, Javier Silva Jr., also experienced when working as an irrigator and even sometimes he would have to work 10 extra hours on top of the 24 hours as his boss trusted him to work more hours.
tata44.mp4Labor Pains:
In both of the videos below Gustavo and Maria Silva talk about the physical pain that they endured when working in the fields. This is due to the lack of technology that was around at the time. During the 1960s and 1970s, farmworkers would use a short ended hoe in order to rake the fields, meaning that they were having to crouch down for long hours . This caused them to develop back issues and knee issues which they still suffer from to this day.
tata44.mp4nanaanan6.mp4Working with a family:
It was very difficult for migrant workers to take care of their families as they work such long hours and be so exhausted afterwards. My grandmother explained to me how much guilt she had leaving her children with family members for months at a time. She felt like her children were gonna forget about her, however she knew that she needed to work for them.
Lack of Security
Farm workers would have to move from place to place, however it was not always guaranteed that they would find a job.In addition, they were not able to explain any grievances to their employers as they had no protections. Bosses could just fire them and get any other worker to replace them. Farm workers had no insurance and their wages were not fixed. They had no time off and no vacation. They were seen as just workers, not people who had families or issues of their own.
Conclusion
Imperial Valley farm workers were not just localized in the Imperial Valley as they had to migrate all across California in order to keep a steady income and always have constant work. During the 1960s and 1970s, it was very common for farm workers to get paid lower than minumum wage, work many hours, have very little breaks and no benefits. It was hard for workers to juggle family life and work life, as working was all that they were expected to do. All of these harships would cause them to rise up together and fight for their rights. The Impeiral Valley is special to the movement as they loved Cesar Chavez as he was born just a couple miles away in Yuma, Arizona, he was like one of them. Imperial Valley farm workers valued family and determination. During the 1960s and 1970s, they risked their lives and jobs in order to fight for their future and would forever change the agriculture business.
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