San Joaquin Valley: Discrimination Against The Mexican Farmer

Landowners discriminated against the Mexican laborers, and the landowners usually showed discrimination by cutting Mexican laborers pay. Normally, if there was a labor shortage, wages would begin to rise, but the landowners knew the large amount of Mexican laborers there were to work the cotton fields. Dawson discusses, “the Growers’ Association announcing to cut pay to the pickers (Dawson 132). Here it shows a specific example how the Mexican laborers were treated during the 1930s. The landowners were aware of the Mexican laborers that they were going to do nothing against them, for the reason many of the laborers were illegal. In the San Joaquin Valley, Mexicans wages did not meet the United States minimum wage, for the reason the laborers were not covered by the federal legislation (Rooney 517). It is indisputable that the landowners were aware that the laborers were not covered by the federal legislation since the landowners knew that information. The landowners discovered they could pay the laborers as low as they desired. The landowners knew there would be no consequences to their actions and would be able to get away with giving low wages to Mexican laborers. The Cannery Agricultural Workers Industrial Union Central Strike Committee (CAWIU) provided help to the Mexican workers with their demands. Cannery Agricultural Workers Industrial Union Central Strike Committee is a communist group that gives support to unions that were active in the fields of California during the 1930s. Daniel mentions, the Cannery Agricultural Workers Industrial Union Central Strike Committee were attempting to help the Mexican laborers when they organized meetings to discuss how to support them. During one of their gatherings, the police and immigration officers interrupted the meeting to make sure everyone who was present at the gathering was a U.S. Citizen (Daniel 143). Here is evident, the landowners have very powerful people who were trying to manage the Mexican laborers to quit with their strike. How the landowners interrupted their gathering quite often...the landowners wanted to send a message to the laborers. The message was, “go back to picking fruits, vegetables, or the crops you picked… or go back to your home, which is Mexico” (Bronfenbrenner 3). It is noticeable the landowners were using their power and money to attempt to control the strikers. The landowners knew in their back of their heads other Mexican Immigrants would come and replace the strikers. Instead of attempting to negotiate with the strikers, the landowners figured they could confront the strikers and send the strikers a message to go back to Mexico. The growers kept denying to give the Mexicans any type of raise. The Mexicans continued to go on strike, and the longer the growers denied the more violence happened between them. Bronfenbrenner mentions, “The growers got a hold of weapons …show more content…
In the result of this action from the landowners, “A reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle informed the Mexican community was starting to begin to lacking its cleanliness and strikers were soon to be ‘starved out’ (Dawson 135). It clearly shows the landowner's intentions were to let the strikers starve a great deal, and the strikers would give up and return back to work with no raise. As the matter of fact the landowners were not just trying to starve the strikers, but with the water supply on a shortage. The strikers would soon begin to develop some sickness and unsanitary diseases, which would lead the strikers to their deaths. The landowners were absolutely considered for their …show more content…
As the article, “California Farmworkers’ Strikes of 1933” reports, the Cannery Agricultural Workers Industrial Union Central Strike Committee managed to get the strikers to go back to work with only less than half of their demands met. Bronfenbrenner states, “In the end, there was no clear answer on who won but with all the sides--the growers, the union, and the federal government--claiming victory” (Bronfenbrenner 5). Here it shows, the landowners received people to work in the fields once again, but were not able to keep the income they desired. The Mexicans on strike earned a small raise, but without any union recognition. The federal government managed to get the strikers to return to picking cotton, and controlled the violence between the landowners and the