César E. Chávez, a man of resilience and determination, dedicated the majority of his life to defending the rights of our nation’s farm workers and their families. 

On March 31, we observed César Chávez’s birthday and his great legacy of community organizing and empowerment.  I am pleased to join Members of Congress in supporting legislation to create a national holiday to recognize his many contributions.  A César Chávez Day would honor this national hero by encouraging all of us on this day to help others in our communities through volunteer work and educational and cultural activities.

To fully appreciate César Chávez’s tremendous achievements, we must go back to the humble beginnings of this great man.  He was born on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona.  At the age of 10, his family began to travel throughout the Southwest working in fields and vineyards.  They lived in cramped quarters often without bathrooms, electricity or running water.  The long hours and dreadful working conditions hampered Chávez’s formal education. His personal hardships, however, strengthened his resolve to change his circumstances and improve the working conditions and lives of farm workers in this country.  To accomplish this mission, Chávez, along with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the United Farm Workers Association, which was later called the United Farm Workers (UFW).

My fondest personal memory of César Chávez goes back to my days as a little girl in Boyle Heights.  He and Dolores Huerta were part of the Community Service Organization (CSO), which was born out of a grassroots movement that elected the first Latino in the 20th Century to the Los Angeles City Council.  That man was my father, the late Edward R. Roybal. 

As a labor leader, Chávez traveled throughout California listening to farm workers and their families talk about their struggles.  He shared with them his belief that united communities hold the power to affect change.  By inspiring hope and pride in a community marginalized by poverty and racism, Chávez was able to lead thousands of UFW members in strikes and marches in support of workers’ rights.  Chávez’s non-violent tactics succeeded in bringing about important reforms, such as restrictions on the use of dangerous pesticides, guarantees for better wages and bans against discrimination and sexual harassment of farm workers.  Through his work in migrant labor camps, Chávez championed civil rights for all working Americans and became a hero and role model for millions of Latinos. 

Building on his commitment to improve the quality of life for farm workers, I have introduced the “Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act).”  This bill addresses the tragedy of the hundreds of thousands of children who work in agricultural fields without the same level of protections under the law afforded to juveniles working in other occupations in our country.

Farm worker children work long hours and earn sub-minimum wages.  They often toil in the fields using dangerous farm equipment and are continually exposed to hazardous pesticides.  Tragically, these working conditions can lead to serious injuries and even death. 

The CARE Act furthers César Chávez’s goals by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.  The measure would raise the labor standards and protections for farm worker children to the same level set for children in occupations outside of agriculture.  It would also increase penalties for violators of child labor laws and establish civil penalties against employers when children are injured in the fields.

Therefore, it is truly a personal honor to sponsor the CARE Act and to support efforts in Congress to create a national holiday in his honor.  His legacy of fighting for fairness and justice and his inspirational message of “Si se puede!” [“Yes, we can!”] continues to motivate us today, as it will for generations to come.

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[A political pioneer, in 1992, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard became the first Mexican-American woman elected to Congress.  Before that, she represented the 56th Assembly District of California for six years.

Congresswoman Roybal-Allard serves as a Member of the House Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful and distinguished committees in Congress.  She is the first Latina in U.S. history to be appointed to the Appropriations Committee, which controls the purse strings of the federal government.  The congresswoman serves on three influential subcommittees – the Subcommittee on Homeland Security, the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies and the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

Widely known and respected on Capitol Hill and in her district as a consensus builder, Congresswoman Roybal-Allard also served as chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation in 1997 and 1998.  In assuming this position, she became the first woman, first Latina and the first Member to achieve this role through election rather than seniority.  Later, during the 106th Congress in 1999 and 2000, she went on to serve as the first female Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

She was born and raised in Boyle Heights in Los Angeles and is the eldest daughter of Lucille Beserra Roybal and the late Congressman Edward R. Roybal, a Member of Congress for 30 years.

The multicultural 34th Congressional District includes: Bell; Bellflower; Bell Gardens; Boyle Heights; Commerce; Cudahy; Downey; Downtown Los Angeles; Huntington Park; Little Tokyo; Maywood; South Park; Vernon; Walnut Park; and portions of Chinatown, East Los Angeles, Florence, Pico Union, and Westlake.]