Editing Cesar Chavez (section)

===Salinas Lettuce Strike: 1970–1971===
[[File:National Farm Workers Association protest buttons.png|thumb|right|National Farm Workers Association buttons advertising their campaigns]]

In July 1970, the Grower-Shipper Association representing lettuce growing companies in California's [[Salinas Valley]] renegotiated its contracts with the Teamsters, allowing the latter union to represent their employees.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=71|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=214}} Chavez was angry at this, traveling to Salinas to talk with the lettuce cutters, many of whom were dissatisfied with the way that the Teamsters represented them.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=215–216}} In August, thousands of cutters marched into Salinas, converging at [[Hartnell College]] where Chavez addressed them.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=216}} Rallying against the Teamsters, he emphasized that their union was run by white people, in contrast to the largely non-white makeup of the lettuce cutters.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=215}} There, the cutters voted to go on strike.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=216}} Over the coming days, many of them joined the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=216}} Chavez decided that the strike should initially target the valley's largest lettuce grower, [[Interharvest]], which was owned by the [[United Fruit Company]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=216}} Seeking to avoid industrial action, the Teamsters set up a meeting with Chavez, where they eventually reached an agreement. The Teamsters agreed to relinquish their contracts with the Grower-Shipper Association, opening the way for the Salinas lettuce cutters to choose the UFW as their representative.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=217}}

The Salinas lettuce growers secured a temporary restraining order preventing a strike, at which Chavez initiated another protest fast.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=217}} Amid a ten-day truce, he reached an agreement with Interharvest but not the other Salinas growers.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=75|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=218}} Thus, the strike against them began on August 24, when cutters started picketing the lettuce fields.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=218}} Lettuce production slumped by three quarters and prices of lettuces doubled.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=218}} Various restraining orders were issued against the picketers, and when they broke them they were fined; the UFW paid many of these, as well as financially supporting the strikers in other ways.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=219}} This proved expensive for the union, and Chavez decided that the pickets could not be maintained. Instead he decided to switch towards a boycott of Salinas lettuce.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=219}} Chavez selected the [[Bud Antle]] company as the first target of the boycott campaign.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=221}}

Bud Antle secured an injunction legally preventing a boycott against them, but Chavez continued regardless.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=221–222}} Due to this, Chavez was charged, found guilty of [[contempt of court]], and sentenced to ten days imprisonment in the Monterey County jail.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=73|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=222–223}} During Chavez's imprisonment, supporters held a round-the-clock vigil outside the jail.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=73|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=224}} Among those who visited him were Martin Luther King's widow [[Coretta Scott King]],{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=226}} and Robert Kennedy's widow, [[Ethel Kennedy]]. She took part in a rally which included a Roman Catholic Mass; it was opposed by a group of local counter-protesters who opposed the concentration of leftist activism in their community.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=224}} These events attracted national media attention.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=224, 225}} Soon after, the California Supreme Court voted to dissolve key aspects of Bud Antle's injunction and ordered Chavez's release.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=227}}

Chavez wanted a more remote base for his movement than Forty Acres, especially one where he could experiment with his ideas about communal living.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=229}} To this end, the Hollywood movie producer [[Edward Lewis (producer)|Edward Lewis]], a wealthy supporter of Chavez's, fronted the purchase of an old tuberculosis sanatorium in [[Keene, California|Keene]], along the foothills of the [[Tehachapi Mountains]], for the union.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=229–230}} Chavez named this new base Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz ("Our Lady Queen of Peace"), although it became commonly known just as "La Paz".{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=74|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=230}} Renovating the existing buildings,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=230}} he invited various families to come and live there.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=233}} In creating this commune, he drew on Gandhi's experiments with ''[[ashram]]s'' in India;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=233}} he envisioned it as a retreat center where workers could come for three day retreats modeled on the Roman Catholic ''[[cursillo]]''.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=230}} La Paz became the union's new headquarters, something that various backers and funders were critical of due to its remote location;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=235}} Chavez said that this was necessary for his security, particularly following allegations of a plot against his life.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=236}} At night, the perimeter of the commune was patrolled by armed guards.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=236–237}} The organization at La Paz was often chaotic, with frustrated detractors in the movement referring to it as "Magic Mountain".{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=282}} Amid his growing frustrations with Chavez's leadership, Itliong resigned in October 1971.{{sfnm|1a1=Zerzan|1y=1972|1p=127|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=253}}