Editing Cesar Chavez (section)

===Proposition 14: 1976–1977===
[[File:Democratic Convention in New York City, July 14, 1976. Cesar Chavez at podium, nominating Gov. Brown.jpg|thumb|Chavez placing Jerry Brown's name for nomination during the roll call vote at the 1976 Democratic National Convention]]

The ALRA law created a state agency, the [[California Agricultural Labor Relations Board]] (ALRB), to oversee union elections among farmworkers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=312}} Brown appointed a five-person board to lead the ALRB which was sympathetic to Chavez; it included the former UFW official LeRoy Chatfield.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=312}} As the UFW prepared for the elections in the fields, Chavez organized a "1000 mile march" from the San Diego border up the coast in July 1975.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=311, 315}} During the march, he stopped to attend the second UFW convention.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=316}} For the campaign, the UFW hired 500 organizers, many of them farmworkers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=318}} The UFW won more elections than it lost, although in instances where it went head-to-head with the Teamsters, the latter beat the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=320}} This indicated that the UFW's greatest strengths were among vegetable and citrus growers, rather than in their original heartlands of the Delano vineyards.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=321}} The Teamster victories in the Delano vineyards angered Chavez, who insisted that there had not been free elections there.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=318–319}} Chavez criticised the ALRB and launched a targeted campaign against [[Walter Kintz]], the ALRB's general counsel, demanding his resignation. He also put pressure on Governor Brown to remove Kintz.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=319}}

UFW organizers moved to follow their electoral victories by signing contracts with the growers;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=321}} the UFW needed these contracts to stabilize its finances.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=326}} Meanwhile, to develop the UFW's administration, Chavez hired the management consultant [[Crosby Milne]], whose ideas led to a restructuring of the union. These reforms further centralized the union's powers among the executive committee.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=323–325}} The changes involved decision-making powers being delegated from Chavez to the department heads, although Chavez—who liked to oversee everything personally—found this difficult to adhere to in practice.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=327}} As part of these reforms, Chavez continued to call on the union's leaders to all relocate to La Paz, which many were reluctant to do.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=325}} In July 1976, Chavez traveled to New York to attend the Democratic Party's [[1976 Democratic National Convention|National Congress]], at which he gave a speech nominating Brown as the party's presidential candidate. Brown would come third in the contest, which would be won by [[Jimmy Carter]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=330–331}} Carter went on to win the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 election]], initiating an administration that was keen to fund UFW projects.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=432–433}}

In 1976, the ALRB ran out of its budgeted money for the year. The California legislature refused to allocate more money, so the ALRB closed shop for the year.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=322}} Seeking to get the farmworkers' rights introduced by ALRA enshrined in California's constitution, in early 1976 UFW activists put forward the idea of Proposition 14, which would go forward to the electorate later that year.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=332}} Chavez thought that Proposition 14 had little chance of being passed by the electorate and was concerned that devoting its resources to the campaign would be financially costly for the UFW.{{Sfn|Pawel|2014|p=330}} Brown also warned them not to, arguing that it would backfire on farmworkers by polarizing communities.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=332}} Despite these concerns, Fred Ross urged the union to take on the issue,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=330}} and after much debate, the UFW's executive board voted to involve itself in the 'vote yes' campaign on Proposition 14.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=332}} Growers responded with a well-funded multi-media campaign that emphasized the claim that the measure would give unions the right to trespass on private property.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=97|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=332–333}} When it went to the electorate in November 1976, Proposition 14 was defeated by a measure of two-to-one.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=333}} Although this defeat had little serious impact on the UFW, Chavez took it as a very public rejection of him personally.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=333–334}}

Chavez blamed the defeat on the UFW's national boycott director, Nick Jones, who had been the only staff member to publicly voice disquiet over the Proposition 14 campaign. He claimed that Jones and the New York boycott director, Charlie March, had been part of a far-left conspiracy to undermine the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=335–339}} Under pressure, in November 1976, Jones resigned; in a letter to the executive board he stated that he was "deeply concerned" about the direction in which Chavez was taking the union.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=339}} Chavez also fired Joe Smith, the editor of ''El Macriado'', after accusing him of deliberately undermining the newspaper.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=339–340}} He then ordered Ross and Ganz to interrogate everyone who worked on the campaign, ostensibly to decide on new assignments but also to route out alleged malcontents, agitators, and spies.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=339}} Many of those involved in running the UFW's boycott expressed concerns about a [[McCarthyism|McCarthyite]]-style atmosphere developing within the union,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=341}} and Chavez's purge attracted press attention.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=340}} As the criticisms of his leadership intensified, Chavez responded with further purges, inspired by those in China's [[Cultural Revolution]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=343}} He became convinced that there was a far-left conspiracy, whose members he called the "assholes" or "them", who were trying to undermine the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=380, 402}} At a La Paz meeting in April 1977, later called "the Monday Night Massacre", Chavez called together a range of individuals whom he denounced as malcontents or spies. They were verbally abused by members of the executive board and ejected from the community.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=343–345}} He later accused [[Philip Vera Cruz]], the oldest member of the executive board, of also being part of the conspiracy, and forced him out.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=379–380}}

Chavez reversed many of the changes he had implemented under Milne's guidance, with executive board members being reassigned to cover geographic areas rather than having union-wide responsibilities.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=346}} Milne, who had been living at La Paz, soon left, with Chavez later alleging he had been part of a conspiracy against the union.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=346}} UFW had also entered into a negotiation with the Teamsters union, a process led by Cohen. The two unions reached an agreement by which the UFW would cease bringing litigation against the Teamsters if the latter ceased operating among farm-workers altogether. This left the UFW as the only dominant union among the farmworkers.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1pp=97–98|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=351}} The Teamsters agreed because farmworkers were a marginal group for them; their typically low incomes also meant that farmworkers did not generate sufficient funds for the union to warrant its ongoing and costly clashes with the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=351}}