Editing Cesar Chavez (section)

==Later life==
===Growing schisms: 1978–1982===
[[File:Cesar Chavez 40913a.tif|thumb|A photograph of Chavez taken in 1979]]

In June 1978, Chavez joined a picket in Yuma as part of his cousin Manuel's Arizona melon strike. This broke an injunction and Chavez was thrown into the county jail for a night.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=390}} By 1978, there was growing anger at the UFW among vegetable workers; they were frustrated by its incompetency, especially in the running of its medical plan.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=401}} In the 22 farmworker elections that took place between June and September 1978, the UFW lost two-thirds.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=402}} To stop the loss of its contracts and members, Chavez launched his Plan de Flote, an initiative to regain the trust of the vegetable pickers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=402–403}} Chavez organized a new strike over wages, hoping that salary increases would stem the UFW's losses; the union made its wage demands in January 1979, days after its contracts had expired.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=403}} Eleven lettuce growers in the Salinas and Imperial Valleys were included in the strike,{{sfn|Bruns|2005|p=101}} which caused lettuce prices to soar.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=404}}

During the strike, the picketers trespassed on the [[Mario Saikhon]] company fields and attempted to drive away those still working. The foreman and other employees opened fire and one picketer, Rufino Contreras, was killed.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=102|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=404–405}} Chavez urged the strikers not to resort to violence and with Contreras' father led a three-mile candlelit funerary procession, attended by 7000 people.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=102|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=405}} In June, Ganz and other strike organizers planned a show of strength whereby strikers rushed onto the Salinas field to cause disruption. This generated violent clashes; several people sustained stab wounds and 75 were arrested.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=409}} Vegetable growers accused Chavez of [[terrorism]] over the incident;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=410}} Chavez criticized Ganz for organizing this without his approval.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=409}} He then led a 12-day march from San Francisco to San Jose, beginning a fast on the sixth day.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=102|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=411}} Arriving in Salinas, he met with strike leaders at a UFW convention. He argued that the strike was proving too costly for the UFW—it cost the union between $300,000 and $400,000 a month—and that they should end the strike and switch to a boycott campaign. The strike leaders rejected these suggestions.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=405, 411–412}} To end the strike, in August and September, several growers signed contracts with the UFW but many held out and the union was broke.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=413–415}} Chavez continued arguing for a boycott, suggesting that the union could use alcoholics from the cities to run the boycott campaign, an idea most of the executive board rejected.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=414–415}}

Under the new contracts, the growers agreed to pay for paid workers' representatives whose job it would be to ensure a smooth relationship between the growers and the UFW. Chavez brought these paid representatives to La Paz for a five-day training session in May 1980.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=416}} Ganz, who was becoming increasingly distant from Chavez, helped tutor them.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=418}} Chavez called all staff to a meeting at La Paz in May 1981, where he again insisted that the UFW was being infiltrated by spies seeking to undermine it and overthrow him.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=425}} He arranged for more of his loyalists to be put on the executive board, which now had no farmworkers sitting on it.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=425}} At the UFW's Fresno convention in September 1981, the paid representatives nominated some of their own choices, rather than Chavez's, to go on the board.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=425–426}} Chavez's supporters responded with leaflets claiming that the paid representatives were puppets of "the two Jews", Ganz and Cohen, who were trying to undermine the union.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=426}} This brought allegations of [[antisemitism]] against Chavez.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=427}} Seeking to undermine the paid representatives, Chavez proposed a measure that if 8% of workers at a ranch signed a petition, the representatives of that ranch would be obliged to vote for Chavez's chosen candidates. The measure passed.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=426}}

{{Quote box
| quote = Now we come to this 1981 convention facing yet another assault on our beloved union. An assault even more menacing than the past conventions. More menacing because it is clandestinely organized by those forces whose every wish and desire is our destruction. Obstruction by those evil forces visible and invisible who work at every chance to destroy us—the growers, the teamsters, disaffected former staff, scoundrels, and God knows who, some unwittingly trying to each the same goal—that is to bury our beloved union.
| source=— Chavez at the 1981 convention{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=426}}
| align = left
| width = 25em
}}

By October, all of those who had opposed Chavez's choices at the convention had been fired.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=427}} They responded by launching a fast in protest outside the UFW's Salinas office.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=429}} Nine of them then sued Chavez in a federal court, claiming that he had no right to fire them from positions that they had been elected to represent by their peers in the fields.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=429}} Chavez responded with a counter-suit, suing them for libel and slander.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=430}} He acknowledged to a reporter that in doing so, he was trying to intimidate the protester's lawyer, something which brought negative publicity for the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=430}} One of the protesters, [[Chava Bustamante]], got work with the [[California Rural Legal Assistance]] group, at which the UFW began picketing their offices, trying to get Bustamante fired.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=430–431}} In court, Chavez denied that the paid representatives were ever elected, alleging that they were appointed by him personally, but produced no evidence to support this claim. The [[United States federal judge|US District Court Judge]] [[William Austin Ingram|William Ingram]] rejected Chavez's argument, ruling that the sacking of the paid representatives had been unlawful.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=434–435}} The UFW appealed the ruling, which dragged out for years, until the paid representatives ran out of funds to continue.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=435}}

Opposition to Chavez's hostility to illegal migrants led senior UFW members in Texas and Arizona to break from the union and form their own groups, such as the [[Texas Farm Workers Union]] and the [[Maricopa County Organizing Project]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=419}} Chavez and his cousin Manuel went to Texas to try and rally opposition to the schism.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=419}} Manuel also went to Arizona, where he introduced a range of measures to undermine the new group.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=420}} This led to the investigative journalist [[Tom Barry (journalist)|Tom Barry]] looking into Manuel's activities. It was revealed that under a pseudonym he had become a melon grower in Mexico, and that he was initiating strikes among U.S. melon pickers as a means of improving the market for his own produce.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=420–421}} The UFW's reputation was further damaged after the magazine ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' exposed that the union had improperly spent nearly $1 million in federal funds. Federal and national investigations followed, confirming these allegations.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=431–432}} The government asked the UFW to return over $250,000 in funds while the [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruled that the union owed $390,000 in back social security and federal unemployment taxes.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=433}}

In 1982, the UFW held a celebration of the twentieth anniversary of its first convention at San Jose.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=436}} It was in October that year that Chavez's father died, with the funeral being held in San Jose.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=437}} Chavez was also involving himself in a broader range of leftist events. He co-chaired [[Tom Hayden]] and [[Jane Fonda]]'s fund-raising dinner for their [[Campaign for Economic Democracy]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=436}} In the summer of 1982 he also appeared at [[Peace Sunday]], an anti-nuclear event.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=436}} The UFW had established itself as one of the largest political donors in California.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=444}} Its political donations were often concealed from the public, funneled through intermediary committees.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=444–445}} It donated thousands of dollars to [[Howard Berman]]'s campaign to unseat [[Leo McCarthy]] as the Speaker of the [[California State Assembly]] because of McCarthy's role in defeating Proposition 14. Many Democrats feared that Berman would be beholden to Chavez and so backed [[Willie Brown (politician)|Willie Brown]], who won.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=433–434}} The UFW subsequently also donated to Willie Brown.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=108|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=444}}

===The Chicano Lobby and commercial activities: 1983–1989===
The UFW's membership, and the subsequent membership dues they paid, continued to decline. In January 1983, UFW contracts covered 30,000 jobs but by January 1986 this had fallen to 15,000.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=449}} In 1982, the dues that membership brought in were $2.9 million although this had fallen to $1 million three years later.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=448}} By the early 1980s, there was a burgeoning Latino middle-class in the U.S. Although Chavez hated the aspirational approach that had encouraged working-class Latinos to become middle-class, he recognized that this offered the UFW a wider support base.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=439}} At the 1983 UFW convention, he announced the formation of a new non-profit organization, the Chicano Lobby.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=439}} At the Lobby's launch, addresses were given by the San Antonio Mayor [[Henry Cisneros]] and the newly elected president of the Mexican American Political Association, Chavez's eldest son Fernando.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=439–440}} To cope with its declining membership, the UFW sought to build its political influence.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=445}} In November 1984, Chavez gave a speech to the [[Commonwealth Club of California]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=446}} The UFW launched a print shop, with politicians who were eager to court the Latino vote increasingly used.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=445}}

Chavez launched a boycott of grapes and Red Coach Lettuce because their parent company, Bruce Church, had refused to sign a contract with the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=442}} Chavez launched a boycott of Lucky, a California supermarket chain. His strategy was to convince the supermarket that the UFW could damage its patronage among Latinos.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=441}} Chavez had observed that the [[Christian Right]] was beginning to use new computer technologies to reach potential supporters and decided that the UFW should do the same.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=114|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=440–441}} Through this, they were better able to target specific groups whom they regarded as sympathetic to their cause: Hispanics, middle-class African Americans, and liberal professionals living in the major cities.{{sfn|Bruns|2005|p=114}} As part of its boycott, the UFW also bought television commercials, which it used to help raise money.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=443}}

From the mid-1980s, Chavez increasingly focused the UFW's campaigns on opposing the use of [[pesticides]] in the fields, which he argued posed a danger both to farmworkers and to consumers.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=115|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=457}} The UFW raised over $100,000, as well as donated equipment, to launch its own pesticide research lab, but this never opened.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=457}} In his anti-pesticide campaigns he gained support from [[Ralph Nader]].{{sfn|Bruns|2005|p=116}} Chavez linked this approach in with the ongoing boycott of Bruce Church, arguing that if consumers boycotted the company's products, the growers would stop using pesticides.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=458}} The UFW claimed that the high rates of childhood cancer in [[McFarland, California|McFarland]] represented evidence of how pesticides impacted humans; they used footage of some of these children in a 17-minute video, ''The Wrath of Grapes''. Many of the parents were angered and several sued the UFW, claiming that the union was exploiting their children for its own agenda.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=457–458}} UFW activists also turned up at the funeral procession of a 14-year old who had died from cancer, where they carried union flags; the child's furious mother demanded that they leave.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=459}}

In 1982, Jerry Brown ceased to be governor of California.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=434}} He was replaced by the Republican [[George Deukmejian]], who had the backing of the state's growers; under Deukmejian, the ALRB's influence eroded.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=107|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=442}} In 1987, the UFW was found liable for $1.7 million in damages to the Maggio company for the illegal actions that the union carried out against it during their 1979 strike.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=434}} As the UFW's boycott of Bruce Church products failed to gain traction, in July 1988 Chavez launched another public fast at Forty Acres.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=117|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=459}} Three of Robert Kennedy's children visited, generating media attention for the fast.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=460}} After 19 days, Chavez broke the fast at a ceremony attended by the Democratic politician [[Jesse Jackson]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=460}} The fast was followed by further purges at La Paz as Chavez accused more people of being saboteurs.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=461}} Hartmire was among those pushed out, resigning in January 1989.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=461–462}} Some of those at La Paz left before Chavez could target them, and the commune became increasingly depopulated.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=463}} Chavez meanwhile continued to receive awards and honors.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=463}} In November 1989, the Mexican government awarded him the [[Order of the Aztec Eagle]], during which he had a private audience with Mexican President [[Carlos Salinas]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=464}} In October 1990, Coachella became the first district to name a school after Chavez; he attended the dedication ceremony.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=464}}

With membership dues declining, the UFW increasingly turned to commercial activities as a means of raising funds.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=448}} It began marketing UFW branded merchandise through El Taller Grafico Speciality Advertising (ETG), which had Chavez as its chair.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=449–450}} Chavez also set himself up as a housing developer, working in partnership with the Fresno businessman Celestino Aguilar. Together they bought properties undergoing foreclosure, renovated them, before selling them on.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=450}} They ultimately moved from foreclosures to high-end custom built houses and subsidized apartment blocks.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=450}} To conceal the UFW's involvement in these projects, Chavez and Aguilar formed the company American Liberty Investments.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=450}} They also established the Ideal Minimart Corporation, which built two strip malls and operated a check-cashing store.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=450}} Richard's company, Bonita Construction, was hired for some of the work.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=450}} The ''[[Fresno Bee]]'' subsequently reported that most of the UFW's housing projects had been built by non-union contractors.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=450}} The trade unions representing the building unions expressed outrage at the news, highlighting that they had previously given financial support to the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=450–451}} ''[[The New Yorker]]'' later termed the incident an "embarrassment".<ref name="hunger artist">{{cite magazine |title=Hunger Artist |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/04/14/hunger-artist-2 |first=Nathan |last=Heller |date=April 14, 2014 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref>

===Final years: 1990–1993===
[[File:2013-0211-CaesarChavezGravesite.jpg|thumb|right|The grave of César Chávez is located in the garden of the [[Cesar E. Chavez National Monument]] in Keene, California.]]

In the early 1990s, the UFW continued to market Chavez as a heroic figure, especially on university and college campuses.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=451}} In 1990, he appeared at 64 events, earning an average of $3,800 for each appearance.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=451}} In 1991, he launched a "Public Action Speaking Tour" of U.S. colleges and universities.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=451–452}} His standard speech at these events covered the problems facing farmworkers, the dangers of pesticides, the alliance of agribusiness and the Republican Party, and his view that boycotts and marches were a better means of achieving change than electoral politics.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=452}}

Chavez's mother died in December 1991, aged 99.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1pp=125–126|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=465}} The following year, in September 1992, Chavez's mentor Ross died. Chavez gave the eulogy at his funeral.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=466–468}} Chavez's final years saw the UFW's involvement in a legal battle with Bruce Church. The company had sued the union, claiming it libeled them and had illegally threatened supermarkets to stop them selling Red Coach lettuce.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=468}} In 1988, a jury returned a $5.4 million verdict against the UFW, but this verdict was thrown out in the appeals court.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=469}} The case was then remanded for trial on narrower grounds.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=469}} Chavez was called to testify in front of a Yuma court in 1993.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=126|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=469}} The stakes were high; a verdict against the UFW would have been financially devastating.{{sfn|Bruns|2005|p=126}}

During the case, Chavez stayed at the home of a San Luis supporter. It was there that he died in bed on April 23.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=126|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=470}} He was aged 66.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=470}} Chavez's body was flown to Bakersfield aboard a chartered plane.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=470}} The autopsy proved inconclusive, with the family stating that he had died of natural causes.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=471}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Chavez died of natural causes |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/04/27/Chavez-died-of-natural-causes/1591735883200/ |access-date=September 29, 2023 |work=[[UPI]] |date=April 27, 1993}}</ref> Chavez had already stipulated that he wanted his brother Richard to build his coffin,{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=126|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=471}} and that his funeral should take place at Forty Acres.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=471}} There, his body lay in state, where tens of thousands of people visited it.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=126|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=471}} A funeral procession took place in Delano, with 120 pallbearers taking turns to carry the coffin.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=127|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=471}} Chavez was then buried in a private ceremony at La Paz.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=127|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=472}}