Editing Cesar Chavez (section)

===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>