Fourth Grade
Worksheets
Don't Buy the Grapes!
It was the same thing hour after hour: pick more grapes, move to the next vine, pick more grapes. The blazing sun was beating down on my already aching back; its heat reminded me that a cold drink of water, as refreshing as it would be, was out of reach. My fellow farm workers and I were only making one dollar per hour. The wage was not even enough to support my growing family. If I stopped to get even a small sip of water, the growers would charge me for each drink. So I picked on, hour after hour, vine after vine.
Many California farm workers experienced this exact scenario in 1965. The grape pickers were forced to do back-breaking work for very meager wages. One union decided to protest these practices. Cesar Chavez's union decided to join them. The unions began a strike against the grape growers. Later, the two unions merged and formed the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC).
