| |
| |
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
|
WHEREAS, Dolores Huerta has made a lasting, positive |
|
|
difference through her work as a Chicano rights activist and one of |
|
|
the most influential labor leaders of our era; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In 1955, Ms. Huerta cofounded the Stockton, |
|
|
California, chapter of the Community Services Organization, a |
|
|
grassroots group dedicated to ending segregation, discrimination, |
|
|
and police brutality while improving social and economic conditions |
|
|
for farmworkers; she then launched the Agricultural Workers |
|
|
Association and joined forces with Cesar Chavez in 1962 to |
|
|
establish the National Farm Workers Association; three years later, |
|
|
the AWA and NFWA merged to become the United Farm Workers; her skill |
|
|
as an organizer and negotiator proved key in the grape workers' |
|
|
strike that lasted from 1965 to 1970 and ended with a historic |
|
|
agreement that brought unemployment and health care benefits and |
|
|
reduced the use of dangerous pesticides; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Ms. Huerta went on to galvanize national attention |
|
|
with the lettuce boycott, paving the way for the Agricultural Labor |
|
|
Relations Act of 1975, the first law to recognize collective |
|
|
bargaining rights for farmworkers; in subsequent decades, she |
|
|
served as UFW vice president and advocated powerfully for such |
|
|
causes as comprehensive immigration reform, women's rights, and |
|
|
greater representation of Latinos and women in public office; since |
|
|
stepping down as vice president in 1999, she has continued her vital |
|
|
endeavors by focusing on a range of issues, including income |
|
|
inequality; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Widely admired for her contributions, Ms. Huerta |
|
|
was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993, and she |
|
|
was presented with the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights in |
|
|
1998; her receipt of the $100,000 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative |
|
|
Citizenship in 2002 allowed her to create the Dolores Huerta |
|
|
Foundation, which helps individuals in low-income communities to |
|
|
build organizing and training skills; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, For more than a half century, Dolores Huerta has |
|
|
dedicated herself to improving the lives of working people and |
|
|
holding our nation to its high ideals of equality and justice, and |
|
|
her achievements are a lasting source of hope and inspiration; now, |
|
|
therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 86th Texas |
|
|
Legislature hereby honor Dolores Huerta for her accomplishments in |
|
|
the labor and civil rights movements and extend to her sincere best |
|
|
wishes for continued success; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
|
prepared for Ms. Huerta as an expression of high regard by the Texas |
|
|
House of Representatives. |