A resolution honoring Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) with Cesar Chavez, has been introduced in the US House of Representatives. House Resolution 37, introduced by Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), would express “the sense of the House of Representatives that all workers deserve fair treatment and safe working conditions, and honoring Dolores Huerta for her commitment to the improvement of working conditions for farm worker families and the rights of women and children.” Currently, the resolution has 41 co-sponsors and is in the Committee on Education and Labor.
Huerta, who is a founding board member of the Feminist Majority Foundation and serves on the board of Ms. magazine, began her community organizing legacy with the Community Services Organization (CSO), a Latino civil rights group. She has worked as a teacher, a community activist working for Spanish-speaking police officers and hospital workers, a lobbyist, and a labor contractor. As one of the most famous and celebrated Latinas in the US, Huerta has been an advocate for women’s rights and reproductive freedom. At the age of 75, she continues to work for women, immigrants, workers, and youth as the president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
Huerta’s UFW co-founder Cesar Chavez was also just honored last weekend during Cesar Chavez Day, March 31. California recognizes the day as a state holiday, and all state government offices, community colleges, and libraries are closed. Public schools, however, remain open, and students at about 15 Los Angeles Unified School District campuses participated in a coordinated walk-out on Friday, demanding that the state better honor Chavez’s legacy, NBC reports. Texas also recognizes the day as a holiday, and Arizona and Colorado have declared it an optional holiday.
