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Japanese And Mexican American Farm Workers Formed An Alliance That Made History

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In the article titled “How Japanese and Mexican American farm workers formed an alliance that made history” by Natasha Varner, the author explains how Japanese and Mexican American farm workers formed an alliance due to reduced wages in Oxnard, California. The companies also refused to pay the workers in cash and would instead pay them with store credit at overpriced stores. Both of these groups formed one of the first multiracial labor unions called the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association (JMLA). This group held one of the first successful strikes on February 11, 1903. As time went on, tensions would rise and lead an anti-union farmer to kill one man and injure four others. The farmer went to trail and was found not guilty. This frustrated the JMLA seeing as the only thing they wanted was proper working conditions and stable wages. Eventually the companies caved and granted the workers their demands. JMLA’s next goal was to become a recognized union by the American Federation of Labor (AFL). However the president of the AFL Samuel Gompers would only grant union privileges to the Mexican workers and none to the Japanese workers. The Mexican members of the JMLA refused to sign the charter and stood by their Japanese members. Both of these groups had been exposed to the same labor struggles therefore it would be unfair for one group to receive union privileges while the other does not. The JMLA …show more content…

In this case the Mexicans and Japanese workers united to form the JMLA to fight for workers rights and stable wages. The JMLA was successful in obtaining their demands and eventually wanted to become a recognized union. However the president of the AFL Samuel Gompers tried to pit this group against each other, by offering Mexicans union rights and none to the Japanese, the group refused to sign this charter because it discriminated against their Japanese

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