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In case you don't know who he is (I'm just not sure how popular he was outside of California), he was a union organizer for the UFW (United Farm Workers) who tried to raise wages for migrant farm workers. The UFW doesn't do much anymore; they've pretty much sunk into obscurity. The famous work of the UFW, at its height, were the boycotts and strikes.
Emphasis added mine
From Making Economic Sense by Murray Rothbard.
I'd also like to add the commentary that by pushing these wages up as he tried to do, Cesar Chavez effectively limited the number of jobs available. So while he was trying to help those who were picking grapes up in California, who knows what misery he brought upon those still south of the border who were no longer allowed due to union practices (you have to keep our labor if you're going to keep wages up). If you think migrant farm wages are bad, imagine not even being able to earn that!
In 1970, the boycott finally forced the grape growers to sign with UFW: five years later, Chavez reached his peak of seeming success when his newly-elected ally, Governor Jerry Brown, pushed through the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, for the first time, compelling collective bargaining in agriculture.
. . .
The low wage of migrant farm workers is not a sign that they are "exploited" (whatever that term may mean), but precisely that they are low-skilled and easily replaceable. And anyone who is inclined to weep about their "exploitation" should ask himself why in the world these workers emigrate seasonally from Mexico to the United States to take these jobs. The answer is that it's all relative: what are "low wages" and miserable living conditions for Americans, are high wages and palatial conditions for Mexicans--or, rather, for those unskilled Mexicans who choose to make the trek each season.
. . .
As the pseudonymous free-market economist "Angus Black" admonished liberals at the time of the grape boycott: if you really want to improve the lot of grape workers, don't boycott grapes; on the contrary, eat as many grapes as you can stand, and tell your friends to do the same. This will raise the consumer demand for grapes, and increase both the employment and the wages of grape workers.
Emphasis added mine
From Making Economic Sense by Murray Rothbard.
I'd also like to add the commentary that by pushing these wages up as he tried to do, Cesar Chavez effectively limited the number of jobs available. So while he was trying to help those who were picking grapes up in California, who knows what misery he brought upon those still south of the border who were no longer allowed due to union practices (you have to keep our labor if you're going to keep wages up). If you think migrant farm wages are bad, imagine not even being able to earn that!