Founding of the Texas Farm Workers' Union, 1975

In 1966, the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union, led by Cesar Chavez, sent Antonio Orendain to the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in hopes of organizing agricultural labor in in the state. In 1967, Orendain helped organize a strike and a march from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin, Texas, but despite his efforts, Orendain was unsuccessful in gaining better conditions and wages for workers. In the period between 1966 and 1967, the Texas Rangers harassed and arrested hundreds of farm workers. This discouraged any further strikes for almost a decade. In the meantime, Orendain continued to build support for unionization among farm workers on both sides of the border. This broke with the UFW’s national strategy that treated migrant workers as a threat to organized labor. During the Salad Bowl strike in 1970, the UFW recalled Orendain and other members from Texas to focus efforts in California. However, Orendain and others decided to stay in Texas, sowing the seeds for the Texas Farm Workers’ Union.

After continuing to build support for unionization, opportunity presented itself again in the Rio Grande Valley. In May 1975, a strike broke out in the melon fields. During the strike, Texas UFW officials were ordered by UFW leaders in California to reel in efforts and less radical tactics in Texas to help the UFW’s national image, and to disallow undocumented migrant workers from being organized. Orendain and other Texas officials refused to follow the UFW’s orders. Antonio Orendain founded the Texas Farm Workers’ Union on August 14^th 1975.