Transcript:

In front of you is a short-handled hoe, an agricultural tool that Filipino American farmworkers were required to use. For several hours a day, workers had to bend low to the ground to cultivate crops with this tool, which resulted in severe back pain. Eventually, among labor organizers, the short-handled hoe became a symbol for exploitative working conditions and a rallying cry for change.

Filipino American agricultural workers in the Pajaro Valley have long participated in organized labor. Manong and manang experienced meager wages, dangerous work environments, insecure employment, and long work hours, among many other intolerable labor conditions. They turned to unions to fight for employment regulations, to dignify their labor, and, at the same time, to cultivate camaraderie. However, some Filipino American workers felt conflicted about union strategies, such as striking, because of employer intimidation and retaliation. They were also concerned with potential impacts and risks to their families both in the United States and abroad. For this section, we’ve paired two oral history interviews to showcase two different perspectives. 

Bersamin: The following audio clip is from an interview with Manuel Bersamin, the child of Eulalio and Victoria Bersamin. Eulalio, also known as Max, was a farmworker and dedicated member of the United Farm Workers union. Here, Manuel discusses his father’s union participation. 

I think that they wanted change, and they wanted better pay, and better conditions. I remember going out there myself. No bathrooms. No water. El cortito, short handled-hoe was still out there. […] Here’s, here’s a great story. My father, even into his 80s, when the UFW would come to town, sometimes in Watsonville, the UFW would have small marches. And my father would say, you know, “I want to go to the UFW March.” By that time, after years of doing irrigation, arthritis had affected one of his knees, and he couldn’t walk without a cane. So, you know, he couldn’t join the march. And he felt bad. And then my mother said, “Well, just get in your car. Get in the car and join the march.” […] And then you’d have my father, you know, driving his little white Chevette following the marchers. […] The main thing for my father was that imposter syndrome thing that he never outgrew. I think the Union helped him to feel like you know what, I still remember how I was treated. But you know what, I’m going to go out belonging to something. And this something is something that, you know, it’s given me dignity.

Fallorina: Mariano Doctor Fallorina, a strawberry sharecropper, felt conflicted about participating in strikes. Manong and manang often supported family members both in the United States and abroad. Like many of their peers, Mariano and his wife, Angelina Nicolas Fallorina, regularly sent remittances to their families in the Philippines. In this interview, Mariano and Angelina’s son, Dan, recalls the various pressures his parents encountered.

You know, I guess he set the schedule when the crops needed to be watered or whatever. And he had timed it just right, he got all the lettuce you know, watered and harvested. And right after it got picked, they went on strike. You know, and the boss was so happy that they were able to get the crop so they weren’t in– so impacted by the strike […] I mean, even United Food, they had strikes and stuff like that. My parents felt that it was more important to put food on the table and I think they, they crossed the lines or whatever […] You know, when we were growing up it was hard you know […] because we didn’t understand it either. We would give them a bad time for sending money away. We would go, “Why are you sending money to the Philippines when we are struggling here?”  […] I look at what my mom and dad did. It’s like they worked hard, I mean, a lot harder than, you know, I thought I’d work.