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>> Very low pay, very harsh working conditions
existed for farmworkers across the board.

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One of the largest products, however,
coming out of California was the grapes.

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So strikers were making this
movement for justice,

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fair wages, and safe working conditions.

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>> For me, the importance is that the Filipinos
workers are the ones who began the strike.

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I'm from Delano, and I was, yeah,
I have seven brothers, sisters.

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And five of us were born in a labor camp.

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So we worked in the fields.

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You know, our home was surrounded by grapes.

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>> Boycotting grapes affected global
markets because California supplies so much

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of the global market's fruits and vegetables.

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So organizing with the grapes first.

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Right? And against, particularly, well-organized
growers, and the corporations that bought grapes

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from these growers was an
extremely important stride,

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not just for farmworkers,
but for labor in general.

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>> It was about two weeks after the strike
began that Larry the Filipino leader knew

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that they couldn't win the strike by themselves.

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So at that point, they had gone to
Caesar and ask Caesar to join them.

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And that was the beginning, you know,
of the two unions coming together.

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I mean, they were risking their livelihood.

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They were risking their homes.

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You know, well, they lived in labor camps.

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I don't know if you would call those homes,
but they're risking having a place to live,

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or they didn't have families that they
could fall back on to take care of them.

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They were risking a lot.