LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Following allegations that labor leader César Chávez sexually abused multiple women, including United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, the Los Angeles Unified school board and county Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to rename the upcoming Chávez holiday as Farm Workers Day and begin work to remove his name from buildings and other facilities.
The moves to rename the upcoming holiday followed similar actions being taken by the state Legislature, and by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who signed an executive order last week renaming the city’s César Chávez holiday Farm Workers Day.
The LAUSD resolution that was approved unanimously by the Board of Education on Tuesday states that the district will commemorate March 31 as Farm Workers Day, “honoring the collective contributions of farm workers and their enduring impact on our communities, and ensure that future instructional calendars reflect anticipated changes in the state holiday, which could include both the name and designated day.”
The LAUSD resolution — introduced by board members Kelly Gonez and Rocio Rivas — also states that the district “with meaningful engagement with students, families, educators, and community members, shall immediately commence an expedited process to rename the César Chávez Learning Academies in San Fernando and César Chávez Elementary School in El Sereno, bringing proposed new names that reflect the District’s values of equity, justice, and community leadership to the board for approval by no later than Fall 2026.”
Gonez thanked her board colleagues for supporting the resolution.
“You know, we bear responsibility in ensuring that we’re protecting the young people of our city, and I trust and believe in the work that we’re doing and making space for survivors on our sites, and providing those resources,” she said.
Meanwhile, the county Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn calling for the county to rename the upcoming holiday, which is marked on Chávez’s birthday, March 31. The motion also calls on county leaders to remove “the name and likeness of César Chávez from all county holiday-related events, communications and materials, and updating existing materials accordingly.” It says any events held in connection with the holiday should “proceed on themes of farm worker justice, labor rights and community service.”
“The abuses of one man should not diminish the extraordinary sacrifices and accomplishments of the farm worker movement, and renaming this holiday acknowledges that,” Hahn said. “This past week has been heartbreaking for so many people on so many levels — for communities, for people who have admired one man and admired the movement.
“But one of the things I think it brought to light is that like many civil rights movements, men were only half the story. And yet it’s usually the men who have remained in the spotlight, who have had the things named after him. Yet we know for a fact women were at the core of all of our great civil rights movements.”
The Board of Supervisors also approved a separate motion Tuesday calling on its CEO and attorney to “develop a community-driven process for the renaming of parks, streets, County facilities, real property, monuments, and other County programs that bear the name of César Chávez, including the removal of related imagery in civic artworks and report back in writing in 21 days …”
The motion, brought by Solis and Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, states that the county “is deeply shaken” by the abuse allegations, which were revealed in a report by The New York Times last week.
“These allegations are grave and painful, demanding a thorough, transparent, and trauma-informed response,” the motion states. “Survivors must be believed, supported, and treated with dignity, and they must never again feel that their voices are secondary to any movement or individual. The county also recognizes and uplifts the critical role of Dolores Huerta and the countless women whose leadership, vision, and resilience have shaped the labor movement and advanced justice for generations of workers. The farmworker movement is far greater than any one individual. It was built on the courage, sacrifices, and organizing of farmworkers, women leaders, and allies, whose collective efforts secured safer working conditions, fair wages, and dignity for countless families.”
Solis said it was important for the county to conduct a “community- driven process” for renaming the various facilities, to ensure “diverse voices” are included in the decisions.
“This has been an extremely difficult time for many in our communities, including for me personally,” Solis said. “I believe it is critical that we work to honor history accurately. The farm worker movement was built by generations of workers — men and women and youth — who labored, organized and sacrificed and transformed working conditions and expanded workers’ rights nationwide. As former Labor Secretary, this is not lost on my one bit.”
The New York Times story quoted a woman who said Chávez took her into his office when he was 45 and she was 13, kissed her and pulled her pants down. She said dozens of sexual encounters followed over the next four years, though she says none involved intercourse.
Another woman said she was 12 when Chávez groped her breast, and 15 when he arranged to have her stay at a motel during a march through California and had sexual intercourse with her.
Both women were the daughters of organizers who had marched in rallies alongside Chávez, according to the Times. The story claims that Chávez used other women in the farm labor movement for “sexual gratification.”
Huerta, who will turn 96 on April 10, told the newspaper that Chávez drove her to a secluded grape field in Delano, California, in 1966 and raped her in the vehicle. She said she never reported the attack out of concerns for police hostility toward Chávez and the labor movement, and because she feared she wouldn’t be believed.
Huerta confirmed the account in a statement last week, saying she had two sexual encounters with Chávez — the first of which involved her being “manipulated and pressured into having sex with him” — and the other in which she “was forced against my will.”
“I had experienced abuse and sexual violence before, and I convinced myself these were incidents that I had to ensure alone and in secret,” Huerta said. “Both sexual encounters with César led to pregnancies. I chose to keep my pregnancies secret and, after the children were born, I arranged for them to be raised by other families that could give them stable lives.”
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