Farmworkers union endorses Biden reelection bid

The United Farm Workers (UFW) endorsed President Biden’s reelection bid Tuesday, praising him as an “authentic champion for workers and their families.”

“The United Farm Workers has seen first hand the positive impact that President Biden has made in the economic standing, labor rights, and daily lives of farm workers across America,” UFW President Teresa Romero said in a statement.

“That is why we are proud to again endorse Joe Biden for President and Kamala Harris as Vice President of the United States,” Romero continued. “We look forward to working to ensure that farm workers and their communities become an integral part of the President’s re-election in 2024, and to the greater progress for farm workers that a second Biden-Harris term will bring. ¡Con Biden, si se puede!”

The union praised the appointment of Julie Chavez Rodriguez as Biden’s campaign manager. She is the granddaughter of Cesar Chavez, who founded the group that would become the UFW. The union said her appointment is “yet another expression of President Biden’s commitment to and personal relationship with the farm worker movement, its history, and our ongoing struggle for justice.”

The UFW represents thousands of vegetable, berry, winery, tomato and dairy workers in California, Oregon and Washington. It works to advocate for farmworkers’ rights legislation, including pushing for overtime pay, advocating for heat standards to prevent heat deaths and illnesses and backing immigration reform. 

The group backed Biden’s 2020 White House bid. Rodriguez called its latest endorsement “deeply personal,” vowing that the campaign “will embody the UFW’s organizing spirit, Sí Se Puede attitude, and tenacity every single day.” 

“The UFW’s organizing has always been about standing up against injustice and fighting for working people,” Rodriguez said. “Those same values are at stake in this election, as MAGA Republican candidates for president would rather give handouts to the ultra-rich and powerful at the expense of hardworking Americans.

“Like my grandfather and the UFW, Joe Biden has stood up for workers and fundamentally understands that a job is more than a paycheck; it is about your dignity. And he’s fought with that central belief in mind throughout his career,” she added.

The endorsement came hours before Biden was set to appear in Michigan on Tuesday to join a picket line to support striking autoworkers.