A Fresh Wind Blows

Black and white illustration of two people with a white outer edge with green and red text

Workers at the Farah Manufacturing Company in El Paso, Texas went on strike in May 1972 for the right to union representation.  Prior to the strike, high production quotas, low wages, and few benefits created an unhappy workforce.  Workers had voted to affiliate with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1969, but after a group of workers at another Farah plant attended a union-sponsored march, they were terminated.  This prompted the El Paso workers to walk out on May 9, 1972. The Spanish phrase on the button translates to Long Live the Strike.   A national boycott of Farah products began a few weeks later.  The National Labor Relations board ordered Farah to offer strikers their jobs back and permit union representation in January 1974.