“I'm honored to induct Larry Dulay Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, and Peter Gines Velasco into the Department of Labor’s Hall of Honor where they take their rightful place among giants in the labor movement leaders who have shaped the fabric of American history."
– Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su
In 1959, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee was created to organize farmworkers facing prejudice, low wages and poor working conditions. Three Filipino farmworkers would eventually lead this organization and become leaders of the United Farm Workers – Larry Dulay Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz and Peter Gines Velasco.
In 1965, Itliong led the Delano Grape Strike, leading over 1500 Filipino farmworkers in a strike against 10 vineyards. Vera Cruz and Gines Velasco would join AWOC and the three would become leaders of the five year strike. While previous grape strikes had failed, Itliong, Vera Cruz and Velasco would unite farmworkers of different backgrounds to ensure that this strike would succeed. Early in the strike, they gained the support of the mostly Latino National Farm Workers Association. The cooperation they cultivated between Filipino and Latino farmworkers would lead to the organizations merging to become the United Farm Workers.
