Thousands marched in the Central Valley on March 31 to honor the legacy of legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez. (Photo courtesy Mauricio Andrada/SEIU-USWW)

For Tejinder Dhami, a security officer and shop steward for Service Employees International Union (SEIU), being among the estimated 5,000 people at the statewide Cesar Chavez march in the Central Valley was an opportunity to “come together and show our strength in numbers.”

“It was a good day and it was about all the people coming to show support for the farm workers,” said Dhami, who traveled from the Bay Area for the march. “Is there a march if there is only one individual walking alone? It does not work. We need all the brothers and sisters to come to the rallies … and work together and be strong, to help the people trying to do their jobs who [are facing] immigration raids. Trump is coming after people … and we need to stand with them.”

SEIU member Tejinder Dhami (right), with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, was among approximately 5,000 people at the statewide Cesar Chavez march in the Central Valley on March 31.
(Photo courtesy of Tejinder Dhami)

Dhami, who was born in India and has lived in the United States for more than 30 years, said he understands and identifies with the struggles of farm workers, in particular because he comes from a family of farm workers and he labored in the fields alongside relatives before immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 20.

“Farm workers always have a hard time; it’s always a struggle for them to get what they deserve. The big corporate people never pay enough money to help the workers survive – it’s the same thing in India, it’s the same fight in France or in Canada and even here today,” said Dhami, emphasizing that farm workers are needed to get food from the fields to the tables for everyone.

But, he noted, the farm workers themselves don’t necessarily get an equal seat at the table in regard to how much they get paid for the hard work they do and the looming fears of deportation.

Thousands marched in the Central Valley on March 31 to honor the legacy of legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez.
(Photo courtesy Mauricio Andrada/SEIU-USWW)

“People need farm workers. Everybody needs to eat and has a family [to feed, including] the farm workers,” explained Dhami. “Farm workers bring food to the table for someone else; why not for themselves? They also need food to eat and have families; they need to survive, too.

“That’s why we still need to keep working together, every single union member, everyone … to show our [combined] strength,” he added. “Brothers and sisters standing together as one family.”