Unions have been instrumental in the lives of workers throughout American history and have led to significant advances in the American workforce . Throughout history, there have been patterns of exploitation of immigrant workers by corporations in order to increase their profits; Mexican migrant workers in Southern California are the most recent historical group to fall into this pattern of exploitation, primarily because of their lack of organization. Cesar E. Chavez was a great organizer and leader of the United Farm Workers union. Robert Kennedy described him as "one of the heroic figures of our time." Chavez used his life experiences to improve the lives of many migrant workers in America. Key points in Chávez's life that had profound effects on Mexican American workers include such things as: his first experience in leading political organizations in 1952; the founding of the United Farm Workers of America in 1962; and the use of non-violent approaches such as boycotts, strikes and fasts, as exemplified by the grape and lettuce strikes. Throughout his career, his selfless exploits made him the hero he is considered today. When we look at these key parts of Chavez's life, we can see that he played a very important role in obtaining and defending civil rights, wage increases and benefits for migrant farmers ( Chavez Foundation). In 1952, Chavez would begin his career as a community leader and political organizer through the Community Service Organization or CSO, which was already established as a leading Mexican-American civil rights organization in the South from California. The CSO worked primarily on voter registration and everyday issues that Mexican Americans would encounter, and this served as valuable learning...... middle of paper ...... understood what was right and he sought to fill the need. which had been abandoned by the government and the private sector. Works Cited Chavez Foundation. “Cesar E. Chavez > American Hero.” http://www.chavezfoundation.org/_page.php?code=001001000000000&page_ttl=American+Hero&kind=1.Griswold Del Castillo, Richard and Richard A. Garcia. César Chavez: A triumph of the spirit. Western Biographies of Oklahoma, c. 2. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995 Martin, Philip. “Labor Relations in California Agriculture: 1975-2000.” September 20, 2000. http://migration.ucdavis.edu/cf/more.php?id=44_0_2_0.Moore, Joan W., Cuellar, Alfredo. Mexican America. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc 1970.Tejada-Flores, Rick. “Struggle in the fields: César Chávez and the struggle of agricultural workers”. 2004. http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/cesarchavez.html.