Dolores Huerta (1930–) and Larry Itliong (1913–1977), revered in the labor and civil rights movements, inspired thousands of farm workers to unionize for dignity and attain contracts that would give them livable wages and working conditions. Against great odds, they established the United Farm Workers of America by merging their two organizations - the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), a predominantly Mexican American farmworker organization, and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a predominantly Filipino American farmworker organization, and used the strike, the boycott, and fasting to gain better life for oppressed workers. NEA presents the Huerta-Itliong Acción y Compromiso Award to a nominee who follows in the exemplary footsteps of Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong in philosophy, work, and leadership.
To be eligible for this award, the nominee must meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Engage in activities that dignify workers and their jobs and give them hope for a better life.
- Exemplify the nonviolent philosophy of Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong in improving the status of labor and the lives of workers.
- Demonstrate devotion, resilience, and strength in organizing traditionally disadvantaged workers.
- Combine labor relations techniques and grassroots organizing to achieve improvements in working conditions.
- Make notable contributions to the labor movement through commitment, action, and negotiation.
- Organize across racially/ethnically diverse groups to support and empower disadvantaged workers and their families.
Awarded in odd- and even-numbered years.
