She Wrote a Book on Sexual Harassment in the Labor Movement. The Cesar Chavez Allegations Don’t Surprise Her.

Allegations of sexual assault of women and girls against United Farm Workers union founder and Mexican-American civil rights icon Cesar Chavez have shaken the nation and especially California, the birthplace of the union he founded to fight for better treatment of agricultural workers. In a New York Times investigation published March 18, two women who were the daughters of UFW organizers said Chavez sexually abused them when they were girls in the 1970s. UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta, 95, told the Times that Chavez sexually assaulted her twice in the 1960s. Huerta said in a public statement published the same day that she stayed quiet to protect the United Farm Workers and its struggle for farmworker rights. “I have kept this secret long enough. My silence ends here,” Huerta said.

For Ana Avendaño, those revelations did not come as a surprise. A veteran labor lawyer and former assistant to two AFL-CIO presidents between 2009 and 2014, she told Capital & Main that, in general, unions have failed to effectively combat sexism and sexual harassment, even after the MeToo movement forced the ouster of several prominent labor leaders in the late 2010s. But several have undergone a cultural shift, providing a road map that others can follow. Avendaño is the author of the book Solidarity Betrayed: How Unions Enable Sexual Harassment and an adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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Capital & Main: What was your reaction to the New York Times investigation that revealed the allegations of sexual assault against Cesar Chavez?

Ana Avendaño: I wasn’t shocked at the allegations about Cesar Chavez. It was a reminder that the labor movement needs to do something about addressing these issues and taking accountability for the culture that protects predators inside the movement. When the Harvey Weinstein allegations happened, several union men were outed as sexual harassers. The response from many unions was, oh, we are shocked that this is happening, issuing statements and then nothing happens. 

Does the culture of the labor movement allow abuse to go unreported?

The culture of the labor movement is very masculine. There’s also a history of excluding women or accepting them on terms that aren’t full inclusion. Now that has changed somewhat in the sense that nearly half of all members are women, but some of these past practices are baked into the institution. One of the most telling experiences for me when I was at the AFL-CIO had to do with an organization that some of the unions put together called the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance. It was kind of a counter to the NRA. They had a fundraiser in the lobby of our building, and brought in tall, very thin women in micro miniskirts with super high heels, serving cocktails. When we complained, we were told we were classist. So there’s this assumption that working class people are naturally sexist, which is just not true. And then there’s the culture of loyalty.

In the case of Chavez and the UFW, the culture of loyalty seemed especially pronounced. 

La Causa was everything for them, right? They also had sacrifice built into their ethos. They were working for a larger cause. Putting a man on a pedestal is not unusual, and that silences people. There’s a lot of disincentives to expose what happens inside the labor movement, and also it’s never the right time. That’s what we are always told. Because unions are under attack right now. They are always under attack. So it turns out that it’s never the right moment, and all of this is really weakening the institution of labor. 

How so? 

Because people don’t trust us as much when these exposés are out, it discourages women from working inside the labor movement, and it fractures relationships inside the movement. The norms that it creates are not healthy and they don’t inspire creativity.

The AFL-CIO is now led by a woman, as is the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Has that made a difference in addressing sexism and sexual harassment?

The answer is it depends on the woman. It does make a difference to have women’s voices at the table. But that alone isn’t going to change anything. Even though half of workers are women and nearly half of union members are women, the internal structures of unions give the power to the executive committees, which are mostly men, and they send these issues up to the women’s committee. And women’s committees are poorly resourced. They have no power. If we want an actual change, the executive committees should be the women’s committee.

What concrete steps can labor take to combat sexual harassment and abuse?

Unions have to release anyone inside the movement that has signed a nondisclosure agreement [a legally binding contract that prohibits the disclosure of sensitive information]. Then, let’s have an accounting of how deep this problem goes. Bring in the survivors to craft mechanisms for stopping sexual harassment and abuse. They know what went wrong. 

We have to have reporting mechanisms that encourage people to come forward that are not going to end necessarily in punishment, and so that people are not going to be ostracized if they report. In my book, I recommend taking a look at restorative justice practices. 

What would restorative justice look like in these cases?

It centers the people who are harmed and it lets them have a voice in how to remedy whatever has happened. In the case of sexual harassment, it brings the survivor and her community together. The person accused has to take responsibility for the harm that they have caused and they work together toward a resolution. Most women who are sexually harassed are not interested in filing complaints. They want the harassment to stop. And restorative practices are a way to absolutely accomplish that. I’ve seen people who had been accused of harassment take responsibility for their actions and change.

Do you think these revelations about Chavez will bring the labor movement to a reckoning on sexual harassment and abuse?

I really thought that there was going to be change after the MeToo movement. There is a blueprint on how to do it. The janitors union is a perfect example of what unions need to do to actually respond to this issue in a way that uses all of the tools in the union toolbox: legislation, internal culture, work, internal education, coalition building, addressing the role of men within this issue. We know what to do; it’s just a question of how much pressure is there going to be to actually do this? 

[In her 2025 book, Avendaño writes that even before MeToo, the Service Employees International Union – United Service Workers West, which represents janitors in California, embarked on a wide-ranging campaign to fight sexual abuse and harassment on the job and within the union. (Disclosure: Service Employees International Union is a financial supporter of Capital & Main.) The union backed state legislation that now requires employers to provide sexual harassment training to employees and contractors. It launched a peer-to-peer community education program that empowers women members to confront sexism at home and on the job and, in Avendaño’s telling, reformed what had been a male-dominated internal union culture.]

What can unions do to show solidarity and support for the survivors — in the UFW and more broadly?

Make sure that the harassment stops. Have systems in place so that the survivors can feel safe when they’ve been harassed. They report — it stops. That doesn’t really happen right now. Don’t question their credibility. I’m not saying that women who report harassment have to be believed 100% of the time, because, clearly, human beings have ulterior motives, but believing the survivor means that you give them the benefit of the doubt. You don’t immediately ask the question, you know, the classic, what were you wearing? You still have to give the person who was accused a chance to explain his behavior and to take accountability for it, but you make her feel comfortable enough to report it, and you help her believe that the process, whatever it is, is going to end in a just solution, that she won’t be punished for it, she won’t be ostracized, she won’t be shamed.

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