>> i am director an organizer for the cesar chavez holiday committee. this is the cesar chavez breakfast, parade, and festival. with all your help, this is our 12th annual year for the parade. the funds from the breakfast go to cover the cost of the parade. thank you for being here and the supporting the cesar chavez holiday event. with me is our and see, joaquin forest. >> good morning, everyone. the morning, everyone. [applause] thank you for being here this morning. thank you for celebrating the life and legacy of cesar chavez.

it was an honor to be here last year and hear my father speak as a keynote speaker. it was because of cesar chavez that both my father and myself decided to commit ourselves to a life of public service because of a man who sacrificed so, so much for working people across this state and across this country. so please, please give it up for cesar chavez. [applause] as she said, i am very proud representative of the mayor's office. i would like to bring up now to provide our prayer deakin alvarez -- deacon alvarez. >> how many years do you go back with cesar chavez? 66 years. since 1966, so 49 years. thank you very much.

he is also from san jose. he is part of the foundation. thank you for being here. [applause] >> thank you. can you hear me now? >> is that better? ok. well, once again, it is an honor to be here. york keynote speaker and i were just in washington, d.c., with the president of the united farm workers and delores and

secretary sillies -- solis. at the ceremony, the labor department auditorium was named after cesar chavez. i was honored to do the benediction, and i want to share with you part of the prayer that was given at that celebration. so let us bow our heads and ask for god's blessing on -- on this momentous occasion where we come again, once again, to recommit ourselves to the farm workers struggle. almighty god of life and peace,

you inspire your servant cesar chavez, taking a matter of the misery and exploitation that farmers experienced in the fields. [speaks foreign language] he came out of the body out of san jose to be a prophetic witness for justice and peace in the field of the nation. cesar chavez was blessed to have been instructed by your servant, a father that donald macdonald, on the social teachings of the church on the rights of farm workers to organize as a union, and he helped him organize the community service organization. cesar was blessed to have been mentored by fred ross in the spirit an example of st. paul. he was blessed at the example of mahatma gandhi and dr. martin luther king on the ways of

nonviolence. cesar was blessed to have it inside [speaks foreign language] and the courageous farmworker women that worked in the fields went on strike, volunteered on boycotts across the nation, and helped to organize the union. the cry for freedom in the mexican revolution was given it new significance during the organizing campaign of the united farm workers in arizona, and cesar fasted against an unjust law. when it delors and declared it in arizona, and in america, -- [speaking foreign language] we have gathered here today in this union hall to pay tribute

and to recommit ourselves. bless our sisters, secretary of labor, hilda solis, protector and guide her as we gathered daily affairs from her and the nation. was the leader of the california labor movement'. bless president obama, protect him as he leads the nation through these harsh economic times, and defend the historic health reform law that brought the quality to the uninsured. lord, hear the cry of the farm workers that are dying in the fields from sun heat, from poisonous pesticides, from injuries, from lack of health insurance, unemployment insurance, from a pension, from legalization in citizenship. bless the leadership of the united farmer is led by our brother, arturo rodriguez. give your embrace in the nonviolent struggle of the farm

worker movement. plus the union that has won reforms of the agricultural labor relations act of 1935 in california, that brought an end to the use of a poison that -- poisonous pesticides. plus the farmworkers' children that are being exploited in the fields and who are not being educated by our schools. help us to liberate them from this burden, and bless the prophetic voice is that take action to end this exploitation. lord, we are gathered here to petition for prayers from our spiritual guides, patron of las americas, and pray for us. st. francis of assisi, pray for us. pray for us. martyrs of the union, pray for us. brother cesar chavez, pray for us. brother larry, pray for us. brother pete, pray for us.

sister jessica, pray for us. brother matt, pray for us. c brother. havez, pray for us. brother are johnson, pray for us. almighty god, we ask that you continue to protect us and shelter as in the shadow of your weans. we are blessed at the farm working eagle, our spiritual guide, helps us to see the working in the fields with the hands of suffering farmworkers that feed the nation. it will apply for generations to come, and there will be truly a national union of farm workers that cesar, delors, and the pioneers organize. almighty god, bless us this morning. amen. si se puede. [applause]

>> thank you, sal. it is always an honor for me to be able to recognize someone whose career and a service to our city goes without saying. but before i introduce him, and want to make sure that we recognize some of our elected officials in the audience tonight. supervisor cohen, supervisor scott wiener, supervisor david chiu. thank you for being here. supervisor avalos, supervisor olague, thank you for being here. ourb reporter ill king, thank you for being here. -- our reporter, bill king, thank you for being here. senator leno. and our assembly member, thank you for being here.

our district attorney, george gascón, thank you for being here today. and we all -- we always forget as some of these breakfasts our imports and school board members. kim, thank you for being here in the u.s. are proud to introduce our next speaker, if i could have your attention for one moment -- thank you for being here. i am proud to introduce our next speaker. i am very proud to introduce the mayor of our great city who spent his entire life organizing for tenant rights, human rights, making sure our streets were clean, making sure our city has been run effectively, and making sure now, today, as your elected mayor, that he is leading our city and leading our communities into the future. so please welcome me in recognizing to the podium your mayor, my boss, mayor ed lee.

[applause] >> good morning, good morning. happy cesar chavez breakfast day. i want to give a shout out -- i believe we have another major in the room, a guest here, mayor schroeder from martinez. thank you. [applause] i am here this morning, of course, to join all of you, and i see so many, not only of our elected and appointed officials here, but also many of our representatives from labor as well. and if anything that we all remember about cesar chavez is the honor that he has earned, that he educated us so much about the labor movement, not only in the bay area, not only in the valley, but throughout the whole country. and, yes, he is right, i was

indicted by martin luther king and cesar chavez throughout my life, throughout my career -- i was guided by martin luther king and cesar chavez throughout my life and career. i go to every neighborhood and go to meetings, make sure i talk to everybody, collaborate with everyone, getting that input, and then making sure that all the levels of government can work the best we can. guess what -- i think we have a better government for its because of the spirit and the guidance of that cesar chavez had given us, the things that he did in that we observed, that we participated in. we have internalized that and made our government better. that is why we have programs that reflect the needs of our community. you look around, all the things we do in san francisco -- it is such a rich place.

it is a place that gives all of us busy. keeps the members of our board of supervisors and our tax collector and our treasurer, everybody is busy because the richness of our city demands that we have programs that touch in include every part of our community. so it should not surprise you, we're working hard every day to make sure our sureid car -- our municipal id car reaches out to all our immigrants in the city. we want to reach to every part of the city. to make sure that communities, like the latino and african- american community, do not get victimized by all this cash and check-cashing places that when you needed the revenues and you cannot get the revenues immediately, that we have programs to meet that. we are even looking at the way our financial institutions are acting and working with harris to make sure that the foreclosure settlement gets

right down to the house is in the mission and bernal heights. we need to do that. [applause] we have worked really, really hard to make sure that as we welcome in the data you see about the economy improving, this should never be the economy for it just a small group of people in business. we make sure that that economy is strong for everyone, and that is why i have worked really hard with supervisor avalos and so many others to make sure our local hire is successful. it reaches into every community, and that makes lines of communication, training of the skill sets for the future of san francisco. that local hire is no longer read about construction. while we have created the foundation in construction with our brothers and sisters and the labor unions working with us,

we're going to take the idea and the philosophy of local hire and meet it with every level of business in san francisco. every level. [applause] so it should not surprise you that we are going to create those employment training programs linked to mission, language -- mission language vocational school right here. as part of the mission, part of san francisco. [applause] so that the most successful technology companies -- you know the names, twitter, zynga, salesforce, that they had a workforce that also looks like all of us to make sure generations -- because guess what? if the work with us, there will be that much more successful. they are successful now, but there will be even more successful when the cultural values and diversity reflected -- reflect it in the products produced. then they will truly become the international companies they

want to be. you cannot be international without working right here in the heart of the mission, in the heart of our city. with that spirit, with the direction we're heading in, with all the programs we have, i want to thank the breakfast committee for your sacrifice, for the work that you do to include all of us, from our labor, business owners, department heads, fire department representatives -- all of us are recommitted every year we come together. we know what we have to do. we spend a lot of time doing it. and guess what, i think this city is 10 times richer than any other city because we worked so well together. thank you for your commitment. thank you for celebrating with us. [applause] >> bank you, mr. mayor. is everyone enjoying the food?

thank you rosario, for giving us this room today. thank you to all of us are and to all of the staffs serving us so patiently and diligently to day. >> i want to make sure we recognize the other level of leadership. i want to recognize the commissioners. if i forget anybody, please do not be hesitant to nudge me. commissioner from building instruct -- inspections, thank you for being here. another member from the brooklyn unified school district, thank you for being here. commissioner ortiz-cartajena, pedro jesus, thank you for

being here today. [applause] we are lucky this morning to have a special key note speaker that will be speaking to us in a few moments. to introduce that person, i want to have join me at the podium one of the great leaders of our brothers and sisters in the room who is no stranger to any of you. he is the current secretary- treasurers of the california labor federation, afl-cio. of like to introduce -- i would like to introduce art polaski. thank you very much for being with us today. [applause] >> thank you. i want to acknowledge that this

is the first time walter johnson -- that must have been henny who said that. thank you. is that better? i would like for all bus to acknowledge the back that walter johnson is not with as for the first time in the history of this breakfast. senator chave -- cesar chavez would have said that titles do not matter. he has a lot of titles but does not live on them. eliseo medina joined his family at the delano grape strike at

the age of 19. at the age of 20, he was an organizer in the difficult and sometimes violent campaign, as an organizer under cesar chavez. he was trained by both cesar and fred ross, sr. he became an organizer for the campaign in chicago. he worked with the sugar cane workers of florida in the campaign against the slave like conditions of the workers in florida. since then, he has not stopped being an organizer. an organizer for all working people in the workplace and a

fighter for all working people for social and economic justice. he also has been a monumental leader in the fight over the last two decades for immigration reform. a monumental national leader for immigration reform. in california, he has been the primary leader for how we look at building a voter outreach program to all latino voters, not just union members, in terms of voter registration, contact, and get out the vote. he is a union organizer par ex cellance and a community organizer like no other. he is a primary leader in california and across the nation in terms of how we fight for immigrant rights and build

the latino community with support for reaching out to get latino voters registered and voting. he has fought for economic justice for workers in mexico as well. he has been a mentor for many of us in this room and a leader for both community and labor since he was 19 years old. that was the first time he was on a picket line with cesar chavez. please give a warm welcome to the keynote speaker, one of the finest leaders anyone could ever have, whether in the latino committee, the union committee, or the community itself. please give a warm welcome to eliseo medina also happens to be the secretary-treasurer of the afl-cio. [applause]

>> thank you. [applause] that was very nice, if little embarrassing. thank you so much. art and i have been friends and colleagues in the battle for social justice for many years. i do not know how your hair stays the same color while mine gets white. thank you, art. your truly one of the great labor leaders of our time. i appreciate your very generous introduction. brothers and sisters, it is a great pleasure for me to join you this morning, to join mayor

lee, all of my brothers and sisters, trade unionists, officials, for remembering one of the great leaders of our time. i want to thank and congratulate eva for organizing this event. [applause] 12 years she has been doing this. let me just say that i have been too many cesar chavez events around the country. this is certainly one of the premier events i have never been to. thank you and congratulations. i also want to recognize eva

martinez. [applause] father-son shows, -- father sanchez and our own olga from the local union. [applause] let me say that we are so proud of olga. she has been in the trenches fighting so that janitors in san francisco are treated as first class citizens, to make sure they are honored and respected for the work that they do. thank you for your leadership for the local and the international union.

we are proud of you. [applause] brothers and sisters, let me just say we're carrying on the legacy of cesar chavez. cesar chavez was a man and believed in the american dream region who believed in the american dream. cesar chavez was a man who believed that all working people deserve recognition and appreciation for their contributions they make to our society. cesar chavez was a very humble man, which is what i always loved about him. he was not someone who would constantly call attention to himself. i remember the first time i met cesar chavez. i was an immigrant to this

country. when i came to this country, they said to raise my right hand and promise i will obey every law and regulation in this country. if you do not, you could get deported about -- back. when i went to work in the fields full time at the age of 15 making 80 cents an hour, i work in fields where there was no cold drinking water. we just had a can that sat out in the sun all day and tasted more like soup than water. there were no toilets in the field. if you needed to go to the bathroom, you had to go hide behind a tree or underneath the grapevines. if you were working somewhere where you did not have that edge

recover, especially if you are a woman, other women have to stand around you and form a barrier to preserve your dignity. if we complained about the working conditions, we were told if we did not like it, we could quit. there was somebody else that could take our job. we were fired more times than i can remember for asking for our wages to be raised, but i thought that was the way it was in america. i thought that if you complained, you would be breaking your oath that you made when you came to this country. we on this something was wrong, we just did not know what we could do about it. until one day i picked up a copy of the newspaper that translate

to "ill bred," a not to child -- naughty child, someone who does not behave themselves. i read about how the farm workers association and its director, cesar chavez, had taken a labor contract before the labor commissioner. they had gotten him fined for not paying workers their wages. to me, this was unheard of, that mexican workers could stand up, fight, and win. not only did they beat the labor contractor, this contractor happened to be the largest labor contractor in the delano area. he also happened to be white.