<P> In March 1962 at the Community Service Organization convention, Chávez proposed a pilot project for organizing farm workers which was rejected by the organization's members . Chávez's reaction to this led him to resign from the organization in order to pursue his goal of creating a farm workers union which would later come to be known as the National Farm Workers Association . </P> <P> By 1965 the National Farm Workers Association had acquired twelve hundred members through Chávez's person - to - person recruitment efforts which he learned from Fred Ross just a decade earlier . Out of those twelve hundred, only about two hundred paid dues . Also in 1962, Richard Chavez, the brother of César Chávez, designed the black Aztec eagle insignia that would become the symbol of the NFW and the UFW . César Chávez chose the red and black colors used by the organization . </P> <P> Although still in its infant stages, the organization lent its support to a strike by workers in the rose industry in 1965 . This initial protest by the young organization resulted in a failed attempt to strike against the rose industry . That same year the farm workers who worked in the Delano fields of California wanted to strike against the growers in response to the grower's refusal to raise wages from $1.20 to $1.40 an hour, and they sought out Chávez and the National Farm Workers Association for support . The Delano agricultural workers were mostly Filipino workers affiliated with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, a charter of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations . The unification of these two organizations, in an attempt to boycott table grapes which were grown in the Delano fields, resulted in the creation of the United Farm Workers of America . The AFL - CIO chartered the United Farm Workers, officially combining the AWOC and the NFWA, in August 1966 . </P> <P> In the early history of American agriculture, farm workers experienced many failed attempts to organize agricultural laborers . In 1903, Japanese and Mexican farm workers attempted to come together to fight for better wages and better working conditions . This attempt to organize agricultural laborers was ignored and disbanded when organizations, such as the American Federation of Labor, neglected to support their efforts, often withholding assistance on the basis of race . </P>

When did the united farm workers union start