Phoenix is preparing to strip César Chávez’s name from city streets, buildings and its annual March holiday following reports of sexual abuse by the late labor leader — including allegations involving minors — in what would be one of the most sweeping municipal responses yet to the revelations that have shaken his legacy.
Mayor Kate Gallego and two council members have asked the city manager to place the measure on the March 25th council agenda. If approved, the city’s March 31st paid municipal holiday would be rechristened Farmworkers Day — preserving the spirit of the occasion while severing its tie to Chávez personally. City staff would simultaneously begin the process of renaming all facilities bearing his name and removing street signs honoring him, including the prominent Cesar Chávez Plaza in front of City Hall.
Gallego did not mince words in her statement, calling what has emerged about Chávez’s conduct shocking and saying the city has an obligation to honor the dignity of survivors. The allegations were first reported by The New York Times and have since been publicly acknowledged by both the César Chávez Foundation and the United Farm Workers of America.
Phoenix is not acting alone. Governor Katie Hobbs announced earlier this week that her office would forgo recognizing César Chávez Day this year. Tempe has already voted to rename its March 31st holiday, and El Mirage rebranded its own observance as the Inaugural El Mirage Day of Service.
The developments represent a complicated and painful reckoning with a figure whose public contributions were genuinely transformative. Born in Yuma and raised in a Mexican-American farmworking family, Chávez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association alongside Dolores Huerta in 1962 — an organization that eventually became the United Farm Workers of America. Through hunger strikes, a national grape boycott and relentless organizing, he helped secure better wages and working conditions for some of the country’s most vulnerable laborers. He died in 1993 at the age of 66 in San Luis, Arizona. California was the first state to mark his March 31st birthday as a commemorative day, and in 2014 President Barack Obama declared it a national observance.
The council vote is scheduled for March 25th.
