Gilbert Padilla

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Gilbert Padilla (born December 1927) is an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, Padilla co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which eventually merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) to become the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). In his position as Chavez's right-hand man, he served as vice president of the NWFA and then secretary-treasurer in the UFW. He helped to build the UFW through organizing union membership drives, boycotts, and strikes. In 1965, Padilla was the center of the Tulare labor camps rent strike. He and Jim Drake challenged the California state government for a sudden rent hike in labor camps where the buildings were long past their demolition date; it helped garner attention for the Delano grape strike later in the year.

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