City of Phoenix votes to rename holiday and buildings, remove Cesar Chavez street signs

Record ID: 2369615

  • Title: City of Phoenix votes to rename holiday and buildings, remove Cesar Chavez street signs
  • Date: 25th March 2026
  • Summary: PHOENIX, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 25, 2026) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COMMEMORATIVE STREET SIGN HONORING CESAR CHAVEZ ON BASELINE ROAD IN PHOENIX PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL MEMBER FOR DISTRICT 5 BETTY GUARDADO (PRON: WARR-DAH-DOH) WALKING DOWN HALL AT PHOENIX CITY HALL OFFICE SIGN FOR PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL MEMBER FOR DISTRICT 5 BETTY GUARDADO (PRON: WARR-DAH-DOH) READING (English
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: cesar chavez city hall civil rights council farmworkers rename vote
  • Location: PHOENIX, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES
  • City: PHOENIX, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001742125032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Phoenix City Council voted on Wednesday (March 25) to rename city fixtures bearing the name of labor organizer Cesar Chavez in the wake of allegations that he sexually assaulted women and girls.
    The council voted unanimously to rename the city's Cesar Chavez Day holiday to Farmworkers Day.  Commemorative street signs for Chavez on the city's Baseline Road will also be taken down immediately.  Council also started the process to seek  public input on renaming other city entities that bear Chavez's name. 
    "This vote represents our values, represents who we are, represents what we want to do for everyone," said Phoenix City Councilwoman Betty Guardado. "We want everyone to feel safe in our city. We take a lot of pride on being able to lift everyone in our community."
    Guardado used to be a union leader and says she was shocked by the allegations against Chavez.
    "I'm able to look at this like this is about the workers. When you talk about a union, when you talk a about a movement, it's not made up by one person," Guardado said. "Cesar Chavez did not make the workers, the workers made him."
    Chavez rose to national prominence in the mid-1960s as a galvanizing force for better pay and working conditions for agricultural laborers across Central and Southern California.
    Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Chavez and fought alongside him to advance ​U.S. labor rights last week accused him of sexually assaulting her in the 1960s. The same day, the New York Times published the results of a multi-year investigation, detailing a larger pattern of sexual misconduct allegations against Chavez, who died in 1993 at the age of 66, including testimonies by women who said he molested and raped them when they were minors.
    Huerta said she had kept her own encounters secret, including having two children by Chavez, for fear it would hurt the labor movement.
    (Production by: Erica Stapleton)
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