Union wins at New York farms raise hopes for once-powerful UFW

Five hundred farmworkers have unionized - the biggest success in years for the union co-founded by Cesar Chavez

For decades, the United Farm Workers - a powerhouse under American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez in the 1970s - has declined in size and prominence, its membership falling from 60,000 to around 6,000. Now, after years of scant success in organizing, the UFW has something big to boast about: it has unionized 500 workers at five farms in New York state.

It's the union's biggest organizing success in years, and the first time the California-based union has organized in the north-east. The New York victories will increase the union's membership by 8%, with some labor experts saying these successes show new promise and energy in the long-languishing UFW.