UFW Trademark Licensing

In May 1972, Cesar Chavez undertook a 24-day fast in Phoenix after Arizona enacted a grower-backed law making it impossible for farm workers to organize. Bedridden from fasting, Cesar, along with the United Farm Workers’ Dolores Huerta, were being briefed about Arizona politics by some Latino labor and political leaders who explained the industry was so powerful it couldn’t be beaten. They kept saying “No se puede!” “No se puede!” (“No, it can’t be done”). Dolores Huerta responded emphatically with “Sí, se puede!” (“Yes, it can be done!”). In fact, farm workers successfully organized with the UFW in many agricultural regions across the United States. The inspirational Si Se Puede! Mark is proudly displayed where the UFW and the Latino and Hispanic communities are active and wherever people anywhere stand up nonviolently for their rights. It is still chanted at UFW rallies and gatherings to this day. The Si Se Puede! Mark has become acclaimed nationally and internationally as a symbol of all that the UFW stands for.

The UFW’s Black Eagle Mark also symbolizes the extensive goodwill and recognition built up by the UFW in the broader Latino and Hispanic communities. In 1962 Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and others founded the National Farm Workers Association, later to become the United Farm Workers. That same year Richard Chavez designed the UFW Eagle. Cesar told the story of the birth of the eagle. Richard designed the flag, finally sketching it on a piece of brown wrapping paper. He squared off the wing edges so that the eagle would be easier for union members to draw and sew on handmade red flags that would offer courage to farm workers as their own powerful symbol. Cesar said, “A symbol is an important thing. That is why we chose an Aztec eagle. It gives pride…When people see it, they know it means dignity.” Since then, the UFW Eagle Mark has become a highly recognizable icon during union organizing, strikes, boycotts, legislative and political campaigns.

She Se Puede is the derivative mark of Si Se Puede adopted by the UFW during the COVID-19 global pandemic and as the fight for social justice overtook the nation. While wildfires ravaged millions of acres across the West and citizens of the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States witnessed one of the largest social movements in history, Black Lives Matter, that highlighted the long road to equality our nation faces.

She Se Puede is adopted during this time to celebrate the vital contributions of the Latina community in forging social, economic, and political change in the United States. Latinx women face added challenges in the fight for social justice by combating violence, gender discrimination, underrepresentation, and economic discrimination while being undeniably essential to the farm worker and broader Latinx community.

The United Farm Workers name is a registered trademark.  Originally founded as the National Farm Workers Association and later renamed United Farm Workers, the UFW name is widely recognized and symbolizes the central role of the UFW in advocating for farmworker rights, including the passage of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (“ALRB”), legislation that gives California farmworkers right to organize and fight for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. 

For more information on the UFW’s trademarks, licensing, and infringement reporting, please visit the UFW’s FAQ page.