History Blog: Union City Farm Labor Office

In the years after incorporation, Union City was still a rural area. Fremont was expanding with tract homes, but Union City still had a large section of land under cultivation. With these farms came the need for seasonal labor to work the field and harvest the crops. There were also jobs in the packing sheds, where the picked produce was packaged for market.

The State of California, Department of Employment set up a Farm Labor Office at 300 E. Street, next door to the Decoto Pharmacy. Local teens signed up at the office for working on the local farms. In 1963, 2,200 applications were sent into the office. There were a total of 2,500 jobs filled (some were placed in multiple jobs during the summer). By June, 1964, over 2,500 applications were accepted, and over 3,000 jobs were filled.

In January, 1965, the State Employment Office did some housecleaning and removed personnel from a number of State Farm Office's, including the one in Union City, where Tom Howard was removed. Most of the removals were for falsifying records. There were also charges filed against a number of those removed. Howard appealed his firing, and just before his appeal, the State came to an agreement with Howard. The State dropped the charges, and Howard dropped his appeal.

Later that year, the office on E Street, was moved to a building at 1150 Whipple Road, the former Fuller Glass Building. It is unclear when the local Farm Labor Office closed. In 1967, the City of Union City leased a building with the address of 1154 Whipple Road for City Hall, which is probably the same building that the Farm Labor Office was in.