Mariano Laya Armington

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Mariano Laya Armington (1908 — 1994) was a Filipino community and labor leader.

[edit] History

Mariano, with Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong, Andy Imutan, Pete Velasco and others helped begin the Delano grape strike in Delano, California in 1965. The strike began for Mariano and his crew of workers after he spoke with the ranch owner, George Lucas, making a demand for a 10 cent per hour raise to $1.10. Mariano indicated that the raise was needed or that a strike could begin, to which Lucas responded, "You Filipinos will come crawling back on your hands and knees".

The strike was started by the Agicultural Worker's Organizing Committee (AWOC) under leadership of many Filipino leaders. Mariano later continued organizing farm workers with Phillip Vera Cruz, first under the NFWA, and under the UFW Union led by Cesar Chavez. Carlos Bulosan, a Filipino-American author and labor activist, worked in the vineyards for a time under Mariano near Delano in the central San Joaguin valley of California.

Mariano served as worshipful master in the Filipino Masonic Lodge in Delano, a lodge within the Grand Oriente Filipino. A past president of the Filipino Community of Delano, he was the primary force in arranging for use of the Filipino Community Hall in Delano as the "strike hall" for the UFW. He helped found the Filipino American Political Association and, on invitation, attended the inauguration of Philippine president Diosdado Macapagal.