Dallas removes Cesar Chavez Day from official holiday list

DALLAS - Dallas has become the latest city to remove Cesar Chavez Day from its list of official holidays.

Dallas removes Cesar Chavez Day from holiday list

What we know:

Dallas City Council, through a unanimous vote, approved the removal of Cesar Chavez Day from its official list of holidays.

The city will now return to referring to the first Monday in September as Labor Day.

City council members also unanimously approved adding a new holiday named after Dolores Huerta, Chavez's co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association.

Dolores Huerta Day will now occur on April 10, Huerta's birthday.

What they're saying:

"I just want to take the opportunity to say what a privilege it is to recognize Dolores Huerta. She was a renowned American labor leader, civil rights activist and feminist whose work has advanced the rights of farmworkers, women and marginalized communities across the United States, and her work has definitely had an impact on my own life," Dallas City Councilwoman Laura Cadena said.

Dallas City Councilman Adam Bazaldua told FOX 4's Lori Brown he and other councilmembers are working to rename the city's Cesar Chavez Boulevard, which runs from Live Oak Street downtown to Al Lipscomb Way in the Cedars.

There is no word on who the street could be renamed after.

Cesar Chavez sexual abuse allegations

The backstory:

Leaders around the state have canceled celebrations and called for the removal of César Chavez's name from streets, buildings and schools following his sexual abuse allegations.

The changes come in the wake of a March New York Times investigation into Chavez that revealed he abused and groomed young girls who worked for the National Farm Workers Association.

Huerta said last month that Chavez sexually assaulted her twice in the 1970s.

"There's no reason to have a day honoring him, to have streets or whatever honoring him, because of his past conduct," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a Teamsters event last month.

Abbott said the state will find other ways to celebrate worker's rights in the wake of allegations against Chavez.

Who was Cesar Chavez?

The backstory:

According to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), Chávez is known as an icon for labor unions.

He and Delores Huerta helped establish the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), advocating for farmworkers to have a minimum wage, unemployment insurance, and a life insurance plan, among other things. 

Sonoma State University says Chavez also led a 340-mile march and a 25-day hunger strike in support of the boycott of California grapes due to workers' poor conditions and small pay. 

The NFWA later became the United Farm Workers (UFW), which Chavez and Huerta led for over 30 years.

The AFL-CIO and the Cesar Chavez Foundation have since put out separate statements regarding the allegations against Chavez, both in support of his alleged victims.