LEADING trade unionist Dolores Huerta revealed she was among women and girls who say they were sexually abused by United Farm Workers Union leader Cesar Chavez.

In a statement released Wednesday, Ms Huerta said she stayed silent for 60 years out of concern that her words would hurt the farmworker movement.

Ms Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chavez, one where she was “manipulated and pressured” and another where she was “forced against my will.”

“I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work. The formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights and I wasn’t going to let Cesar or anyone else get in the way,” she said.

Ms Huerta, an iconic union leader in her own right, joined Chavez in 1962 to co-found the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers of America.

The New York Times first reported on Wednesday that it found Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement.

Ms Huerta, too, revealed to the newspaper that she was a victim of the abuse in her 30s.

Ms Huerta later said both sexual encounters with Chavez led to pregnancies, which she kept secret, and that she arranged for the children to be raised by other families.

Ms Huerta said she did not know that Chavez hurt other women and condemned his actions but emphasised that the farmworker movement is bigger than one person.

“Cesar’s actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people,” Ms Huerta said in her statement.

Chavez’s family said in a statement that they are devastated by the news and “wish peace and healing to the survivors and commend their courage to come forward.”