Background
The Monterey Fish Processors Association was established in August 1940 during labor disputes with local fishermen, represented
by the Seine and Line Union, and cannery workers, represented by the Cannery Workers Union of the Pacific. All the cannery
operators joined the Association. After a protracted strike that extended two and half months into the fishing season, an
agreement was reached with the cannery workers. The Association remained the representative organization for the cannery owners
through the last boom years and the decline in the sardine fishing industry. It cooperated with national and regional organizations
on matters such as water standards, lease agreements, and oceanographic research during the mid- to late 1940s. George Clemens,
later a mayor of Monterey, served as the Associationʼs executive secretary from its inception until 1950.