Finding Aid to the Peter Shapiro Watsonville Canneries Strike Interviews
Finding aid prepared by Leah Sylva
Labor Archives and Research Center
2022
San Francisco State University
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco 94132-1722
Business Number: (415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu
Title: Peter Shapiro Watsonville Canneries Strike Interviews
Date (inclusive): 2009-2014
Creator:
Shapiro, Peter
Extent:
38 compact disc
(1 box)
Collection number: larc.oh.shapiro
Accession number: 2016/009
Repository:
Labor Archives and Research Center
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA 94132-1722
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu
Abstract: Consists of 21 interviews with members of the Watsonville community including striking workers, representatives from supporting
organization, and the corporations involved in the strike.
Physical Location: Collection is available onsite.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Labor Archives and Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Peter Shapiro Watsonville Canneries Strike Interviews, larc.oh.shapiro, Labor Archives and Research
Center, San Francisco State University.
Related Materials
See the Frank Bardacke Watsonville Canneries Strike Records for more information on the Canneries Strike including a chronology
of events.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Peter Shapiro in 2016, accession number 2016/009.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically.
Biographical / Historical
The Watsonville Cannery Strike took place in Watsonville, a town of nearly 30,000 located in the heart of the agricultural
Salinas Valley,home to numerous canneries that process the majority of frozen food products sold in the United States. In
September 1985, nearly half of the town's 4,000 cannery workers went out on strike to protest wage cutbacks. In February 1986,
R. Shaw Frozen Foods reached a settlement with their 900 employees that included a 17% pay cut. It wasn't until a year later
that workers at Watsonville Canning returned to work. The bitter 18-month strike can serve as a case study of the remarkable
challenges facing agribusiness workers, whose livelihoods are affected as much by local politics as by the international economy.
These recordings provide unique first person accounts about how the strikers and the Watsonville community came together and
maintained solidarity for such a long duration, and the community organizations and unions that came together to support them.
Scope and Contents
Consists of 21 interviews with members of the Watsonville community including striking workers, representatives from supporting
organization, and the corporations involved in the strike.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Cannery workers -- California -- Watsonville.
Cannery workers -- Labor unions.
Strikes and lockouts -- Agricultural laborers -- California -- Watsonville.
Strikes and lockouts -- Agricultural processing industries -- California -- Watsonville.
Watsonville (Calif.)
Women blue collar workers
Bardacke, Frank
2010, 2014
Betancourt, Gloria
2010, undated
Carrisoza, Fidelia
2010, 2014
Lopez, Sergio
2009, 2010, 2014
