“Dramatic Story of the Watsonville Cannery Strike 1985-87” Discussion | SF

Submitted by the Event Organizer

It’s said that those who go through a strike never forget it. Peter Shapiro took part in a mid-1980s cannery strike as a community supporter, and never forgot it. Thirty years later, retired from a career in the U.S. Postal Service, he wrote a book about that remarkable strike—a rare union victory during an era of union-busting.

Song of the Stubborn One Thousand: The Watsonville Canning Strike, 1985-87 tells the story of an 18-month struggle by 1,000 frozen food workers in Watsonville, California, during which not a single striker crossed the picket line. Instead, a union workforce composed mostly of Mexican immigrant women forced the company owner into bankruptcy and waged a five-day wildcat strike against the new plant owner to keep their health benefits intact.

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