Correspondence: Memorandum on Permanent Replacement Workers

A memo sent from Larry Vawter to all employees at the Watsonville Canning and Frozen Food Co. that cites a ruling on August 25, 1986 by Howard Sachs, U.S. District Judge in a case regarding striking TWA flight attendants, quoting that “all permanent employees working during an economic strike are safe from displacement.”  The memo interprets the ruling as preventing striking attendants from replacing newly hired attendants or employees that refused to join the strike.

Questions

  • What effect might this ruling have on the cannery workers on strike? On workers more broadly?
  • How might this memo have led to the strikers’ increased focus on scabs? 
  • What tactics might the strikers use to dissuade community members from scabbing?

Text version of correspondence below Download Text version of correspondence below

Memo re Permanent Replacement Workers.jpg

Memorandum re Permanent Replacement Workers. September 3, 1986. Frank Bardacke Watsonville Canneries Strike Records, larc.ms.0093, Labor Archives & Research Center, San Francisco State University.