Timeline
| 1982 July | Watsonville Canning wins contract with 40-cent wage advantage over other processors. Line workers' pay drops from $7.75 to $6.66 an hour. |
| 1985 July | Richard A. Shaw Co. implements wage cut to achieve parity with Watsonville Canning. The latter cuts wages another 30 percent. |
| 1985 September | Strike begins at Watsonville Canning, Shaw, J.J. Crosetti and other canneries. Watsonville Strike Support Committee forms. Court injunction limits the number of pickets allowed at each gate to four. |
| 1985 October | 2,000 march through Watsonville in support of strikers. Arsonists hit canneries. |
| 1985 December | Richard King, local union leader for 33 years, retires and is replaced by Sergio Lopez. |
| 1986 February | Shaw strikers vote 2-1 to accept 17 percent wage cuts and return to work. |
| 1986 June | The Rev. Jesse Jackson focuses national attention on Watsonville when he attends strike rally. |
| 1986 July | Union members at J.J. Crosetti accept wage cuts to match Shaw, continuing the trend that establishes $5.85 an hour as the new industry standard. |
| 1986 August | Workers vote to certify the union, extending union representation and beating back Watsonville Canning's plan to decertify the union on the one year anniversary of the strike. |
| 1986 September | The State Department of Food and Agriculture begins investigation into Watsonville Canning's financial stability and the company's refusal to pay growers for products already delivered. |
| 1986 October | Wells Fargo Bank acquires a lien against all assets of Watsonville Canning through deeds of trust. |
| 1987 February | Norcal, a group of growers, takes over Watsonville Canning. Union and new owners meet. |
| 1987 March | Strikers at first reject union-backed Norcal offer because of cut-backs in health insurance coverage. A number of strikers stage a hunger strike and pilgrimage to demonstrate their resolve. A contract is finally signed with wages at $5.85 an hour, restoration of health benefits, and slightly reduced pension terms. |
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This timeline is taken from an article that appeared in the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian (4 March 1987) Download Watsonville Register-Pajaronian (4 March 1987) and other materials from the Status Reports & Chronology Links to an external site. series folder in the Frank Bardacke Watsonville Canneries Strike Records, 1984-1989 Links to an external site.