Union & Strike Support Organizations
Sergio López: It was the Workers
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 912, represented the workers at the canneries, but multiple union and support organizations were involved in the strike. These different players contributed to the victory in different ways, but they also had conflicts amongst themselves.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) or Teamsters Union had a fraught history with agricultural and canneries workers. They had driven out earlier organizing efforts by the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers (FTA) and the United Farm Workers using in strong arm tactics -- at times physically attacking organizers -- and working directly with employers to negotiate sweetheart deals. In Watsonville, where the workforce was primarily female, Latino and Spanish speaking, Local 912 was run by white men and union business was conducted in English, often times over drinks with the employer.
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) emerged in the 1970s as a socialist reform faction within the Teamsters. They targeted Teamster corruption and "business unionism" that colluded with employers and enforced hierarchies that excluded rank and file workers and benefited union officials. They saw worker frustration in the canning industry as an opportunity to intervene and challenge the Teamsters. They began working in Watsonville before the strike to challenge the leadership of Local 912. These activists worked with the Watsonville Strike Support Committee. Strategically they focused on empowering rank and file workers and solidarity among workers, such as cannery workers and farm workers.
Strikers' Committee
The Strikers' Committee emerged from a need for the strikers themselves to have a stronger voice in the process. The Committee was elected October 1985 at a meeting at Assumption Church in Pajaro attended only by strikers. The Committee held weekly meetings, communicated with strikers, developed their own strike fund, and collaborated and negotiated with the other groups involved in the strike.
The League of Revolutionary Struggle
Many Bay Area labor activists came out of the League of Revolutionary Struggle. The League emerged from African American, Asian American and Chicano movements and was influenced by organizations such as the Black Panthers, the Brown Berets, and the Red guards. Their goal was a strategic alliance between workers and oppressed peoples, and they emphasized not just class struggle but self-determination for minoritized communities and women. These activists worked with the Northern California Strike Support Committee. Strategically they focused on empowering workers through community organizing. They encouraged strikers to form a strikers' committee.
"Sergio interviewed by Peter Shapiro." 19 July 2009. larc.oh.shapiro_36, Labor Archives Research Center. This is a clip from a longer interview which can be found here: https://archive.org/details/csfst_006462 Links to an external site.