Northern California Strike Support Committee

Below is an excerpt from the radio show Labor on the Line that aired on March 26, 1986.  The show reports on the Watsonville canneries strike and includes an interview with Shiree Teng of the Northern California Strike Support Committee.  Teng worked in labor organizing with the League of Revolutionary Struggle and headed the Northern California Strike Support Committee.  She moved to Watsonville to support the strike and joined cannery workers when they staged a hunger strike in the final days of the strike.  Teng continues to work as an activist and organizer in Oakland. She was inspired by the #MeToo movement to speak out about sexual abuse by another League member and activist during the strike, Oscar Ríos. 

La Unidad / Unity was the publication of the League of Revolutionary Struggle.  In their October 1985 issue, in the second month of the strike, they feature interviews with strikers Armando Morales, brother of Gloria Betancourt; Chavelo Moreno, a member of the Strikers' Committee, and Guillermina Ramírez, who returned to school and became a social worker after the strike. The article and interviews are in Spanish.  The strikers are descirbed as "luchando no sólo por sí mismas y sus familias sino por todo obrero y la Raza en general."  Open the PDF Download PDF to read the full 7 pages of the article.

Questions

  • Why is the show entitled "Pickets Stand Firm in Defense of Minority Rights"?  
  • Why does Teng believe cannery work in Watsonville resembles garment work in Chinatown San Francisco?
  • What questions does the Unidad reporter ask the strike leaders?

Labor on the Line Radio Show:  “Pickets Stand Firm in Defense of Minority Rights”

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Text for newpaper below (PDF 7 pages) Download Text for newpaper below (PDF 7 pages)

October 25, 1985 issue of La Unidad, a newspaper published by the League of Revolutionary Struggle, featuring the "Huelgistas en Watsonville."

“Pickets Stand Firm in Defense of Minority Rights.” Labor on the Line, 26 Mar. 1986. Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.

"Huelgistas en Watsonville." La Unidad, 25 Oct. 1985. Strike Binders, Agricultural Workers' History Center, Watsonville Public Library.