Hunger Strike

After eighteen months on strike, Norcal Frozen Foods, formerly the Watsonville Canning and Frozen Food Co., and the teamsters negotiated a contract with limited benefits, requiring those previously employed at the cannery to work 1,400 hours in order to qualify again for medical benefits, and offering limited medical benefits for seasonal workers. The strikers held out, voting to wait a week and engaging in a hunger strike in front of the cannery.

The newspaper article below from the Register Pajaronian describes the reasons for the hunger strike and who is participating.

The letter below from the hunger strikers to their supporters describes their reasons for calling a hunger strike and the help they need from supporters.

Questions

How would declaring a hunger strike potentially help the strikers' cause? Can you think of other uses of hunger strikes in recent history? How have they been effective or not?

"Women Vow to Fast Until Strike End"

Text of article below (PDF) Download Text of article below (PDF)

5 female hunger strikers on porch. See PDF above for text

Dear Supporters

Text version of the flyer below (PDF) Download Text version of the flyer below (PDF)

Letter from hunger strikers to supporters explaining 4 actions critical to winning their demands

Chavarria, Jesse. "Women Vow to Fast Until Strike Ends." Register Pajaronian, vol. 120 no. 3, 7 Mar. 1987, pg. 15.

Note: The Register Pajaronian is available online through the Watsonville Public Library Links to an external site..

“Dear Supporters.” Frank Bardacke Watsonville Canneries Strike Records, folder 1-015. Labor Archives & Research Center, San Francisco State University.