Song of the Stubborn One Thousand | author Peter Shapiro on the Watsonville Canneries Strike

Part of the program series for the Labor Archives’ ongoing exhibition The Stubborn 1,000: The Watsonville Canneries Strike

Peter Shapiro, a labor journalist and author of Song of the Stubborn One Thousand, will speak about the story of the 18-month strike.

In September 1985, nearly half of the Watsonville's 4,000 cannery workers went out on a strike to protest reductions in wages and benefits. They went up against the cannery owners, the powerful agribusiness machine, local police, and even their own union. The victorious strike was led predominantly by Mexican and Mexican-American women, who gained organizing and leadership skills and a voice in the future of their community.