00:00:01.570 - 00:00:19.739

OK, go ahead. I just wanted to make sure we were still recording. Um, I don't trust this. So are you making your nuts there. I am, but you're, you're so much more. You say it better than I can write it because I I guess I just

00:00:19.739 - 00:00:36.599

so sad and and happy because we get all together. Well, I mean I. I was so impressed by this when it was happening and I remember thinking, well, somebody really needs to write a book about this. 25 years later I retired from the post office and

00:00:36.599 - 00:00:50.810

I thought, what am I gonna do with my life? Well, I can write that book, you know, nobody else has done it yet, so, um, but I was, you know. I was a I, I did some labor reporting there and I wrote about other strikes that

00:00:50.810 - 00:01:14.930

got beat the Hormel remember when the Hormel people came to Watsonville Hormel from from from the the meatpackers, the striking meat packers from the Hormel plant. What is that um lane. Oh yeah yeah they were on strike and they, they marched from Lydia was talking about

00:01:14.930 - 00:01:38.819

that this morning, you know, well, they got beat, I mean very badly, and you, and they had some of their people scab. You stayed together, you were out much longer, you know, and you won. And uh, for me, we don't want anything. Why do you say

00:01:38.819 - 00:02:07.019

that? We, we recus we recovered something we because we were 18 months, you know, suffering, you know, yeah, we, we recuperate things we. OK, the eramosas queviamos perdido. We recovered some losses, yeah, yeah, but when, when for me it was we didn't, they took the Kennedy

00:02:07.019 - 00:02:24.619

anyways. They closed the Kennedy. That's what's so sad. It was sad, you know, but that was a few years later, yeah, they they gave you. I was so happy because we learned respect. We, we, we learn like uh to get together. We learn like uh we

00:02:24.619 - 00:02:44.220

are alone in this struggle. We had a lot of people like you, like, uh, the supporters, and we feel like a strong, but at the same time some people were sad, you know, like because, well, that's maybe where the difference is between somebody like me who

00:02:44.220 - 00:03:02.539

was a supporter. And found it all very inspiring and someone like you who suffered a great deal, you know, and uh. Uh, it's not so inspiring when you're sitting in the middle of it. Um, which is why I wanted to talk about what people did go

00:03:02.539 - 00:03:25.470

through, how hard it was, um, and here again, I mean, if, if there's anybody. Um, I've heard a few stories about, um. People who uh Who were living in their cars, you know, I guess there was one striker, uh, was it, uh, Margarita Parama who had

00:03:25.470 - 00:03:39.350

to send her children back to Mexico because she couldn't take care of them. She was evicted and so on. Do you, I was gonna try to find her actually, you know, because a lot of people like Watsonville because, you know Watsonville, uh, Santa Cruz County is

00:03:39.350 - 00:03:58.300

the best, the very expensive county to live. And that that's why people living, living right here because you know my daughters went to school and I have support for them and then I, I went to, to work in a school district as an aide hard for

00:03:58.300 - 00:04:14.350

the special education. You were in special education. That's what my wife does. I'll have to talk to you about that after the paper off. Yeah, so you were, you were an instructional assistant, yeah, after, after the strike because I went when the strike was when, uh,

00:04:14.429 - 00:04:35.309

um. Like I said, what was the person who wants to buy uh. Who was the name? David Gill, the farmer David Gill, yeah, I, I interviewed him. OK. He wants to buy and then people get so excited. They like you say, we went to, went to

00:04:35.970 - 00:04:52.274

hunger strike. I was there with them. I didn't participate because my sugar doctor say, you know, you don't, don't do it. So but you were there the whole time and you put the blankets on the street, yeah. Oh, you remember? Well, I wasn't there. I. Wasn't

00:04:52.274 - 00:05:12.475

there. Oh, we were helping them and oh my God, it was sad. I didn't take my daughter at that time because it was hard because helping the people with the with with the loss yeah uh so well, Gloria did make one statement about that. She said

00:05:12.475 - 00:05:25.700

I was, you know. This is what people want to do. I'm on the striker committee. I'm supposed to do what people want to do, you know, so, but I'm not gonna, I don't like getting down on my knees because I think the company is seeing us

00:05:25.700 - 00:05:49.790

seen us on our knees already too much, you know. That was the way she put it, so I'll just walk, yeah, like I said, but you know I think like a sto. So like we had a lot of people to come, you know, why you guys

00:05:49.790 - 00:06:07.519

doing they would lay the blankets, yeah, and I thought that was very moving actually, you know, the knees were bleeding, bleeding. I mean, I didn't, that was actually quite a distance from the, the plant to the church. That was a good mile. Yeah, I mean that's

00:06:07.519 - 00:06:25.589

a long way to go even just walking on your feet. Um, people must have been just. By the time they got to the church. Yeah, oh, so bad, you know, and after we, when we went back to the cannery, I was one of the chap stores

00:06:26.079 - 00:06:49.890

there. And then they were treating me so bad, so bad. After the strike, you believe it that people. John, the, the floor ladies or the floor man, they don't respect the strikers when they're past 18 months there and they're still, and I was there, you know,

00:06:50.140 - 00:07:06.470

fighting against them and say, you know, that's, that's the rule you're breaking the rules, the union, and, and they get, oh, I have a big, big problems and I decided. Yes, to leave the job, not to go back the following year, and I went to school.

00:07:07.470 - 00:07:26.929

And I get my GED uh from Bardaki. He, he helped me. He was a maestro. He helped me. I get my GED and I passed a test atta Cruz County Office of Education. I passed math and, uh, and, uh, reading. By writing and uh that reading

00:07:26.929 - 00:07:40.089

how you say English comprehension. Oh, I had to pass. She was later she said, Mama, you can do it. You can do it, mom, I know you. You can do it. She told us you remember that she was about 6 or 7 years old. I don't

00:07:40.089 - 00:07:52.424

remember how, and then I failed the test and then I was. Do you wanna try and I say no, I'm gonna do it again and you were working in the in the cannery the whole time you were working, you were still working at Nor in the

00:07:52.424 - 00:08:08.220

cannery and then and then I went back to the to the hospital, you know, to the mijitos to the retirement home, retirement home, and they asked me, do you speak English? And I say yes when I didn't know. And then. And then who helped me was

00:08:08.220 - 00:08:23.140

the, the people, you know, and the bassadors. They one lady, she told me, I want pillow, pillow. I said, oh, maybe this, this lady, she have a headache. She was touching and then, you know, she was so nice, she fold the towel and then she put

00:08:23.140 - 00:08:43.270

right here pillow, and then I have paper and I'd write pillow so. And then I passed the test. I would, uh, 3 times I passed the test. It's like being back in law school. That's what that's what happens when people take the bar exam. They have

00:08:43.270 - 00:09:00.789

to keep taking it over and over and over again. Yeah, but for me it was a memory I think. Yeah. Well, now when did you stop working at at at at the let me tell you, you didn't quit right after the strike. No, no, I was

00:09:00.789 - 00:09:21.669

there about 2 years I was so mad because uh. Uh, the, the teamsters, they, a lot of people get the check because they say because I work there with different names and that's why I don't have a retirement for them. And, and a lot of people

00:09:21.669 - 00:09:39.900

fight for that and I get so mad and I say no, I don't care. So, uh, I think it, um. I was there 2 years. And then because I was with uh with my real name. I was there with my real name and you know, like

00:09:39.900 - 00:09:56.820

it puts you on call and I, I can you know, I can't afford like I work one or two days a week and I went to the, the retired and you were an instructional assistant and I work in the morning with no benefits with just in

00:09:56.820 - 00:10:21.400

the special education with the very, very, uh, disabled uh kids and then. I went in the full inclusion and, you know, like it's tough work. I mean um My wife is a teacher, she's um. She works harder than I ever did when I was delivering mail.

00:10:21.650 - 00:10:40.400

I'll just say that I, I could not do it, so it's very hard. Sometimes I come to her class and I play music for her kids, you know, the kids with autism. They like they like music, you know, um. I wanna go back to when you.

00:10:42.530 - 00:11:18.090

When David Gill bought the plant. Um, and there were negotiations and there was a big meeting. This is right before the hungry oh no. This one this is a long corrido contra boar. Do you understand that? No limas that I could never forget

00:11:18.090 - 00:11:42.440

is the um like they needed to. For a contract nomashuga no is in beneficials no and no benefits either la puertaste via mosquequitar nomashuga no more picking line so solo and murmuo de la gente escuchaba OK, you know, murmur the gente talking talking talking talking. And

00:11:42.440 - 00:12:03.799

una semana queremoses a week and that meeting a week we need to wait because we want seniority benefits uh that's the only victory can we say like a scream we got the victory. I, I read a newspaper account of that meeting by, I, I think Bob

00:12:03.799 - 00:12:19.820

Johnson was the one who wrote it. He was one reporter who Seemed to know what he was talking about. A lot of them didn't. Um, does that, do you remember that name Bob Johnson? Yeah, yeah, he, he was a good reporter, I think, you know, he,

00:12:19.940 - 00:12:40.239

he knew he didn't make stuff up, you know, you know, he tried to find out what was going on. I remember a person from the. With the camera, they always following us, following us everywhere. What was the name that that wouldn't have been Bob Johnson. He

00:12:40.239 - 00:13:00.929

was a, you know, yeah, yeah, but two persons were there, uh, I forgot his name. He followed us everywhere. So and that day when they say that's all they can give us and that day, and then here Joe he says. Right, I told you not to

00:13:00.929 - 00:13:19.369

accept this contract and they were so mad at him. Yeah, that, that must have been a very I I wasn't there, but I, I, you know, I've heard a lot of people that must have been a very, very difficult decision to make, um, and I know

00:13:19.369 - 00:13:41.909

that several people who were actually were present at the negotiations. Uh, I guess Gloria and did not realize until that meeting that part-time people would have to wait to get their health benefits because they were like new hires. Do we need to translate that or it

00:13:41.909 - 00:14:04.635

was a new company, so it's like you're being hired for the first time right so. OK, see, Poo Poo no sotros, that's why, uh, we want a week to wait to talk together and then, um, it's the uh Sergio Lopez, what is the other one you

00:14:04.635 - 00:14:28.020

mentioned was a striker two was a the and the strike he get one of the well Carlos Hernandez Chabelobelo. No, very weak. She was telling, OK, I think that's all that's better you get this and I say no, no, we don't want that. We want to

00:14:28.020 - 00:14:46.859

wait a week. One thing that happened, uh. And this this interests me because I think Carlos Hernandez, the young guy, he was, he was there with, with the negotiators too, but according to the story, the newspaper story that Bob Johnson wrote, he was the one who

00:14:46.859 - 00:14:58.940

raised his hand and said, I think we should wait a week. He was the one who made that, yeah, yeah, and then when Joey and then a lot of people say, Joe, come here, and I wasn't friends. Joe, come here, what do you think about that?

00:14:59.590 - 00:15:15.710

You know, uh, we don't want to get that. We, we want to wait, you know, because the people striker weren't friends like, oh, you know what you think, Danela, and then we called Joe Fay and then and Joe said, Joe, please tell us what you think

00:15:15.710 - 00:15:33.469

about this. He stand up and I say, I don't recommend you to get this because this, I don't remember why the words he was saying, and then, and then, uh, the little guy, how you say it, uh. No, no, the little guy, Sergio, no, no, the

00:15:33.469 - 00:15:55.830

striker Carlos, Carlos, he, I really like him. I really like him. I remember him. I, I heard him speak. Yeah, Carlos, and the other one, he was too close to, to Cruz Gomez, uh, sure, Chevy, and Ta was his name. He was very strong too. Close

00:15:55.830 - 00:16:13.664

to Cruz Gomez. I, I don't, he always with Cruz Gomez, you know, Jose Lopez, Jose Lopez or Jose Lopez. Yeah. Oh, you remember, my God, Jose Lopez. You know, you have to realize I've been doing all this research, some of it I remember. Jose Lopez, he,

00:16:13.695 - 00:16:32.559

oh, he was in jail too, like a for many things. He was a pretty tough. Oh, very, very tough, and you know, at the end we want people you to be more like a all how to say it but the the uh diplomatic, yeah. Actually, I,

00:16:33.059 - 00:16:47.969

Carlos is one person I haven't tried to find. Maybe he went back to Mexico. You went back to, yeah, I think so. I think so. He, he, he was, he was like you. He'd had some education in Mexico, yeah he'd been politically active there, yeah, yeah,

00:16:48.030 - 00:17:06.328

yeah, yeah, but much younger than you, yeah, he was he was in the 20s. I was already 40, I think, you know, 43. No I remember Carlos. I remember hearing him speak a few times, um. You reminded me of some of the people I would meet

00:17:06.328 - 00:17:28.009

in Berkeley, and for me, uh, like I told you, a lot of times I cannot take my daughter with me, you know, that's why I have to have it with me all the time. But let me get back to that meeting. I mean. Um, I'm thinking

00:17:28.009 - 00:17:45.189

that I've, I've asked a bunch of people, how big of a chance were the strikers taking when they didn't accept that contract. The teamsters, it was no longer a strike, a sanctioned strike, because the strike was against Mort Conso. He wasn't in business anymore, so the

00:17:45.189 - 00:18:01.219

teamsters weren't going to pay benefits. You had no way of knowing whether David Gill would, would give back your health benefits if you didn't go back to work. Sergio was furious because he had persuaded David Gill to buy the plant. This is the way he tells

00:18:01.219 - 00:18:16.930

it. Uh, he says, you cannot, I, I guarantee you, you buy this plant, you'll make back the money that Mort Cono owes you. You have good experienced workers. They will help you make the plant profitable. You need those workers. You need to sign with the union,

00:18:17.939 - 00:18:32.189

uh, and that's the only way you're going to get your money back and then. They reached an agreement and the workers didn't agree with it and they voted it down and Sergio, I think is why he was so angry. He stuck his neck way out to

00:18:32.189 - 00:18:52.459

David Gill. Yes, we, we didn't agree because that contract, he wouldn't give us of it. OK, I know what the problem was that you wouldn't any health benefits. No, no benefits and no seniority. OK, you would have had to have waited, yeah, like if I work

00:18:52.459 - 00:19:08.910

33 times, I mean the whole week, 5 days a week, I'm going to start working just 1 day or 2 days a week, no seniority. No, I understand why people didn't like what was decided on. I'm just thinking that it was. It was a risk and

00:19:08.910 - 00:19:30.209

you've been on strike for so long. What if it didn't, you know, victory was within our grasp and all of a sudden, you know, my husband. Yeah. I be. He's the one who's was mad when we went to stoico que yaola ella porque techementira questa el

00:19:30.209 - 00:20:08.839

contra mea paralos esquiroles. He can't hear me because, uh, after the surgery, uh, he, he lost more than laugh yeah, but I'm gonna tell him later. Well. No. Uh, OK. So, So, you know, I, I asked several people about that. I

00:20:08.839 - 00:20:27.290

asked Joe, um. You know, he went to Sergio's house after that meeting. With a letter that he had written, and he wanted Sergio to sign it, and it said, um, it's very important that we stay together. I don't want anybody going back to work until everybody

00:20:27.290 - 00:20:44.500

goes back to work, and Sergio was very angry at Joe, but he signed the letter, and it was in the newspaper the next day that Sergio was telling the strikers not to cross, not to go back in. Um, I asked Joe. I said That was our

00:20:45.640 - 00:20:58.270

How do I say it? Sergio was so angry at you already and then you go to his house and ask him to sign this letter that you've written, you know, and he said, but I knew, and Joe said, I knew that Sergio would sign it. Because

00:20:58.270 - 00:21:14.689

I knew that he was a good enough person that he would not want the strike to end with some people going back in and some people staying out after all that, the whole, and he said, and I thought we could win that demand. Well, I asked

00:21:14.689 - 00:21:29.439

Frank Barnake about that, and Frank said, you know. I don't know that it was all that certain that we were going to win that demand, you know, I think we took the strikers took a big chance. We had no way of knowing if we could win

00:21:29.439 - 00:21:44.609

it. And then I went and I talked to David Gill, the owner, the man who had just bought the plant. And I said, how did you feel when the strikers voted that down? And he said, Well, I was disappointed, but it wasn't a big thing. I

00:21:44.609 - 00:21:56.920

understood, you know, Sergio, anything he did had to get the approval of his, his members. He just added a little more money to what I had to pay out anyway. I didn't want the plan anyway. The only reason I was buying it was because I had

00:21:56.920 - 00:22:08.130

was the only way I could get my money back that more conso took from me and as soon as I made my money back, I sold the plant, you know, but it wasn't. You know, I just wanted the strike to be over. If they wanted the

00:22:08.130 - 00:22:23.560

health benefits, we'd figure something out. But see, nobody knew that. You didn't know that David Gill felt that way. I didn't even know until I talked to him. So it was, everybody was, how do I say it? So you didn't know how big a chance you

00:22:23.560 - 00:22:42.719

were taking when you did it, but you thought you had to do it anyway. Am I, am I, am I making sense? You were, you were, you were taking, you didn't know it's OK. I, you know. Because I want to make clear this, this point to

00:22:42.719 - 00:23:04.050

say, um, like a, uh, I bought the company and I want my money back if they want the benefits and David Gill was willing to give you your health benefits if that's what it took to get the plant going again. He wanted the plant to to

00:23:04.050 - 00:23:23.180

start running again because the sooner the strike ended. The sooner he would make the money that he had lost, uh, when Mor Conseil never paid him for his property. Remember he, David Gill had all this money. That and he bought the plant because he thought it

00:23:23.180 - 00:23:46.099

was the only way he could get his money back and he wanted the plant to start operating again as quickly as possible and if he had to pay a little more for health benefits in order to get the plant, he was willing to do it that's

00:23:46.099 - 00:24:01.770

how he felt. Sarah Joe didn't know that. You didn't know it. Joe didn't know it. I mean, it was like you were all keeping to themselves? Why didn't say anything? What do you think? Yeah, so this is, this is what strike me is um. It, it,

00:24:03.890 - 00:24:20.770

you took a chance when you voted no. But you thought it was important to do it anyway, and it was a very Once you'd had your discussion, how, how, how many people voted yes, how many people voted no? Do you remember how the vote went? I

00:24:20.770 - 00:24:46.349

think, uh, the people was like uh. And I said, if we wait 18 months, why we cannot wait like a week, like a week call we need a week, we need a week. Yes, because we want to go to do something else. Uh, to see if

00:24:46.349 - 00:25:06.839

we, uh, to push a little bit more to get everything because we say if we go there when we were already 18 months, uh, we lost a lot of things already. Let's, uh, I think that most of the people say no because, because when they see

00:25:06.839 - 00:25:24.800

the stronger people says no, I remember they used to have a Filipinas, my neighbors, they say I remember Fidelia we say Fidelia quesosa, no, no, no, no, they told me so and I said let's wait a week and then to make a plan and I, and

00:25:24.800 - 00:25:45.739

I think it was um um Anita. Uh, Esperanza, uh, Contreras, Anita Contreras, let's go in a hunger strike. Who wants to, that's why you maybe you can tell me about that. Um, I was trying to find this out from, from, uh, Gloria and Cua and they

00:25:45.739 - 00:26:06.310

couldn't remember really well. After that meeting when you were when you said we're gonna wait a week and try to get the union to come up with a better agreement. Um, People went to Aurora's house across the street from the plant. And Maria Corralejo was there

00:26:07.599 - 00:26:26.829

and this is what Kuka told me. She said that Maria suggested that I guess that movie about Gandhi had just come out. Uh, the big, big movie, Hollywood movie about the, the, uh, Mahatma Gandhi, the, the Indian, uh, leader who went on hunger strikes, you know,

00:26:26.839 - 00:26:46.589

um. And Maria suggested that there be a hunger strike and, and were you at that meeting? Yeah, we, uh, tell me about it we were in that meeting, you know, was most we get all together was the TDU was the, the, the striking committee was so

00:26:46.589 - 00:27:09.209

a lot of people, you know. Yeah, mainly women at that meeting, men and the women at that house, and uh we were talking about what is the the how you say like rate we can do for that week we ask. And then, I don't remember, you

00:27:09.209 - 00:27:28.319

know that person said talking about the movie that the hunger strike, but we remember uh before uh Cesar Chavez came to visit us. That's right. He'd been having er yeah, Robert Cesar Chavez came to visit us and, and we feel like, oh my God, we're gonna

00:27:28.319 - 00:27:49.895

win the strike because Cesar Chavez was here we went to Los de la Feria, you know, and the fairgrounds all together, and we were there asking him questions and uh and he always talked about peace to do everything peaceful. With no violence when, you know, with

00:27:49.895 - 00:28:11.895

the gen the Guadalupe, with the, uh, you know, the Guadalupe, you know what is the the the Guadalupe and you know he was telling us, you know, how, how if you get together in peace in fighting for your, uh, for your job, he said something like

00:28:11.895 - 00:28:39.160

that. Um, uh, you're gonna win the strike, but a peaceful, remember God la Virgen de Guadalupe, your scudo. What is a scudo like your emblema. Scudo and Brema like a like a the Bolonias in the los escudo la Guadalupada he was telling us that's why um

00:28:39.160 - 00:28:59.239

when we get all together we were thinking about, you know, like a Cesar Chavez and he always go on hunger strike maybe that lady too, everybody and then people decided. I, I don't say I decided. We all decided to go in the and then was outside

00:28:59.239 - 00:29:17.520

her house, you know, and you, you set up a tent, a tent, and we have people to come. We have, uh, Jose Luis Orozco come to sing to us, s se puede and things like that, you know, um, we had a lot of support, music, we

00:29:17.520 - 00:29:35.290

sing to support the people that were there, you know, drinking water and When did you get the idea to have the, the, the march on on your knees? I don't know if I said it right. I think it was, uh, uh, was, uh, uh, Contrera's sister

00:29:35.290 - 00:29:54.369

Anita Contreras. He says, if you don't want to do it, I do it, he says, and then you were people had already been fasting for a while and then she said, I'm going to do this now. Um, quesillas personas, oh yeah, was, was, I think it

00:29:54.369 - 00:30:15.219

was, um, uh, the day, the second day. And the 3rd day, I don't remember, to be honest. We decided to do the last The last thing, you know, and she said, I'm gonna go to the church in my knee, and a lot of people was following

00:30:15.219 - 00:30:34.219

her and I said, we need, you know, like a, uh, rocks, so she put to the people there and then I, I think at that night, uh, how was it called the the owner, the one who, who bought the. The canary, uh, Aurora, no, no, the,

00:30:34.300 - 00:30:55.089

the person who bought the canary, David Gill, uh, we say Gil, Mr. Gill, so he he called Gloria. He called Gloria after, you know, all the people that were talking about we went for la, um, la peregriacion we say peregriacion when you go peregriac and he.

00:30:55.209 - 00:31:11.000

He heard that he heard that and then he called Gloria and then was after that when was they called her at night, I think they said at night they tried to open the plant on yeah they said there was a big crowd there yeah, then we

00:31:11.000 - 00:31:25.770

have a big march and you were then in the big march. I didn't, I was in the Bay Area the whole time OK before, before we went back to the. Henry, we, we went to the in the big march saying se puede. A lot of people,

00:31:25.780 - 00:31:43.089

we ran all over. We were running screaming out of sky. We were running because people I say, oh my God, people, they're gonna work now they're gonna have money to spend because Watsonville was very nice, you know, well las beta de la banqueta how is all

00:31:43.089 - 00:32:01.020

the the. The sales, uh, outside sales on the, um, sidewalks, yeah, they say Las Ventas de la vanqueta and now the people are gonna have money to buy in Las Ventas de la vanqueta we say to buy we got so excited singing in Spanish, you know,

00:32:01.030 - 00:32:18.199

screaming and, and we don't care. About the police, we didn't care about anything. We had a big mantas like that running, you know, running all the streets. We start in the cannery, we went around. They don't let us to, to walk for Main Street, you know,

00:32:18.369 - 00:32:37.449

the police, the, the cars were running, and then what was the other, I think. And then, uh, and Saturday we have big Fiesta and uh and the Parque. Whatarque was there a Rosy Park? I forgot I think I might have been at that one. Well, picnic

00:32:37.449 - 00:32:54.324

yeah yeah picnic we had, we had a. A lot of food, you know, people who, who bring food for us, you know, there was some dancing and dance and I was, was so beautiful that that day and then was we met we went back to work,

00:32:54.915 - 00:33:11.510

we went back to work. Well, I'm out of questions and I don't know if it helps because an hour you were gonna give me an hour and you gave me. I think you know more than me that the strike. I forgot a lot. I wasn't there,

00:33:11.630 - 00:33:37.280

you know, I mean, um. I um What can I say? I, I was, I found it very inspiring. I followed it. I was amazed that, you know, there was one thing I did not ask you about, which was when you had the recertification vote. All right.

00:33:39.119 - 00:33:59.680

Yeah, I want to um. Let me ask you real quickly, when the Teamsters realized that they could ask for a vote to certify the union after 11 months on strike. Uh, and you all went back. Everybody who'd left town came back to town and cast their

00:33:59.680 - 00:34:27.070

ballots saying we want to keep the union. I think that was what really convinced me that something very special was happening because I'd heard that people came back from Mexico. They came back, I've been amazed that the strikers who stayed in town were able to maintain

00:34:27.070 - 00:34:41.310

contact with everybody and get all 900 people back to Watsonville for that vote. And you know, I, I, every time I get a chance, I ask somebody how did you do it. How did you keep in touch like that? How could you get somebody to come

00:34:41.310 - 00:34:57.189

all the way back from Mexico? Oh, because there's a migrant people, you know, they, they go like they go there because they can't afford right here because it's the raining season. They don't have money to pay the rent to pay the bills. So yeah, they, they

00:34:57.189 - 00:35:12.205

go for 3 or 4 months over there and they come back here some people. They follow how they say they follow las corridos, they say las corridas. It mean, uh, uh, if he right here the lehua or the the lettuce they finish and they go back

00:35:12.205 - 00:35:31.189

to to another uh cities even if you're working in a cannery and you basically have and you have steady work there year-round work or 9 months out of a year. You still go to Mexico. Did you, did you go? I didn't go because, uh, my husband,

00:35:31.360 - 00:35:47.544

uh, had unemployment, and we can survive without that money, but a lot of people went back. Even when they weren't on strike, they would go back if they were because they, they, they cannot collect unemployment so people, you know, if you don't connect you to go

00:35:47.544 - 00:36:07.129

and come back and you had to say bye bye because before they cost $500 to cross the border, you know, one of the things that um. About why people didn't scab at Watsonville Canon, he says part of it was because everybody. Who worked in that plant

00:36:07.129 - 00:36:26.449

lived in Watsonville and you know you couldn't scab, you couldn't be an Schiroli to your neighbors. Oh, what happened exactly the people came, um, I, I didn't get that because a lot of people who they said what I was what I was trying to say was

00:36:26.449 - 00:36:43.969

somebody told me, you know, trying to why nobody. Uh, scabbed, um, part of it was because everybody lived in town and you would disgrace yourself to your neighbors if you crossed the picket line. But the other reason is that Somebody told me this that most of

00:36:43.969 - 00:37:01.620

the strikers came from the same, they came from Jalisco for the most part, and they had ties back home and and. People took care of each other in Mexico and they had the same, I'm not saying this very well, but. It wasn't just like your neighbors.

00:37:01.659 - 00:37:15.030

It was also like the people from your town, you know, that you originally came from. Uh, you had a responsibility to everybody you lived with, and if, if you were from Jalisco and you were on, yeah, you were on strike and, and somebody else was from

00:37:15.030 - 00:37:39.479

the same part of Mexico and they were on strike, you had a responsibility to each other. Socialen no no mastravaja juntos per tambien era del mimo pueblo queteniancomo um. Yeah. I'm trying to figure out how you say loyal in Spanish. Oh, no, but say tenana. See

00:37:39.479 - 00:37:57.689

loyal tenana is er, uh, yeah, passion, uh-huh, yeah, yeah, but, uh, but I thought you say about uh about a, um. Those you talk about that I mean they didn't get any from Watsonville. No, no, that's why we don't have and I always thought that was,

00:37:57.699 - 00:38:26.090

you know, that that was one of the problems with Richard Shaw many of the workers from Richard Shaw were from out of town they came from Castroville or Salinas or whatever, so they didn't the only time they saw.

00:38:26.929 - 00:38:37.340

If they crossed the picket line, it was just on their way in and out. They didn't have to live in the neighborhood with the people they were right and that's what my mom was saying that like people that were doing that lived in Watsonville on the

00:38:37.340 - 00:38:55.800

other hand, the others got to leave, but the other thing that I was trying to say this somebody told me this. I want to see if she sees it this way too is that because strikers came from the same. Towns, the same villages in Mexico. And

00:38:55.800 - 00:39:19.600

they had families there and they knew each other's families. That was another reason why they would not betray each other, you know, by crossing the picket line. So yeah, I think so because, you know, for unity you weren't, yeah, I'm from Sinaloa, but, but still, you

00:39:19.600 - 00:39:40.155

know, like people get together like you say they help each other. They don't want. Across that if he work at different uh she doesn't have a job no my my comadre from uh uh Guadalajara, she's she's a striker. I don't wanna, you know, cross the line.

00:39:40.264 - 00:39:59.570

Yeah, yeah, I think, I think so because, you know, uh, going back to Richard Haw, uh, I forgot to tell you that, uh, because my husband. Also I had unemployment, but, but it wasn't enough and I need money and I said, uh, and because the strikers

00:39:59.570 - 00:40:19.679

were saying like OK let's send one of the strikers to work over there and they talk and they send me over there to see how was there in the candy see after the people get there how they treat the people, OK, so I went there and

00:40:19.679 - 00:40:37.225

they got me because. They want people. They want people you did work at Shaw Shaw went back to work, yeah, because they sent me to for. I have spy there that's called salting, yeah, OK, and I was there and they put so why you, you know,

00:40:37.435 - 00:40:51.860

and I said, Well, I like that, the package, you know, and then I was picking up, uh, the broccoli this way and put this way, and I picked the broccoli the other way to say no, no, no. Right here we do this, this to go, you

00:40:51.860 - 00:41:06.300

know, the floor and the end two flowers right here, two ends like this, and I had to go like this and do it like this because they say you, you, you lost time just to get right here and I say no, that's the way I know

00:41:06.300 - 00:41:21.375

and I say no, if you want to work here, you have to do it. And they want to teach me the way they're doing, OK, and then they put me in a line, very short, with about 6 people there, the paper so bad and I couldn't

00:41:21.375 - 00:41:35.691

see. I didn't wear glasses before, but I couldn't see and I said, Hey you guys, how you can work right here and and one of the. For ladies, she heard me, you know, saying why, why you didn't tell them, you know, it's so hard for you

00:41:35.691 - 00:41:47.471

to work right here, you know how you feel. I don't like it, but we need our money, and I say no, you tell them you don't want to work, and they heard me talking, and they, they call me in the office and I said, You're fired.

00:41:48.652 - 00:42:05.969

They fired me. I guess I didn't know. So you, you felt that the Shaw conditions at Shaw were worse. No, yeah, after, after, after, after that they were worse because then I say, see what happened to you, why you went out, you know. It was so

00:42:05.969 - 00:42:17.260

hard and they and they want me to pick the the things one way and then they put me on the scale and they said you don't know how to do this because this they put me at different places. I want to ask you one more thing.

00:42:17.469 - 00:42:34.280

Uh, this is something that Kuca mentioned. She said that. Um, after the Shah, people went back to work. They didn't want to pay their $5 to, to support the people at Watsonville Canning who were still out. That the union asked everybody to pitch in to support

00:42:34.280 - 00:42:50.659

people who are still on strike, and she said that the green giant people were very good about doing it. They always put their $5 in. The people at Shaw wouldn't do it. And um uh. She could understand it because they've been on strike for 5 months,

00:42:50.889 - 00:43:09.030

but it made her angry too because we're still out there fighting, you know, but they don't want because like I told you I don't want to talk about races, but the richer child was people more from outside and different races. I don't want to talk about

00:43:09.030 - 00:43:25.010

it. I mean I mean it's it's not. I, I know why you don't want to talk about it, but it's, it's, it's, it's real. I mean, it's like it's much easier to hold together when everybody comes from the same place, you have to overcome, yeah, because

00:43:25.010 - 00:43:41.455

right here in the we can I think we're almost 100% Mexicans, Mexicans, how we. Yeah, different kind of races. It was a newer plant too, yeah, it was one of the, it was the last one, yeah, because we heard people speak good English and the Richard,

00:43:41.655 - 00:44:00.830

a lot of people, you know, because when I was there I heard people speaking so well English, you know, and, and for me, well, no English, you know, and I don't know. I, I should let you go back to your family and your daughter, you know,

00:44:14.540 - 00:44:27.689

I, I want to thank you. I was tough when I was putting you through there it's hard to translate. at the same time I really appreciate it and I know it was a wonderful interview you should never apologize to anybody for not being able to remember

00:44:27.689 - 00:44:27.820

things because I'm already old and was a lot of things.