00:00:00.839 - 00:00:30.229

Oh I don't recall because a lot of people that lived there were so many. Yeah, there were so many. But you didn't have any trouble getting people back for that vote. Um, How did people feel when Jesse Jackson came to town? Everybody was Happy. I was

00:00:30.229 - 00:00:46.750

kind of a Angry because you know he was trying to help the people and we still had to pay him to come and do the speech. Oh yeah, I didn't realize that. Yes, but you know he knew we were trying to survive. He still, you know,

00:00:46.830 - 00:01:04.400

we still had to pay him to come to our town, but it was, I mean, people were really happy and then. We attract a lot of attention to strike, right, um, it was worth it, right, right, it just kind of stuck in your craw a little

00:01:04.400 - 00:01:20.730

bit, um, you shouldn't have charged you. You really shouldn't have. I'm, I'm, I'm supposed to be, you know, the objective interviewer here, but I'll, I'll throw that out, you know, that, that wasn't right. I mean, I know he went to a lot of picket lines and

00:01:20.730 - 00:01:40.199

he helped a lot of people out, but he, he shouldn't have asked for money. I guess it takes money to run for president. Now more than ever, um, anyway, back, back to the, um, were you surprised at the outcome of the vote on the recertification? No,

00:01:40.970 - 00:01:57.110

no, you knew that you were gonna win it. Tell me about the scabs. Um, a lot of effort went into trying to keep them out of the plant. Did you know any of them? There were a lot of Asian people, like, a lot of uh people

00:01:57.110 - 00:02:18.889

coming from Salinas. Um, what Vietnamese or I mean they were, uh, coming in sandals, shorts, you know, yeah, people who just didn't know what they were getting into. Yeah. Did you have any idea how they were recruited? They will send bus regroup and they just say

00:02:18.889 - 00:02:37.279

come, come work for what what was console paying this cabs 585 yes uh-huh, yeah, you don't, you don't know for sure. Uh, was there a big turnover? I mean did many of them last very long. Some of them stayed till the end, you know, they were.

00:02:38.220 - 00:02:53.360

They were even working with us after the strike, but a lot of them, a lot of them were, you know, from out of town and just, you know, people that are desperate for a job, right, right. Did you get to talk to many of them? A

00:02:53.360 - 00:03:07.020

lot of them, yes, we, we were trying to, you know, convince them not to. Not to work in the cannery because you did you have any success? Did any of them decide not to go because you talked to them? No, some of them were really, you

00:03:07.020 - 00:03:29.470

know, there was this is why there was a lot of confrontations in the doors because they were not too. Very, very few people decided not to cross the picket line then, um, I know that console. Started having some real serious problems, uh, right around then, uh,

00:03:29.690 - 00:03:47.039

after the recertification but he closed the plant for 11 days, didn't he? uh because the, the quality of the Of what he was turning out was not, was not good enough. Yeah, they didn't know what they were doing. Yeah. Do you know, uh, can you give

00:03:47.039 - 00:03:58.839

me any examples of the kind of problems they were having with, I guess, the, the, the, the markets they were selling to and stuff were they, did they have shipments turned away or was he losing orders? Did you hear anything about that? Yes, uh huh, he

00:03:58.839 - 00:04:13.669

was losing orders because the product was not a good quality, no, yeah. I mean, how would they um How would they know? I mean, they, you would, you would wrap everything up. You'd freeze it and wrap it and send it out in the, in the, uh,

00:04:13.800 - 00:04:26.040

in the wrapper out of the plan, right? Yes. So it would just go right to the supermarket shelf. Somebody would buy it and then they'd call up and say this broccoli you gave me is full of mold or something or it's. No, because they send people,

00:04:26.079 - 00:04:51.279

you know, they send their, their own people to. Quality control, yeah, so it just the quality control people were finding too many problems, yeah. I see. Um, and The growers at this point were not happy either. Yeah. Did you know anything about that? Did you know

00:04:51.279 - 00:05:11.619

any anything about the dealings council was having with the growers? Uh, well, he was, you know. Not paying them, so that's why that's why Crocetti took over our plant. Oh, you mean they took over the business that Watsonville King was doing, yeah, so they were, um,

00:05:12.149 - 00:05:35.390

that, that probably meant that some of the strikers could get jobs at Crissetti then I would think, yeah, um. Did, uh, I want to talk a little bit. About the The takeover by by David Gill, and I know that you were, there's a picture of you,

00:05:36.230 - 00:05:55.510

yeah, I, there's a wonderful picture of you, a bunch of others standing in the lobby of a Wells Fargo bank, you know, kind of shaking your fists, um. Did anybody, was there any attempt by the union, uh, to discourage you from uh going and picketing Wells

00:05:55.510 - 00:06:14.049

Fargo? Yes, they were not happy with us at all. We were picking uh the police station, we were picking the banks, picket, you know. They were not happy. The union was not happy. Why, why were they not happy? Because you know they they didn't. What did

00:06:14.049 - 00:06:30.529

they tell you? I mean, I mean, well, they thought, you know that. Did we were not doing the right thing. Were they afraid of like legal problems? Yeah, they thought that if you went after the bank, the union would be held responsible, and they'd call it

00:06:30.529 - 00:06:51.579

a secondary boycott or something like that. Now, my understanding is that um While all this was happening, the union was putting a lot of pressure on Wells Fargo behind the scenes. That they were threatening to pull their, you know, pension funds out of the Wells Fargo

00:06:51.579 - 00:07:09.290

accounts. Did you know anything about that? No. Did you go to the Teamster convention where they passed that resolution saying they were going to have a campaign against, uh, against, uh, Wells Fargo? No, you weren't there. Who, who went from, from the from the strikers Committee?

00:07:09.299 - 00:07:49.549

Was Shavella there? Hold on, please. I went. It was Chabelo, Cuca and my and uh myself. So you all three went to the convention. Can you describe it for me what it was like? Hey, put him on the speakerphone, Gloria. Is that Oscar? Yeah, he, that's

00:07:49.549 - 00:08:14.589

his office. Tell him to put the speakerphone on. Yeah, no, put him on, put him on. I mean, uh, you can just push a button on that phone and you can both talk, right? OK. OK. Under Uh-huh. He wants me to do it myself. OK, that's

00:08:14.589 - 00:08:34.440

the way he wants it. I'll get him later. Well, what, what, um, you were, you were gonna describe the, the Teamster convention. It was what in Las Vegas, was it? No, it was in San Francisco. Oh, it was in San Francisco. That's where the Teamster convention

00:08:34.440 - 00:08:49.690

was. We didn't go to the one in Las Vegas. Oh, OK, OK. I think that the international voted in Las Vegas, I think, to have, to have to have the So this was a different meeting in San Francisco and you and uh Cuca and Shavella went

00:08:49.690 - 00:09:20.640

to San Francisco. Did anybody from your group go to the Las Vegas convention? No, OK, um, so you really couldn't comment on that, um. What happened in San Francisco? When was that? I, I don't know what what convention this was. It was not a convention. It

00:09:20.640 - 00:09:46.349

was a boycott that we were went to discuss with Wells Fargo. 00, I'd love to hear about that. This was when was this? During the strike, but I don't recall the date to the end. This was before one year into the strike one year into the

00:09:46.349 - 00:10:08.919

strike, and shortly after you met with them, uh, they cut off Mort Consul's credit. Yeah, so this was after they gave him a loan and then they, they cut him off, um. One thing that um. I mean, you, you knew that he was going to probably

00:10:08.919 - 00:10:28.289

going to go out of business at that point. Um Were you surprised when you heard that David Gill was interested in buying the plant? Yes. Yes, it was, we were really surprised, but it was really, you know, like a ray of hope for the strikers. Yes,

00:10:28.539 - 00:10:43.580

this is one thing that Sergio emphasized. He said that he was the one who heard that Gil might be persuaded to buy the plant, that he was interested in it even before Consul was in trouble, and that he was the one who contacted him. He also

00:10:43.580 - 00:10:59.309

said he didn't tell anybody what he was doing. Uh, do you have any comment to make about that? I mean, did you, did you know that? Is that what your impression was? Is that, uh, that his account is is what actually happened? Oh yes, we knew

00:10:59.309 - 00:11:26.059

that. The more council was really in debt with the with him and uh Crocetti and JJ with with David Gill, you mean, yeah, um, so he owed Crossetti money too, yeah. And that's why both of them right now. Here's one of the things that interested me,

00:11:26.150 - 00:11:49.179

um, when David Gill finally negotiated a settlement. Um, You didn't reject it, you didn't accept it either. You just basically voted to have it go back to the table. And then you, uh, because the health benefits weren't included. Yes. What did you think when you heard

00:11:49.179 - 00:12:03.320

when you first heard the terms of the settlement they were offering you? Did you, were you prepared to go back or didn't you want to until they got the health benefits put back in, we were, we were gonna stay out as long as we could for

00:12:03.320 - 00:12:21.190

the benefits because it was the first the very thing that we went out and strike for what was wrong with the benefits package they offered. They weren't eliminating the benefits. They were just making it harder to qualify for them. Yeah, what do you remember the exact

00:12:21.190 - 00:12:40.010

terms of it? I think that the new people. You know that The bottom of the seniority were the ones that are going to be affected more affected. It wouldn't have affected you because you were pretty much a year-round worker, but about what half the workers in

00:12:40.010 - 00:12:55.909

the plant were seasonal and they would not have had any health insurance. Uh, a lot of those seasonal workers were. On the picket line too, right, they were, they were part of the strikers all the time, yeah, uh, so it would have been very difficult. Did

00:12:55.909 - 00:13:14.979

anybody make a move to go back at that point? Um Here again I'm, I'm gonna ask you something I heard somewhere else, uh, that there was a move by some of the mechanics to go back to work. Yeah, all of them. Uh, I mean, it wouldn't

00:13:14.979 - 00:13:38.909

have included Chivelo, obviously. He was a boiler, yeah, right. Oh, he wasn't, OK, yeah, I thought he was and uh. Sergio issued a letter asking the mechanics to stay out until everybody had settled, yeah. Um, which he claims Joe Fahey drafted and forced him to sign.

00:13:40.359 - 00:14:00.330

Uh, I'll let those two slug that one out, um. Did You basically you were, you were faced with the possibility that if you voted down that agreement. Uh, the Teamsters might withdraw sanctions from the strike. They might stop supporting you. Was that your understanding at the

00:14:00.330 - 00:14:20.539

time? Yeah. Were you afraid of what would happen if you this this if the strike was not sanctioned? Yes, but it didn't, uh, the sanctions actually were not withdrawn. You didn't actually reject the contract. Uh, you just said we need more time, you know, go back

00:14:20.539 - 00:14:38.619

to the table and keep working, uh, so that way they, they wouldn't withdraw the sanctions and you wouldn't have to settle for losing the benefits. OK, tell me what happened then. But then um You, you said there was a tent city, there was a tent set

00:14:38.619 - 00:15:04.359

up in the middle of town? For the food, the hunger strikers, the hunger strike. Whose idea was that? You didn't participate. Yes, I did. You did. You actually, you went hungry for 5 days. Yes. Did you? I think it was longer than that though who participated

00:15:04.359 - 00:15:23.390

in the hunger strike? It was from the strikers committee. It was Cuca and myself and a lot of ladies. We set up a tent in front in front of the cannery. And this is here again, this is when I interviewed Joe Fahey, he talked about this

00:15:23.390 - 00:15:43.460

a lot. He said that the. The national media was all over Watsonville because they were expecting a settlement. Instead, they had a bunch of women basically, you know, in a tent, not eating, you know, in protest, uh, so they didn't get the story they expected, um.

00:15:44.950 - 00:16:04.119

You, I remember you're saying that when, when the time came to march. Uh, you were too weak. Yeah, you didn't go along the march because we were so weak, right? But, but, uh, what, how many people did participate in that march? Oh my God, a lot

00:16:04.119 - 00:16:21.140

of people, I guess it was like the whole cannery was begged to march. People marched on their knees. Oh, there was another march. Oh, OK, yeah, that was what I was talking about was when you were talking about the one for the for the victory. Yeah,

00:16:21.330 - 00:16:36.630

oh, that one, right, yeah. Oh no, we participate in the in the march on our knees too. You participated in that. And then uh we had the police looking at us like, oh my God, what is going on now with these ladies they went crazy or

00:16:36.630 - 00:16:53.809

what? Had you ever done anything like that? Had you ever done anything like that? What made you all think of it? Uh, because there was a lot of really religious ladies in our strike, yeah. You know, and then, you know, if they do it, you have

00:16:53.809 - 00:17:10.979

to do it. You feel like, you know, I have to do it. I, I'm not a Catholic myself, so I don't understand the significance of it. Yeah, they do it in Mexico, yeah, to protest or or just to, to, you know, to ask God for the

00:17:10.979 - 00:17:27.349

strike to be over or or for some. So it was, it was, it was really a religious thing. It wasn't just a protest. People were asking God for a just settlement, and they went from the tent to what one of the from the door of the

00:17:27.349 - 00:17:47.510

cannery all the way to Saint Patrick's Saint Patrick's. What happened when you got to Saint Patrick's? Well, we had all the police waiting for us right there because they probably thought we were having another another rally or another. Did the pastor let you in? Did you

00:17:47.510 - 00:18:05.939

go into the church? Mhm. And there was just a service there, yes. Um, did the was the pastor someone who'd supported you all the way through? Uh-huh. What was his name? I can't recall his name, but uh he supported us in a lot of things. Yeah,

00:18:06.000 - 00:18:20.010

I, I remember, I guess it was Alex uh told me that there was one pastor who was very good who did a lot of work for the strike. That was the fellow at Saint Patrick's. Yes, there's another Catholic church in town, isn't there? Was it Saint

00:18:20.010 - 00:18:43.560

Joseph, uh. No, it was assumption, yes, um, most of the strikers belong to Saint Patrick's Saint Patrick's and, and, uh, the one across the river from uh Bajaro the Bajaro Church. Yeah, yeah, um, how big a role did the church play? I mean, how big a

00:18:43.560 - 00:19:00.589

role did uh Did the uh people talk about the the many of the strikers are very religious and this is one of the things that kept people going. What exactly you know, like food drives and all that. Did, did you get mentioned when they had the

00:19:00.589 - 00:19:13.699

er the, you know, the, the, the mass on Sunday or uh the preacher talk about you from the pulpit or anything like that, yeah. What kinds of things would he say? Would he just encourage people to support you? Would he support the people in the strike

00:19:13.699 - 00:19:29.250

and, you know, to, to the landlords to to wait for people with the rents. Do you think it had an impact? I mean, did it stop people from being evicted? Yes, yeah, there were enough landlords who were, you know, part of the church that they were

00:19:29.250 - 00:19:57.500

doing for the people, right, and that the priest helped with that. Um, yeah, yeah. Uh, I'm, you know, I'm starting to run out of questions. I'm sure I'll have more as soon as we shut the phone line down, um. Actually, there's something that That um That

00:19:57.500 - 00:20:12.890

Tom Ryan wanted me to ask you because I, I, I talked to him last night. He wanted to know How you um How you met Oscar, how you worked with him, you know, uh. What like the picket line. He came with his shorts and his, I

00:20:12.890 - 00:20:37.540

mean he was one of those guys in shorts and sandals he didn't come to work in the plant. He was in shorts because he wore shorts, right? to the hippie hippie. You tell him I never thought of that myself, but I, I'll remember it. I know,

00:20:37.619 - 00:20:53.979

but, uh, you know, he won the people he people get all their trust in him and, you know, and his group of people and And they did help us a lot, you know, and you traveled with him when you went around making speeches, yeah, yeah. Would

00:20:53.979 - 00:21:09.750

he translate for you or, uh, no, I was doing he was letting me do my own thing and I was writing my own speeches. No. You, you generally spoke in English then when you, yeah, I think I remember going to a couple of, uh, hearing one

00:21:09.750 - 00:21:24.219

speech you made in Spanish and somebody translated for you. I think it was a, I think it was a unity event. But there were probably a lot of Spanish speaking people in the audience too, yeah, that would have made more sense, um. You go to Boston,

00:21:24.260 - 00:21:44.439

it's different, you know, um. I wanted to ask about a bunch of uh people from the Teamsters International came into town around the time of the um. Uh, what was after the convention in Las Vegas, I guess, and they must have been very visible. Uh, uh,

00:21:44.550 - 00:22:05.660

people who, you know, they, they spent a lot of time driving people down to the polls on the day of the certification vote and stuff. Did you have much contact with these guys? I forget the Love or most of it with with yeah I know and

00:22:05.660 - 00:22:23.229

another guy that came with Alex. Yeah, um, I mean I've got the names written down somewhere, but these were guys who had You know, been pretty high up in the international union, uh, and, um, here Alex gave me a bunch of names. Uh JC Lenvar, uh,

00:22:23.319 - 00:22:41.849

Eddie Rodriguez, uh, Vince I remember Eddie Rodriguez, yeah, Vince, uh, Vince Oloise, who I, I, I think I remember his name from, uh, he mentioned, uh, John Blake. Um, he also told me an interesting story about, um, The guy who had headed the Western Conference of

00:22:41.849 - 00:23:01.449

Teamsters at the time the strike started, who was actually a buddy of Mort Consols, and then he was voted out of office in Las Vegas and he tried to undermine, uh, you know, what you were doing, um, yeah, yeah, um. Anderson Did you know anything about

00:23:01.449 - 00:23:19.250

that? Andy Anderson, I guess he was the head of the Western Conference of Teamsters, and he, he showed up on at a negotiating session on management side of the table. You, you didn't know anything about that. I remember, but I just don't remember names. Yeah, yeah,

00:23:19.339 - 00:23:34.130

yeah, and you didn't have a whole lot of contact with Eddie Rodriguez or any of those other guys who came in from the international, yes. Generally, generally in the union because we were, you were too busy doing when I was doing traveling, I was in the

00:23:34.130 - 00:23:56.189

union the whole time in the picket line or. Or planning what we were gonna do next. And um I, I, I wanna ask you after you went back to work, uh, and how long did Norcal, uh, did, uh, Norcal last before they, they shut down and

00:23:56.189 - 00:24:21.829

moved to Mexico? They took over the plant in '87. How long did the plant keep operating? Well, it was. 1998 or 1987. Another 10 years or so really before they closed down. Yeah. Uh-huh. Um, when you went back you were working for 585. Yes, uh, and

00:24:22.930 - 00:24:41.810

there were no further conflicts with them until they closed the plant. Well, you know, we were all I mean, I think it was not so much the. The free trade, the close up plan, there was bad management. Because we were seeing, you know, that things were

00:24:41.810 - 00:25:03.560

not the same. One thing that I remember um after the strike was over. I interviewed Cesar Chavez, you know, and asked him for his reaction. Yeah. And he said, you know, more than the wages, you know, more than the actual terms of the settlement is that

00:25:03.560 - 00:25:18.329

after all those years of nothing happening in that union, they have a union in that plant now. They have a, you know, the workers can fight back. They can speak up for themselves, and that's what the real victory was. Would you agree? Yes, but you know

00:25:18.329 - 00:25:35.219

that we had a little bit of hard feelings against them. The union because we asked them to stop their fields at least for a couple of days and they refuse. You know, I'm, I'm losing my audio again. I mean, I, it's, it's coming up on the

00:25:35.219 - 00:25:57.420

screen, but I can't hear you very well. Hold on one second. OK. Try saying something Gloria. OK, that's much better using different headphones, um, OK, uh. What was it like in the plant when you went back to work? You said there were still some scabs there.

00:25:58.520 - 00:26:18.130

Yes, they had some scabs staying there and they were not workers. They were foreman. They were, you know, you want him to get your old job as the floor leader. Yes, you weren't a floor leader anymore. No, I was, yeah, but you know they had some

00:26:18.130 - 00:26:39.790

of the skips. And management. And it was kind of hard in the beginning, but you know, like years went by. I guess they accepted a more, more, you know, but they were still called scabs. People will still call them scared. You know, there's one thing I

00:26:39.790 - 00:27:00.310

haven't asked you about. Um, eventually you, you guys didn't qualify for unemployment when you first went out on strike, but eventually you got it. No, no, you never got unemployment? Never. OK. Never did, and a lot of us didn't qualify for the, for the any. Any

00:27:00.310 - 00:27:22.560

help, you know, any You mean the union strikes? No, union strikes, yes, but you know, like, like, uh, food stamps or no, not, you know, like, like uh help from the government, nope. Nope, we didn't qualify for nothing. I wanted to ask you about your kids.

00:27:22.650 - 00:27:35.910

I mean, they knew what was going on. Uh, they must have known, uh, not that the twins, but the younger ones. Yes, they were with me in the strikes all the time. Yeah, they were down on the picket line. What about when you were traveling? Um,

00:27:35.969 - 00:27:49.959

my daughters were taking care of them. Uh-huh, yeah, so the twins were, were, um, they were, they were like 13, right, right, they were old enough to take care. They're about as old as you were when you first went to work in the plant. Did you

00:27:49.959 - 00:28:03.719

think of it that way? Yes, yeah, hey, I did it. You can do it. No, besides, you know, I used to work nights, nights, so I could take care of them in the day and then they just take care of them in the evening. But I'm

00:28:03.719 - 00:28:23.969

just thinking that when you were traveling, you know, your daughters watching, yeah, my daughters and my sister-in-laws, you know, everybody chipped in. Were a lot of people in the union. Did they get involved? I know in the early 90s, local 912 became very active in trying

00:28:23.969 - 00:28:39.099

to stop the North America free trade agreement I'm going through. I know, uh, I understand Chavela went down to Mexico to look at the frozen food plants there. Can you tell me anything about that? I probably need to talk to Shavelo about it, but, but Nina,

00:28:39.260 - 00:28:58.780

you know there was a big mistake to let. To let that happen, to let the treaty, the free trade because, you know, this is one thing that everybody in the plant united around us that to try to stop this from happening. I actually heard Sergio speak

00:28:58.780 - 00:29:15.209

at an event in San Jose, I think it was in '93. He gave a very good speech. Uh, he was talking to a group of workers who I, I think mostly. You know, we're working the midnight shift as janitors, and they, you know, they didn't, they

00:29:15.209 - 00:29:27.410

weren't legal, you know, uh, and they wanted to go home and they said, what's wrong with American companies investing in Mexico, you know, I said if we can go home, we don't have to stay up here to work and work these rotten jobs and these rotten

00:29:27.410 - 00:29:40.839

hours, and he said, you know. When the American companies going down to Mexico, when has that ever done our country any good, you know, all they ever do is give us the shaft, you know, it was a good speech. He, he had, he had their attention,

00:29:40.949 - 00:29:56.680

you know, I was, you know, that was the first time I think I really, I had heard of Sergio as a guy who was not. You know, not that good during the strike, you know, uh, and that was when I first realized, well, you know, maybe

00:29:56.680 - 00:30:11.910

he's, there's more to this guy than I realized because I was impressed, you know. He made a good speech. Yeah, yeah, he was a good speaker and, you know, do you think he was changed by the strike in a good way? I mean, for all those

00:30:11.910 - 00:30:27.699

years, he basically kind of was like he worked under Richard King and You know, kind of had too much respect for the workers. Yeah. Do you think that the strike changed his feelings at all? I think so. He was easier to deal with afterwards because he

00:30:27.699 - 00:30:43.189

continued to run the union right up until a few years ago, didn't he? Yeah. And there was a different atmosphere in the union after the strike. I always had bad feelings against me and Oscar and that I've noticed, yeah, I noticed that, yeah, but generally it

00:30:43.189 - 00:30:56.380

was easier to participate in the union. It was easier for people to play an active role in it than it had been before. Yes, yeah, I mean. Were there what did people do aside from just going to meetings? What kinds of things that people do? Did

00:30:56.380 - 00:31:13.280

people get involved in campaigning against NAFTA, for instance? Did they were their committees that set up that people participated in? How did, how did members participate after the strike was over? After the strike after it was over, yeah, after you went back to work. No, after

00:31:13.280 - 00:31:32.250

the strike is over, I think people just went back to their, they just went back to work. I'm just thinking in terms of participating, going to union meetings, speaking out, was there more of that afterwards? After the strike a little bit more, a little bit more.

00:31:33.359 - 00:31:50.050

Uh, and after the plant shut down, that was when you went to work for Longs, right? Yeah, I, I went, no, I went back, I went to work for the Richard shows for a whole year. Oh, Shaw lasted longer than uh. Nor did. Yes, and then

00:31:50.050 - 00:32:11.189

the thing is that shows our plant. Oh, Shaw bought it. Yes, just to shut it down and leave us out of work. All they offered us was a job in their plant and their seniority list, yeah. That's why we had the last protest, right, that Sergio

00:32:11.189 - 00:32:26.709

was not too happy about it. He wasn't happy about that either, yeah, yeah, but we had to do it, you know, but you know. I should ask you a little bit about what happened in Watsonville after the strike was over. I mean, you had this terrible

00:32:26.709 - 00:32:45.109

earthquake. Did that affect you directly? Was your house damaged or anything like that? Yes, it was damaged. I mean, it was, it was, I hated remodeled not not before the strike, so, so it wasn't that bad, but a lot of people, you know, yeah, hi there.

00:32:46.390 - 00:33:03.290

Their houses. These are people who'd been out on strike for 18 months and already had a lot of financial problems as a result, yeah, and went back to work for less money than they were making when they first went out. Was there a lot of unhappiness

00:33:03.290 - 00:33:18.660

about that, the fact that they, they were making less money? I noticed some people made an issue of that. You don't think that was, you don't think people were just looking at the numbers, you know the same, you know, the same, uh, attitude, you know, work

00:33:18.660 - 00:33:38.510

and work and, you know, make money for the plant and all that stuff, right, right, um, and You had uh you had some elections right after the strike and the city government changed a good deal. Yes, tell me a little bit about that. Um, how did

00:33:38.510 - 00:33:57.550

life in Watsonville become different after the strike was over apart from the fact that your friend Oscar was now the mayor? Uh-huh. Well, you know. It was, we were more aware, you know, that we needed better representation and the. In the city hall because you know,

00:33:58.560 - 00:34:18.020

They, we didn't have that, that support. When we were on strike. I mean, was this a big issue during the strike was the fact that the city government was not sympathetic, you said you picketed the police department a lot. You picketed city hall. Why did you

00:34:18.020 - 00:34:32.300

do that? What were you protesting? Because they were, you know, they were not, they were against the workers, they were not. How were they, how were they against the workers? What would they do? I mean, they were looked at us like a whole bunch of troublemakers.

00:34:33.799 - 00:34:50.479

Were and people were arrested, people were uh were there when people were being evicted, was there any attempt to stop the evictions from happening? No, no, um, I remember hearing a story during the strike about somebody who was arrested, you know, who lived across the street

00:34:50.479 - 00:35:05.340

from the plant and was arrested on our front porch. Uh, can you give me any details about that? Who that was what actually happened. He was arrested in front of a porch, yeah, on their, on their right in front of their house on their property. Oh

00:35:05.340 - 00:35:35.989

yes, Enrique was Enrique Enrique. What was his? Oh right, OK, um, this was the guy that you mentioned who'd worked some with TDU before the strike. Yeah, uh, he lived across from the plant. Why was he arrested? Yeah. Street I don't recall that, but I know

00:35:35.989 - 00:35:52.610

he was arrested. Yeah, well, I can, I can do some more research on that. Do you have any idea how many people were arrested, all told during the strike, yeah. Did you travel at all? I mean, aside from going to make speeches and, you know, raise

00:35:52.610 - 00:36:11.580

and get support, did you travel to where they were recruiting scabs? No. Did anybody do that? Yes. Um, can you tell me anything about how it happened or would I need to talk to somebody who had actually done it? They had a confrontation in Salinas. With

00:36:11.580 - 00:36:45.250

the scabs Do you know? Mhm. Do you know when this was? This is something I should probably know about. Or who was who was there? You weren't there, were you? la. Yeah, those, those things during the strike were very common, you know, like, like confrontations with

00:36:45.250 - 00:37:04.350

the police and all that stuff, arrests and everything, yeah. It was very common, you know, um. They're gonna throw me out of the studio in a few minutes, so I'm going to, I'm gonna cut this short. They're trying to run a radio station here, um, Gloria,

00:37:04.389 - 00:37:19.310

it's, it's wonderful talking to you. I, you know, I, I. Uh I'm sorry that Long's uh made you retire. As far as I'm, you know, it sounds to me like you got a lot of work left in you. Um.