Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950 PDF
Preview Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950
Cannery Women, Cannery Lives : Mexican title: Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950 author: RuÃz, Vicki. publisher: University of New Mexico isbn10 | asin: 0826309887 print isbn13: 9780826309884 ebook isbn13: 9780585202808 language: English United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America--History, Women labor union members--California-- subject History--Case studies, Mexican American women--California--History--Case studies, Women cannery workers--California-- History--Case studie publication date: 1987 lcc: HD6515.F72U547 1987eb ddc: 331.88/1640282/09794 United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America--History, Women labor union members--California-- subject: History--Case studies, Mexican American women--California--History--Case studies, Women cannery workers--California-- History--Case studie Page iii Cannery Women Cannery Lives Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950 Vicki L. Ruiz UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PRESS: Albuquerque Page iv In memory of my grandfather, Albino Ruiz, beet worker, coal miner, Wobblie Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ruiz, Vicki. Cannery women. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Al- lied Workers of AmericaHistory. 2. Women in trade-unionsCaliforniaHistoryCase studies. 3. Mexican American womenCaliforniaHis- toryCase studies. 4. Women cannery workers CaliforniaHistoryCase studies. I. Title. HD6515.F72U547 1987 331.88'1640282'09794 87-13878 ISBN 0-8263-1006-0 ISBN 0-8263-0988-7 (pbk.) (c) 1987 by the University of New Mexico Press All rights reserved. First edition Fifth printing, 1995 Page v Contents Acknowledgments ix Preface xiii 1 3 Community and Family 2 21 The Cannery Culture 3 41 UCAPAWA and California Agriculture 4 69 A Promise Fulfilled: UCAPAWA in Southern California 5 87 Women and UCAPAWA 6 103 Death of a Dream Appendixes 125 Notes 137 Bibliography 171 Index 189 Page vi Tables 1 26 Distribution of Mexican Cannery Workers in California 2 31 Wage Differentials between Mexican and Russian Women Workers 3 84-85 Participation of Mexican Women in California UCAPAWA Locals 4 89-90 Women's Participation in UCAPAWA Locals, by Industry 5 90-91 Women's Participation in UCAPAWA Locals, by Region 6 96 Survey of UCAPAWA/FTA Contract Benefits for Cannery Workers, 1946 Page vii Illustrations Children in a San Bernardino Barrio 59 A young Mexican immigrant with her son in San 60 Bernardino First Communion of a Mexican American girl 61 The flapper, 1921 62 The forties 63 Women cannery workers at the California Sanitary 64-65 Canning Company Local 3 negotiating committee 66 Luisa Moreno 67 Page ix Acknowledgments I wish to thank the former UCAPAWA/FTA cannery workers and organizers who shared with me their memories and materials, including Lorena Ballard, Lucio Bernabé, Rose Dellama, Carmen Bernal Escobar, Elizabeth Sasuly Eudey, Caroline Goldiman, Dorothy Ray Healey, Luisa Moreno, Julia Luna Mount, María Rodríguez, Marcella Ryan Stack, and John Tisa. I am especially grateful to John Tisa whose private files provided a rich resource and to Luisa Moreno and Carmen Bernal Escobar whose vivid recollections proved invaluable to fashioning this study. I thank Dorothy Healey and Julia Luna Mount for their encouragement and candor. My former students Carolyn Arredondo and Ellen Amato deserve praise for the two oral interviews they conducted. In addition, Sherna Berger Gluck generously allowed me to quote from several volumes of the Rosie the Riveter Revisited oral history collection housed at California State University, Long Beach. I appreciate the assistance of staff members at the following archives: The Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics Library, the Bancroft Library, and the Social Science Library all Page x located at the University of California, Berkeley; the California State Library, Sacramento; Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, Stockton; the Department of Labor Archives, Washington, D.C.; the Tamiment Library at New York University; the Labor Archives at the University of Texas, Arlington; the Arizona Historical Society Library, Tucson; the Southern California Library for Social Science and Research in Los Angeles; and Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles. John Ahouse of the University Archives, California State University, Long Beach and Carol Schwartz of International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Library in San Francisco were extraordinarily helpful. David Brody, Albert Camarillo, Estelle Freedman, and Howard Shorr offered incisive criticism through several drafts of the manuscript. Indeed, David Brody read and reread differing versions and with his gentle, yet critical, prodding significantly contributed to the development of the present text. Joan Jensen, Mario García, and Patricia Zavella provided comments which considerably strengthened the organization of my research. I appreciate the enthusiastic support of Edward Escobar, Louise Año Nuevo Kerr, Sherna Berger Gluck, Valerie Matsumoto, Jean Gould Bryan, Thomas Dublin, and Kathryn Kish Sklar. I thank my colleagues at the University of California, Davis, for their collective encouragement and instructive comments. David Holtby has been a terrific editor. I deeply appreciate the sensitivity and respect he has shown for my scholarship. Chapter 4 of this book appeared as an article in The Pacific Historian and I thank Sally Miller, the journal editor, for allowing me to reprint a revised edition. Financial assistance at the early stages of this study was furnished by the Danforth Foundation, the Office of the Graduate Dean, Stanford University, the Office of Chicano Affairs, Stanford University, and the University Research Fund, University of Texas, El Paso. I also acknowledge the clerical assistance of Georgina Rivas, Anita Burdett and Florence Dick. Lynnda Borelli Pires deserves special mention for her meticulous word processing skills. I owe an enormous emotional debt to my family. With good humor and affection, my husband, children, and parents have shown exemplary patience and understanding. Notwithstanding, of course, the time that my oldest son and his friend redecorated our
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