United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America
Encyclopedia
The United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA) was a CIO-affiliated trade union during the late 1930s and 1940s.
UCAPAWA was founded by former Columbia University economics professor Donald Henderson as part of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1935; then named the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union, Local 18211. Henderson eventually, as President of the union, established it as the agricultural arm of Congress of Industrial Organizations
in 1937 after having been abandoned by the AFL. Part of the reason behind its founding was to address the concerns of agricultural laborers and their counterparts in packing and canning during the Great Depression
. Relief agencies in California
's San Joaquin Valley
, for example, did not offer aid to agricultural laborers, and farmers, taking advantage of the desperation of migrant workers, repeatedly reduced the wages offered to workers.
UCAPAWA's regional and local leadership, many of whom had direct ties to the Communist Party(Including Henderson), made use of women's social networks and cultivated leadership among Mexican women. UCAPAWA was one of the few labor unions that allowed women to hold positions of authority. In these positions, they pushed for such benefits as maternity leave and equal pay, and were therefore on the forefront in the struggle for women's equality. It is here where similarities between both the institution of the Communist Party and the institution of the Union coincide to the point of mutual agreement.
One early UCAPAWA strike was the 1939 Madera Cotton Strike, which, despite provoking a violent reaction from a group called Associated Farmers, succeeded in winning a minimum wage for union members. It also served as an example of inter-ethnic solidarity, with African American
, Mexican American, and White American
workers all participating in the strike.
In Seattle
, UCAPAWA represented Filipino
cannery workers from 1937 until 1947.
In the Southern United States
, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union
(STFU), which Communist UCAPAWA president Donald Henderson regarded as "a utopian agrarian movement", became affiliated with the union. A power struggle between the groups erupted soon after the affiliation, and culminated with a 1939 protest against the eviction of sharecroppers in Missouri, which was unsupported by the national organization. As a result, the STFU left the union.
The STFU dispute was a turning point for UCAPAWA. Agricultural unions did not have collective bargaining
rights and often faced local hostility. As a result, UCAPAWA shifted its focus from the fields to processing plants.
In Texas, UCAPAWA was instrumental in unionizing and uniting workers from feed, flour, and cotton mills. At a 1938 wildcat strike of shrimp-processing plant workers, a UCAPAWA organizer was murdered on the picket line.
During the 1938 pecan-shellers strike led by Emma Tenayuca
in San Antonio, UCAPAWA president Henderson dispatched organizer Luisa Moreno
to turn the local, El Nogal, into an efficient bargaining organization. Tenayuca had by then already established the Texas Pecan Shelling Workers Union, UCAPAWA Local 172. Their primary grievances put forth against against the Seligmann Company were a 15% paycut, deploring plant conditions, and unpaid homework. The strike, which also became violent when strikers were teargassed, ended with the recognition of the UCAPAWA local and a minimum wage for workers. Local San Antonio Police responded by attacking Tenyuaca and the UCAPAWA local leadership, arresting them and charging them with "Communist Agitation".
In 1939, UCAPAWA vice president Dorothy Ray Healey
played an important role in unionizing workers at California Sanitary Canning Company (Cal San) in Los Angeles, who struck in August of the same year. Union members picketed the cannery, grocery stores that sold Cal San goods, and the houses of the Shapiro brothers, the plant's owners. Faced with children holding signs bearing slogans such as "I'm underfed because Mama is underpaid", the Shapiro brothers met with negotiators and soon reached a settlement. The Cal San local became UCAPAWA's second largest, and the union's ranks grew to include the workers at several California canneries.
UCAPAWA was particularly strong among Mexican and Mexican American workers. In 1940, the San Francisco News called UCAPAWA the "fastest growing agricultural union in California", and attributed its success to its appeal to Mexican and Mexican American workers. The union was also supported by such outside organizations as the John Steinbeck Committee to Aid Agricultural Organization, the J. Lubin Society, the Spanish-speaking Peoples Congress, and on occasion, local clergy.
In 1944 UCAPAWA became the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers (FTA). In 1946, the Los Angeles local "collapsed under the weight of Red Scare witchhunts". By 1950, the FTA only counted 1,000 workers as members, and it was folded into the Distributive and Processing Workers of America.
UCAPAWA was founded by former Columbia University economics professor Donald Henderson as part of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1935; then named the Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union, Local 18211. Henderson eventually, as President of the union, established it as the agricultural arm of Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
in 1937 after having been abandoned by the AFL. Part of the reason behind its founding was to address the concerns of agricultural laborers and their counterparts in packing and canning during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Relief agencies in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's San Joaquin Valley
San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...
, for example, did not offer aid to agricultural laborers, and farmers, taking advantage of the desperation of migrant workers, repeatedly reduced the wages offered to workers.
UCAPAWA's regional and local leadership, many of whom had direct ties to the Communist Party(Including Henderson), made use of women's social networks and cultivated leadership among Mexican women. UCAPAWA was one of the few labor unions that allowed women to hold positions of authority. In these positions, they pushed for such benefits as maternity leave and equal pay, and were therefore on the forefront in the struggle for women's equality. It is here where similarities between both the institution of the Communist Party and the institution of the Union coincide to the point of mutual agreement.
One early UCAPAWA strike was the 1939 Madera Cotton Strike, which, despite provoking a violent reaction from a group called Associated Farmers, succeeded in winning a minimum wage for union members. It also served as an example of inter-ethnic solidarity, with African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, Mexican American, and White American
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
workers all participating in the strike.
In Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, UCAPAWA represented Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
cannery workers from 1937 until 1947.
In the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union
Southern Tenant Farmers Union
The Southern Tenant Farmers' Union was founded in 1934 as a civil farmer's union to further organize the tenant farmers in the Southern United States....
(STFU), which Communist UCAPAWA president Donald Henderson regarded as "a utopian agrarian movement", became affiliated with the union. A power struggle between the groups erupted soon after the affiliation, and culminated with a 1939 protest against the eviction of sharecroppers in Missouri, which was unsupported by the national organization. As a result, the STFU left the union.
The STFU dispute was a turning point for UCAPAWA. Agricultural unions did not have collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
rights and often faced local hostility. As a result, UCAPAWA shifted its focus from the fields to processing plants.
In Texas, UCAPAWA was instrumental in unionizing and uniting workers from feed, flour, and cotton mills. At a 1938 wildcat strike of shrimp-processing plant workers, a UCAPAWA organizer was murdered on the picket line.
During the 1938 pecan-shellers strike led by Emma Tenayuca
Emma Tenayuca
Emma Tenayuca was a labor organizer for farm workers in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1930s and beyond...
in San Antonio, UCAPAWA president Henderson dispatched organizer Luisa Moreno
Luisa Moreno
Luisa Moreno was a leader in the United States labor movement and a social activist. She unionized workers, led strikes, wrote pamphlets in English and Spanish, and convened the 1939 Congreso de Pueblos de Habla Española, the "first national Latino civil rights assembly", before "voluntarily"...
to turn the local, El Nogal, into an efficient bargaining organization. Tenayuca had by then already established the Texas Pecan Shelling Workers Union, UCAPAWA Local 172. Their primary grievances put forth against against the Seligmann Company were a 15% paycut, deploring plant conditions, and unpaid homework. The strike, which also became violent when strikers were teargassed, ended with the recognition of the UCAPAWA local and a minimum wage for workers. Local San Antonio Police responded by attacking Tenyuaca and the UCAPAWA local leadership, arresting them and charging them with "Communist Agitation".
In 1939, UCAPAWA vice president Dorothy Ray Healey
Dorothy Ray Healey
Dorothy Ray Healey was a long-time activist in the Communist Party USA, from the late 1920s to the 1970s. During the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, Healey was one of the leading public figures of the Communist Party in the state of California...
played an important role in unionizing workers at California Sanitary Canning Company (Cal San) in Los Angeles, who struck in August of the same year. Union members picketed the cannery, grocery stores that sold Cal San goods, and the houses of the Shapiro brothers, the plant's owners. Faced with children holding signs bearing slogans such as "I'm underfed because Mama is underpaid", the Shapiro brothers met with negotiators and soon reached a settlement. The Cal San local became UCAPAWA's second largest, and the union's ranks grew to include the workers at several California canneries.
UCAPAWA was particularly strong among Mexican and Mexican American workers. In 1940, the San Francisco News called UCAPAWA the "fastest growing agricultural union in California", and attributed its success to its appeal to Mexican and Mexican American workers. The union was also supported by such outside organizations as the John Steinbeck Committee to Aid Agricultural Organization, the J. Lubin Society, the Spanish-speaking Peoples Congress, and on occasion, local clergy.
In 1944 UCAPAWA became the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers (FTA). In 1946, the Los Angeles local "collapsed under the weight of Red Scare witchhunts". By 1950, the FTA only counted 1,000 workers as members, and it was folded into the Distributive and Processing Workers of America.