On 31 January 1938, the mostly Latina women pecan shellers in San Antonio, Texas went on strike against pay cuts.
Factories in San Antonio produced around half of all pecans in the US, with women workers of Mexican descent manually picking out pecans from their shells in the final stage of the production process. The workers were paid piecework rates, of around six to seven cents per pound of pecans.
The employers attempted to cut pay down to around three cents per pound, and on January 31, 12,000 workers walked out on strike. They elected Emma Tenayuca to lead the strike. Tenayuca was a fellow pecan-sheller, who had formed the National Workers Alliance in 1937, which fought for workers’ and migrants’ rights.
Soon, up to 8000 more workers joined the strike, while police attacked, beat, and teargassed workers and their supporters.
Despite the repression, the workers persisted, and after 37 days, the employers agreed to arbitration. Through the arbitration process, the workers ended up winning pay increases to between seven and eight cents per pound.
The strike was a landmark dispute in inspiring Mexican-American working class organising in general. Tenayuca later recalled: “What started out as an organization for equal wages turned into a mass movement against starvation, for civil rights, for a minimum-wage law”.
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