Elizabeth Schilling was a journalist for the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian.

The Watsonville canneries strike was a strike by over 1,000 food processing workers at Watsonville Canning and Frozen Foods Co and Richard A. Shaw Co. in Watsonville, California between 1985 and 1987. Watsonville, California, then a city of 30,000, was a major center for frozen food processing in the United States. By the mid-1980s, Latinas represented a majority of food processing workers.

In early 1985, workers represented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 912 began negotiations ahead of the expiration of their 1982-1985 contract. Watsonville Canning and later Shaw’s proposed severe wage and benefits cuts. After months of bargaining, workers called a strike in September 1985 to fight the cuts. Shaw’s workers approved a new contract and returned to work in February 1986. Watsonville Canning workers approved a new contract in March 1987.

The local chapter of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), a rank-and-file organization of Teamsters members advocating for union democracy and more militant organizing, was active in supporting the strike. TDU called on Local 912 to hold weekly union meetings during the strike, to authorize the election of a committee of strikers to administer the strike fund, and to nearly double strike benefits to $100 per week. TDU also ran a reform slate of candidates for the Local 912 Executive Board.

The strike also attracted significant community support, particularly from the Mexican and broader Latinx communities. Strike Support Committees formed in Watsonville, Santa Cruz, and elsewhere in the state. Rallies in October 1985, November 1985, March 1986, and June 1986 each attracted thousands of supporters. Then Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson spoke at the June 1986 rally.

The strike placed significant financial pressures on Watsonville Canning. In 1985 and 1986, the owners secured loans from Wells Fargo to stay afloat through the strike. By February 1987, the company had defaulted and in July was sold to Norcal Frozen Foods.