Up Against the Open Shop -- Photographs of the Versatronex Strike
By David Bacon
On January 29, 1993 workers at the Versatronex plant in
Sunnyvale, California, filed out of its doors for the last time.
Seventeen years have passed since, but there are still electronics
workers in Silicon Valley who remember the company's name. It was
the first valley plant struck by production employees, and the first
where a strike won recognition of their union.
The struggle of these workers, almost all immigrants from
Mexico, Central America and the Philippines, demolished some of the
most cherished myths about the Silicon Valley workforce. It showed
workers there are like workers everywhere. Under the right
circumstances, even in the citadel of high tech's open shop, people
are willing to organize for a better life. "We said at the beginning
that if the company was going to close, let them close," said Sandra
Gomez, a leader of the Versatronex strike. "But as long as the plant
was open, we were going to fight for our rights."
For a history of organizing in Silicon Valley, including the
Versatronex strike, see the article, Up Against the Open Shop -- The
Hidden History of Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers, By David Bacon
http://www.truth-out.org/up-against-open-shop-hidden-story-silicon-valleys-high-tech-workers68167
The children of Versatronex strikers march in support of their
parents. The Spanish sign says: "Stop the Injustices in
Versatronex."
A Versatronex striker.
UE organizer Maria Pantoja talks with Versatronex strikers at a
meeting in the street on the first day of the strike, to elect the
strike committee.
Nicacia Amaya's sign accuses one of Versatronex's customers, Digital
Microwave Corp., of stealing her children's future by continuing to
do business with the struck plant.
Janitors' organizer Lino Pedres calls on strikebreakers to leave work
and respect the strike.
Versatronex striker Sandra Gomez speaks at a rally.
Strikers in front of the plant.
Versatronex strikers at their tent encampment on the sidewalk in
front of one of Versatronex's biggest customers, Digital Microwave
Corporation.
Striker Maribel Garcia reads a statement from women who went on a
hunger strike in a tent encampment on the sidewalk in front of one of
Versatronex' biggest customers, Digital Microwave Corporation.
Versatronex strikers marched through downtown San Jose with Korean
workers cheated of their pay when their factory closed, and janitors
fighting for a union contract, in a show of unity among immigrant
workers.
For more articles and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org
See also Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and
Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, 2008)
Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008
http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2002
See also the photodocumentary on indigenous migration to the US
Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4575
See also The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border
(University of California, 2004)
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9989.html
--
__________________________________
David Bacon, Photographs and Stories
http://dbacon.igc.org
__________________________________
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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