The sentiment expressed by Hernández, a Teamsters member, was shared by more than 1,000 strikers and their supporters who marched through the streets here to the main gate of the Basic Vegetable plant November 14, waving flags, carrying banners, and chanting all the way.

Some 750 members of Teamsters Local 890 have been on strike at Basic Vegetable since July 7.

Striker Humberto Capiz described some of the basic issues of the strike to the Militant. "The main issue in the strike is the preservation of the union. The last offer of Basic Vegetable included a wage freeze, contracting out of work, cutting insurance and the pension plan, and starting new workers at a much lower wage than we get paid now. What they really want to do is replace us permanently with the scabs."

According to the Californian, nearly one in 10 of the 11,000 residents of King City work at Basic Vegetable. It is the state's largest producer of dehydrated onions and garlic and one of Monterey Country's larger agricultural employers.

The march and rally on November 14 was called to show that the strikers are still solid and continue to win solidarity for their strike, in spite of an ongoing campaign of violence-baiting conducted by the company and echoed in the local media. Less than 5 percent of the Basic workers have crossed the line.

The company has accused the strikers of more than 168 acts of violence and has offered a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of strikers for engaging in or directing the alleged violence.

The strikers describe incidents of violence directed against them by strikebreakers, however, as well as harassment by the cops. In August a group of strikers who were handing out leaflets against the strike were beaten up by strikebreakers in the town of Avenal.

William Padgett told the Militant that many of the 350 replacement workers now working inside the plant are being bused in from outside King City. "I was a scab at the beginning of the strike," he said. "I worked in there for three days before I came out and joined the strike. I'm 18 years old, I needed work. I had applied earlier, and when they called me in on the first day of the strike I went to work. They worked us 12 hours a day at $8.00 per hour, with three people where I was trying to do what 12 had done before. It was unsafe and we didn't get any medical benefits. I try to get others I know in there to join the strike as well."

Workers came to support the strikers from different unions around the state. According to Jesús Cervantes of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 814, about 150 HERE members came to the rally on buses from San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles.

Amy Collier, who joined her first union, the United Transportation Union, about a year ago, was attending her first labor rally ever. "We had a blast," she said as the march and rally drew to a close. "I came to show my support with other union members because what's happening is wrong.… Now I want to talk to my union brothers and sisters about doing a food drive or raising money to get my union involved."

Locked-out Kaiser Aluminum workers were very visible at the rally, with a large banner of their own. Kaiser worker Rick Valente spoke at the rally, saying, "Steelworkers are with Local 890 all the way."

Other unions represented included the United Farm Workers (UFW), Service Employees International Union, California Nurses Association, International Association of Machinists (IAM), and many other Teamsters locals from around the state.

Members of the United Farm Workers Student Committee and other students from the University of California–Santa Cruz also went down to King City to show support for the strikers. They spoke with strikers and invited them to speak on their campus the following week.

Farm worker Lupe Vásquez, commented, "The most important thing is that we all flow together in one canal. If we are united no one can overcome us."

Luz Hernández has worked at Basic Vegetable for 20 years, and before that she was a member of the UFW from 1970 to 1973 at Interharvest. "Ninety percent of the workers at Basic Vegetable worked as farm workers before they got hired at the plant," she said. "And many of us went through the experience of the big battles waged by the UFW and César Chávez in the Salinas Valley in the 1970s. We see this as a continuation of that fight.

"The mentality of the owners at Basic Vegetable is very much like the mentality of the growers back in those days," Hernández continued. "Back then children worked in the fields. I worked in the fields as a child. We didn't go to school—we worked. They can't do that anymore because there are unions now. Now one-third of the workers at Basic Vegetable have kids in college. This is what having a union means to us, because if they can break the union they can take us back to what it was like before."

The experience of the strike has had a profound affect on many of its participants. Adriana Granados, whose husband has been an electrician at Basic for 16 years, expressed it this way, "Lots of people who were shy and quiet are speaking up [during the strike]. Lots of leaders are coming out of this for the community. This is the first strike for all of us and it is a learning experience. We were in a protective bubble, but this was burst. Now we're considering other issues in the world. That's a good thing."

Ellen Berman is a member of IAM Local 1781.  
 
 
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