Salad Bowl of the World · Episode 11 of 14 · 11 min
1936: Sixty-One Days
At midnight on September 4, 1936 the packers and trimmers of the Salinas lettuce sheds walked out over preferential hiring, and for sixty-one days the town was in turmoil. Shippers, a Citizens' Association, and a reserve colonel working under an assumed name met strikers with tear gas and deputized citizens. The Labor Board ruled in 1939 and the Ninth Circuit in 1941, over whether a shed was a factory or part of the field.
Who's who
- Henry L. Strobel+2 more episodesGrower-Shipper Association president; led about fifty deputized citizens up Main Street
- Henry R. SanbornReserve colonel who coordinated strike defense under the name Henry Winter
- George GriffinSalinas police chief who ordered the gas of 15 September
- Alfred S. DossUnion secretary who filed the labor board charges
- Charles N. FeidelsonNLRB trial examiner at the 1937 Salinas hearings
- Robert M. La Follette Jr.Senator whose civil liberties committee investigated California employers
- John Steinbeck+4 more episodesAuthor of In Dubious Battle and the Harvest Gypsies articles
- Cruse CarrielPublic-relations man hired by the growers who directed the Citizens' Association
Where it happens
- Salinas, California+7 more episodesTown where the 1936 shed strike unfolded on Main Street
- Jeffery Hotel, Salinas, CaliforniaSixth-floor command post for the strike defense
- Imperial Valley, California+2 more episodes1935 shed strike where two strikers were shot dead
- Watsonville, California+1 more episodePart of the shippers' district covered by the strike
- Labor Temple, Salinas, CaliforniaGassed during the 16 September confrontation
Timeline
- February 1935Imperial Valley shed workers strike; deputized civilians kill two strikers.
- August 11, 1936Seventy-two firms sign a power of attorney giving the Grower-Shipper Association authority to bargain.
- September 4, 1936The shed workers' strike begins at midnight.
- 15-September 16, 1936Police gas a crowd of about 2,000, then the streets and the Labor Temple.
- November 3, 1936The strike ends without a settlement after sixty-one days.
- September 15, 1939The National Labor Relations Board issues its decision; the Ninth Circuit enforces it in 1941.
Still debated
Strike numbers vary widely, from a union of about 1,200 to a walkout of 3,000 or more at its peak. The Board's finding of police brutality should not be read as a finding against the growers, and sources differ on the strike's end date and on details of Sanborn's name and hotel.
