Perelli-Minetti Strike Begins
Perelli-Minetti strike begins
Helen Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and Kathy Lynch picket in front of a Perelli-Minetti vineyard. Delano, California, 1966. Photo by Emmon Clarke.
The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) was busy from the start, tackling multiple campaigns including a strike and boycott against Perelli-Minetti, a grower that owned 2,280 acres near Delano and Mc Farland and who crushed over 50,000 tons of grapes in his winery every year, and produced 8.5 million gallons of wine and brandy. The strike started on September 9, and continued through the winter as Minetti refused to negotiate with the UFWOC and signed an agreement with the Teamsters Union instead. The agreement, according to El Malcriado, gave workers 15 cents less an hour than the workers at Schenley and didn’t involve workers on the negotiations. Furthermore, Teamsters brought in strikebreakers by bus and patrolled the fields displaying their weapons to intimidate strikers.
Tom & Ethel Bradley Center
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330
Phone: (818) 677-1200 / Contact Us