1938 San Antonio pecan shellers strike facts for kids

The 1938 San Antonio pecan shellers strike was a big worker protest in San Antonio, Texas, United States. About 12,000 people who shelled pecans took part. Most of them were Mexican American women. They were upset because the Southern Pecan Shelling Company cut their pay. A brave activist named Emma Tenayuca helped organize them. The strike started on January 31 and ended on March 8. Both sides agreed to talk it out, and the workers eventually got a pay raise. This was the biggest worker protest in San Antonio's history.

Why the Pecan Shellers Went on Strike

In the 1930s, Texas grew a lot of pecans. About 40% of all pecans in the U.S. came from Texas. Half of those were from around San Antonio. This city was known as the "world's largest pecan shelling center."

Hard Work and Low Pay

Many people, mostly Mexican American women, worked shelling pecans. There were between 10,000 and 20,000 shellers. They had to remove the hard outer shell of the pecans. The work was very hard, and they earned very little money. A family might only make $1.00 to $4.00 a week. Sometimes, they had to do other farm work to earn more money.

The places where they worked were often small and crowded. They didn't have good air flow or running water. Many workers had to use their bare hands to shell the pecans. Because of the bad air and pecan dust, many shellers got sick with tuberculosis.

The Company and Pay Cuts

The Southern Pecan Shelling Company was very powerful. It was owned by Julius Seligman. This company shelled a huge amount of pecans across the country. They used a system where they sold whole pecans to contractors. These contractors then hired the shellers and handled all the work.

On January 31, 1938, the contractors announced a pay cut. Workers who shelled pecan halves would get less money per pound. Those who shelled pecan pieces also got less. Even the people who cracked the pecans had their pay lowered.

Because of these pay cuts, about 12,000 shellers stopped working. This was about two-thirds of all the pecan workers. This wasn't the first time pecan shellers had gone on strike action. There had been protests in 1934 and 1935, but those didn't succeed.

The Strike Begins

At first, some parts of the Pecan Shellers' Union didn't support the strike. But a larger union, the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA), decided to help the workers.

Emma Tenayuca Steps Up

Soon, Emma Tenayuca became the main leader of the strike. The workers chose her to be their committee chair. Emma wasn't a pecan sheller herself. But she was well-known for helping workers and had started a group called the Workers Alliance. She said her group had over 10,000 members.

Some people tried to turn public opinion against the strikers. They said Emma Tenayuca was a communist and that she was controlling the strike. The San Antonio mayor and other officials used this idea to make people less supportive of the workers. Even the police chief said it wasn't a real strike, but a plan by communists. The local Catholic Archbishop also spoke against the strike. However, La Prensa, a big Hispanic newspaper, supported the workers.

Challenges and Support

During the strike, many protesters were arrested by the police. Emma Tenayuca was also put in jail. All the places that gave free food to the hungry, called soup kitchens, were closed to the strikers.

As things got more tense, the Governor of Texas ordered an investigation. He wanted to see if the police had broken any rules about people's rights. The investigation found that the police had gone too far, but nothing was done to them.

Some people in the UCAPAWA union worried about Emma Tenayuca's connection to communism. They asked her to step down as strike leader. Emma agreed to do this for the good of the movement. Donald Henderson, the UCAPAWA president, took her place. Even after stepping down, Emma continued to help the strike in other ways.

The strikers also got help from others. Texas Representative Maury Maverick supported them. The American Civil Liberties Union also offered help. A big meeting was held to celebrate when some arrested strikers were set free.

Reaching an Agreement

By March, both sides agreed to solve the problem by talking it out with a neutral group. On March 8, the pecan shellers went back to work. The union and the pecan companies agreed to let a three-person panel make a decision.

On April 13, the panel announced its decision. They said the workers should get a small pay raise. Also, the UCAPAWA union was officially recognized as the only group that could represent the pecan shellers.

What Happened Next

The pay raise from the panel was not as much as the workers wanted. However, wages went up again in October. This was because of a new law called the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This law set a national minimum wage of $0.25 per hour.

The union and the pecan companies were worried that this higher wage would make companies use machines instead of people. They tried to get the pecan shellers removed from the minimum wage law, but they failed.

Because of the new minimum wage, the pecan shelling industry started using more machines. By 1941, about 10,000 shellers lost their jobs permanently. But many of them found new work as the United States prepared for World War II.

After the strike, Maury Maverick, who had supported the workers, ran for mayor of San Antonio in 1938. He won with a lot of support from Mexican Americans. Emma Tenayuca later wrote an essay about the strike and the challenges faced by Mexican Americans.