Mexicans Move to Cannery Work During and After WWII · Before Silicon Valley

Title: Mexicans Move to Cannery Work During and After WWII
Description: WWII was a profitable period for growers, packers, canners, and workers as destruction of farmland in Europe and the mobilization of the military worldwide generated a huge demand for canned goods. Over half of Santa Clara County canning production was allocated for the war effort. Meanwhile, canneries in San José suffered labor shortages because of the absence of men to the military and the shift of ethnic white women to higher-paying, year-round “Rosie the Riveter” manufacturing jobs, such as at Hendy Iron Works.

In response, Mexican women and braceros filled cannery jobs. During peak periods, canneries operated non-stop, and many provided transportation during the night shift or allowed women to work until 6:00 a.m., when public buses began to operate.

From 1948 to the 1970s, among cannery women workers, Mexicans comprised the largest ethnic group, with Mexican women working on the line under the supervision of older Italian and Portuguese women, while Mexican men worked in the higher-paying year-round warehouse jobs. Second-generation, English-speaking Mexican American women moved easily from the cannery line to higher- paying supervisory positions and front-office jobs.
Scholar Talk: https://vimeo.com/812986764
Additional Online Information: Del Monte Plant #3 Overview (1999); "Rainbow Harvest" - Dole Fruit Cocktail
Identifier: B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 005

Media: https://library.sjsu.edu/sites/library.sjsu.edu/files/images/b4sv-tp3slide5-1080.png; Women working in a cannery