por David Bacon
UE organizer Maria Pantoja talks with Versatronex strikers at a meeting in the street on the first day of the strike, to elect the strike committee. (PHOTO BY DAVID BACON)
On January 29, 1993 workers at the Versatronex plant in Sunnyvale, California, filed out of its doors for the last time.
Seventeen years have passed since, but there are still electronics workers in Silicon Valley who remember the company’s name. It was the first valley plant struck by production employees, and the first where a strike won recognition of their union.
The struggle of these workers, almost all immigrants from Mexico, Central America and the Philippines, demolished some of the most cherished myths about the Silicon Valley workforce. It showed workers there are like workers everywhere. Under the right circumstances, even in the citadel of high tech’s open shop, people are willing to organize for a better life.
“We said at the beginning that if the company was going to close, let them close,” said Sandra Gomez, a leader of the Versatronex strike.
“But as long as the plant was open, we were going to fight for our rights.”
For a history of organizing in Silicon Valley, including the Versatronex strike, see the article, Up Against the Open Shop — The Hidden History of Silicon Valley’s High TechWorkers, By David Bacon.
http://www.truth-out.org/up-against-opensh o p – h i d d e n – s t o r y -silicon-valleys-highte c h – w o r k e r s 6 8 1 6 7
