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Cannery And Agricultural Workers Industrial Union
Filipinos had a rough time migrating to the Unites States looking for work. During the progressive era many Filipino workers came to America to work in the cannery and industrial industries but were treated terribly. Many felt they were treated like pre 1865 African slaves. Only Filipino men were able to enter the United States. Filipino women were banned from coming with men and Filipino men were not allowed to have any relationship with women of different races. Majority of Filipino workers joined the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union and led many strikes. Filipino’s inspired many other immigrant workers to stand up for themselves and demand better workplaces and pay. Immigrants from all over the country moved west towards California in search of better work and more pay. During the great depression wages dropped drastically and hurt the worker’s income. There were so many immigrants that California made laws that prohibited new immigrants in California from working in the industrial areas. They made it a requirement for all immigrants to have been a resident of California for at least three years before they could apply for relief programs. They needed to find work quickly and were forced to take the undesirable jobs that were left and that was in the fields doing field work. Workers did not stand for this as they had very little pay and could barely support themselves. They worked with the Cannery and Agricultural workers industrial union and went on a series of strikes that earned the support of many other workers. Their numbers grew fast.

Cotton Strike of 1933
The Cotton Strike in 1933 is one of the most memorable strikes in American History. The farm workers went to strike with a thousand eight hundred workers strong with people of Mexican, African and white decent. The price of cotton dropped from one dollar per hundred pounds of cotton to forty cents per hundred pounds of cotton. This benefitted the farmers but not the workers. Farmers tried to break the strike of over fifteen hundred works by hiring police officers to scare the strikers with violence and get them to disperse. Eleven people injured and two people dead from the policemen. Farmers thought this would be enough to break the strike but it did nothing to frighten the strikers. Many strikebreakers or people who continue to work throughout the strike end up joining the strike leaving the growers with even less workers. The public grew annoyed with the violence from the strike that the government had to take action. The federal government purposed that the growers raise the price of cotton by seventy-five cents so everyone is happy and the strike can finally come to any end.