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The United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing Allied Workers of America (also known as UCAPAWA) was an organization formed by Donald Henderson from 1937-1951 and had representatives lay the groundwork for the new union. They framed a constitution, elected national and district officers and affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). The founders envisioned a national decentralized labor organization with power flowing from the bottom up. Although it was a short-lived the UCAPAWA influenced many workers and had a major impact on the women workers of America, especially Mexican-American women. The UCAPAWA helped shape the American Labor Movement.

Origin
The United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing Allied Workers of America (or UCAPAWA) was an organization formed after the American Federation of Labor (AFL) ignored several delegate members plea to have better working conditions for farm and food processing workers. At its head stood an intense and energetic organizer named Donald Henderson who was a young economics instructor at Columbia University and a member of the Communist party. Unable to persuade the AFL to charter an international union of agricultural workers and increasingly drown to the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) industrial union structure, Henderson and representatives from locals throughout the country met in Denver in July 1937 to form UCAPAWA, which promptly received a charter from the CIO.

The UCAPAWA represented multi-cultural workers from Mexicans in sugar beet to black sharecroppers in Arkansas and Missouri. They were also very involved in Asian-American workers such as Filipino, Chinese and Japanese cannery workers in Washington. However one the most prominent roles the UCAPAWA played was in the workplace for women, especially Mexican women. In fact one of the most important positions, Vice President, was filled by Dorothy Ray Healey. In the beginning of UCAPAWA had the financial support of the CIO however there were hard times ahead for the newly formed organization. By 1937, Henderson could report a membership of over 120,000 workers in more than 300 locals. A steadfast commitment to trade union democracy, shared by both national leaders and regular members provided the underlying philosophy for union endeavors. Some leaders of the UCAPAWA saw themselves as participants of a radical culture and political projects. When the UCAPAWA entered an affiliation the Arkansas-based Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) there was controversy regarding political associations. Infighting between Communist party leaders and the local Socialists who served as the organization’s principal administrators, as well as personality and ideological conflicts marred the alliance from the start. According to the both the STFU and UCAPAWA differed over a fundamental issue: Whether agricultural workers could best be served by a protest organization or a trade union. STFU thought that sharecroppers and tenant farmers could not be organized because they were uneducated and too poor.

The UCAPAWA disagreed and argued that agricultural workers could be taught the rudimentary procedures for running the locals and that union members had to support their own organization. Another difference between the STFU and UCAPAWA was that the STFU wanted a form of centralized government while the UCAPAWA believed in a more decentralized system. After the STFU departed, the UCAPAWA’s constitution guaranteed local autonomy and provided for local control of at least half of all dues collected.

The UCAPAWA distanced themselves further from conventional unions and organizations by representing working classes generally ignored by traditional craft affiliates. Union officers deliberately enlisted black, Mexican, Asian and female labor organizers in order to launch campaigns aimed at minorities and women. UCAPAWA was spreading their wings from fields to fisheries, canneries, processing plants and even tobacco manufacturing workers. The UCAPAWA was fast becoming one of the more influential unions in America and when the 1939 Madera Cotton Strike happened' the UCAPAWA proved they were a force to be reckoned with. The Madera Cotton Strike provoked a violent reaction from a group called Associated Farmers, but despite that the UCAPAWA succeeded in winning a minimum wage for union members. The strike also showed inter-ethnic solidarity, with African-American, Mexican American and White American workers all participating in the strike. Besides UCAPAWA proving themselves a strong union they were also beginning to acquire a reputation as Communist Party (CP).

While some truly believe the demise of the UCAPAWA was caused by the involvement with the Radical Party, many members of UCAPAWA believed themselves to be more liberal than anything. The argument of whether the union leaders were supporters of Communism set off an argument between many local leaders. Vicki L. Ruiz makes a very important statement in her book She writes that “UCAPAWA certainly had a leftist stance, though the nature and extent of its leftist ideology will continue to be debated.” Despite their roots or political stance, the UCAPAWA had shown that it could organize the nation’s most vulnerable workers. It also showed that women and minority groups were capable of playing an important role in the labor movement.