Oxnard strike of 1903
# Oxnard strike of 1903

The Oxnard strike of 1903 was a labor rights dispute in the southern California coastal city of Oxnard between local landowners and the majority Japanese and Mexican labor force.

## History

### Before the strike

vteLabor disputes by sector :

vteAgricultural strikes

1800s

Thibodaux sugar 1887

Cotton pickers 1891

1900s–1920s

Oxnard 1903

Seattle fishermen 1912

Grabow lumber 1912

Wheatland hops 1913

northern Minnesota lumber 1916–1917

Hanapepe sugar 1924

Imperial cantaloupe 1928

1930s

Imperial lettuce 1930

Santa Clara cannery 1931

Vacaville tree pruners 1932

Wisconsin milk 1933

Yakima hops 1933

California agricultural (Santa Clara cherry, El Monte berry) 1933

Great lumber 1935

Stockton cannery 1937

1940s–present

Hawaiian sugar 1946

Puget Sound fishermen 1949

Delano grape (1965–1970)

Salad Bowl 1970

Watsonville Cannery (1985–1987)

Frito-Lay 2021

vteCoal strikes

1870s – 1900s

Mahoning Valley strike 1873

Morewood massacre 1891

Coal Creek War

Bituminous coal strike 1894

Lattimer massacre 1897

Illinois coal wars 1898–1900 (Battle of Virden, Pana massacre, Carterville Mine Riot)

Anthracite coal strike 1902

Carbon county strike 1903–04

1910s

Westmoreland strike 1910–11

Paint Creek mine war 1912

Colorado Coalfield War 1913–14 (Ludlow Massacre, The 10-Day War)

Hartford coal mine riot 1914

1920s – 1930s

West Virginia coal wars 1912–21 (Battle of Matewan, Battle of Blair Mountain)

Alabama miners' strike 1920

UMW General Coal Strike 1922 (Herrin Massacre)

Indiana bituminous strike 1927

Colorado Coal Strike 1927–28 (Columbine Mine massacre)

Harlan County War 1931–1939 (Battle of Evarts)

Estevan riot 1931

1940s – 2020s

Australian coal strike 1949

UK miners' strike 1969

UK miners' strike 1972

Three-Day Week

US Bituminous coal strike 1974

US Bituminous coal strike 1977–78

UK miners' strike 1984–85

Pittston Coal strike 1989–90

Warrior Met Coal strike 2021–22

vteGeneral strikes

1800s

Philadelphia 1835

St. Louis

Scranton 1877

First May Day (Haymarket Affair) 1886

New Orleans 1892

1900s

Sweden 1909

Philadelphia 1910

Vancouver 1918

Seattle

Winnipeg 1919

Germany 1920

San Francisco

Minneapolis 1934

Oakland 1946

Austria 1950

Finland 1956

Paraguay 1958

Namibia 1971

Uruguay 1973

Spain 1988

Nepal 1992

2000s

Guinea 2007

Egypt 2008

French Caribbean 2009

Spain 2010

European 2012

India 2016

Brazil

Catalan 2017

Catalan 2019

vteUS manufacturing strikes

1800s–1920s

Cigars 1877

El Paso smelters 1913

Studebaker 1913

Standard Oil 1915

Boston cigars 1919

1930s–1970s

Tampa cigars 1931

Auto-Lite 1934

Kohler 1934

Flint sit-down 1936

Akron rubber 1936

Remington 1936

Ford 1937

Chrysler Auto 1939

General Motors 1939

General Motors 1945

Ford 1945

Boeing 1948

Kohler 1954

International Harvester 1979

1980s–2000s

Todd Shipyards 1983

International Paper 1987-1988

John Deere 1986–1987

General Motors 2007

Boeing 2008

2010s–2020s

Oil refineries 2015

Kohler 2015

Jim Beam 2016

Bath shipbuilders 2020

St. Paul Park refinery 2021

Volvo Trucks 2021

Frito-Lay 2021

Nabisco 2021

Heaven Hill 2021

Kellogg's 2021

John Deere 2021

vteMetal mining strikes

1800s

Upper Peninsula 1865

Coeur d'Alene 1892

Cripple Creek 1894

Leadville 1896–97

Coeur d'Alene 1899

1900s–1920s

Colorado Labor Wars (Idaho Springs) 1903–04

Cananea 1906

Goldfield 1906–07

Copper Country 1913–14

Bisbee 1917

Anaconda Road 1920

1930s–1970s

Empire Zinc 1950

Murdochville 1957

Inco 1978

vteTransport strikes

1800s

Great Railroad Strike 1877

Camp Dump 1882

Great Southwest 1886

Burlington 1888

Buffalo switchmen 1892

New Orleans waterfront 1892

Pullman strike 1894

1900s–1920s

Chicago teamsters 1905

New Orleans Levee 1907

Illinois Central shopmen 1911

NYC Harbor Strike 1919

Seattle waterfront 1919

Portland waterfront 1922

Railway shopmen 1922

1930s–1970s

West Coast waterfront 1934

Minneapolis teamsters 1934

NYC teamsters truckers 1938

Vancouver waterfront 1935

Gulf Coast maritime 1936

NYC tugboat 1946

USPS 1970

Longshoremen 1971

1980s–2000s

Patco (air traffic controllers) 1981

Pan Am 1985

UPS 1997

Montreal longshoremen 2020

vteSanitation strikes

Memphis 1968

St. Petersburg 1968

Charleston 1969

Atlanta 1977

Atlanta 2018

vteService strikes in the United States

1800s–1920s

Newsboys 1899

NYC waiters 1912

Actors 1919

Boston police 1919

1930s–1970s

New York Hotel 1934

Milwaukee sales clerks 1934–35

Seattle Post 1936

Fleischer Studios 1937

NYC retail 1937

Disney animators 1941

Musicians 1942

Hollywood 1945

Writers Guild 1960

Cleveland convention 1963

St. John's 1966

Memphis sanitation 1968

St. Petersburg sanitation 1968

NYC teachers 1968

Charleston hospital 1969

Baltimore municipal (police) 1974

Atlanta sanitation 1977

1980s–2000s

Writers Guild 1981

Writers Guild 1988

SF newspaper 1994

Detroit newspaper 1995

Verizon 2000

Broadway musicians 2003

CA supermarkets 2003

UM Janitors 2006

Umpires 2006

Hayward teachers 2007

Writers Guild 2007

Stagehands 2007

CBS News 2007

2010s

Government (Wisconsin) 2011

Fight for $15 2012–2019

Tacoma nurses 2014

Verizon 2016

Video games 2016

Teachers (AZ, CO, Los Angeles, NC, OK, WV) 2018–2019

Hotels 2018

Stop & Shop 2019

2020s

UC Santa Cruz 2020

University of California 2022

Writers Guild 2023

SAG-AFTRA 2023

vteSteel strikes in the US

1800s–1920s

Homestead 1892

U.S. Steel recognition 1901

Pressed Steel Car 1909

Great Steel 1919

1930s–1970s

Little Steel (Memorial Day massacre) 1937

Nationwide 1952

Nationwide 1959

1980s–2020s

USX 1986

Allegheny Technologies 2021

vteNorth American transit strikesStreetcar strikes

St. Louis 1900

Indianapolis 1892

Los Angeles 1903

San Francisco 1907

Pensacola 1908

Columbus 1910

Philadelphia 1910

Indianapolis 1913

St. John 1914

Atlanta 1916

Portland 1916

Bloomington, IL 1917

Twin Cities 1917

Los Angeles 1919

New Orleans 1920

Denver 1920

New Orleans 1929

1930s–1970s

Century Airlines 1932

Philadelphia 1944

New York City 1949

Atlanta 1950

New York City 1966

1980s–2020s

Greyhound 1983

New York City 2005

Toronto 2006

Toronto 2008

Lyft and Uber 2019

vteTextile strikes in United States

1800s

Mill Women 1834

Paterson 1835

Mill Women 1836

New England shoe 1860

North Adams shoe 1870

1900s–1920s

Skowhegan 1907

New York shirtwaist 1909

Chicago garment 1910

Lawrence 1912

Little Falls 1912–1913

Hopedale 1913

Paterson silk 1913

Ipswich Mills 1913

Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills 1914–1915

New England 1922

Passaic 1926

New Bedford 1928

Loray Mill 1929

1930s–1970s

Los Angeles garment 1933

National 1934

Lewiston-Auburn shoe 1937

Montreal Cotton 1946

1980s–2000s

NYC Chinatown 1982 :

In 1887, Henry, James, Benjamin, and Robert Oxnard sold their Brooklyn sugar refinery and moved to California to capitalize on the growing agricultural economy of the late nineteenth century. In 1897, following the enactment of the Dingley Tariff Bill that heavily taxed foreign sugar, Henry, James, and Robert Oxnard formed the American Beet Sugar Company. Although the seasonal Chinese and Mexican laborers already in place in the county easily satisfied agricultural labor needs early in the factory's history, decline in Chinese populations due to Chinese Exclusion Acts and use of Mexican workers in other agricultural efforts led to an increase in Japanese worker recruitment. A group of 1,000 Japanese farm workers were recruited in 1900 by labor contractors. By 1902 nine major Japanese contractors saw to the seasonal needs in the area.

Since these contractors had already caused minor slowdowns and protests over wages, recently arrived bank owners and merchants organized an owner-interest oriented contracting company called the Western Agricultural Contracting Company (WACC). The WACC quickly replaced the Japanese contractors as principal contractors to the Oxnard Plain and even forced some of them to subcontract through the WACC. This process also adversely affected farmworkers as the WACC charged a fee for subcontracting beneath them. The WACC regularly refused to pay laborers in cash and instead compensated them with credit for company stores which often sold goods at unreasonably high prices. Making up more than 90 percent of the work force, the WACC had a near monopoly of the workers. The WACC comprised two distinct departments, one tasked with the oversight of Japanese laborers and labor contractors and another tasked with the oversight of Mexican laborers and labor contractors. Workers under both of these departments were displeased by the conduct of the WACC. As a result, a large group of Japanese farmworkers and labor contractors organized a meeting at the beginning of February 1903 where they discussed their outrage at the working conditions and low wages under the WACC.

### The strike and the JMLA

On February 11, 1903, 500 Japanese and 200 Mexican laborers became the charter members of the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association (JMLA) joined together and formed their organization based on the grievances of the Oxnard laborers. Despite its status as a farmworker's labor union, the members of the JMLA were laborers working under contract, labor contractors, and temporary workers - many of whom were students from Japan. The JMLA is notable for being the first major agricultural union in California to unite agricultural workers of different minority groups. Overcoming obvious language barriers between the two constituent groups, they immediately elected Kosaburo Baba (president), Y. Yamaguchi (secretary of the Japanese branch), and J.M. Lizarras (secretary of the Mexican branch); Baba and Lizarras were both labor contractors and Yamaguchi has been recognized as a boarding student recruited from San Francisco. Their immediate concerns opposed the WACC on three conditions:

* they accused the WACC of artificially suppressing wages;
* they opposed the subcontracting system arguing that it forced workers to pay double commissions; and
* they called for the freedom to buy goods rather than be subjected to the inflated prices of the company store.

In order to remedy these issues, the JMLA membership ceased working through the WACC (essentially declaring a strike). The strike came at a serendipitously precarious time in the sugar beet season, the staple crop of Oxnard Plain agriculture, since the labor-intensive and yield-defining work of thinning the seedlings needed to be done within the scope of a few weeks. By refusing to work through the WACC during the thinning of sugar beet crops, the JMLA challenged the backbone of financial operations in the Oxnard Plain. Laborers who participated in the strike threatened the profits of the owners of the WACC, the American Beet Sugar Company, and the farm owners. Their actions were met with hostile responses from local newspapers and the leadership of the American Beet Sugar Company. Colonel Driffil, manager of the American Beet Sugar Company, formally declared the company's support for the WACC and threatened to drive those who participated in the strike "out of the country." Outside of their own membership and other local Mexican and Japanese residents, the JMLA found little support from the white community in Oxnard outside of a few opportunistic merchants who saw the strike as a chance to disrupt WACC operations.

By the first week in March, the JMLA recruited a membership larger than 1,200 workers (over 90% of the labor force of the county's beet industry). The JMLA's increased recruitment pulled the WACC's former contracted workers from it and essentially brought the sugar industry to a standstill. Along with the labor strike, the JMLA staged large demonstrations and marches in Oxnard, displaying the union's strength in numbers. During the second and third weeks of March, the WACC formed an alternative union known as the Independent Agricultural Labor Union (IALU) which intended to undercut the JMLA's efforts. The IALU worked with the WACC as a strikebreaking organization seeking to restore regular working conditions in the sugar beet fields rather than advocate for farmworkers' rights.

On March 23, 1903, the strike reached its turning point. During a confrontation between the JMLA and IALU strikebreakers in Oxnard's Chinatown shots were fired, wounding two Japanese and two Mexican members of the JMLA. Luis Vasquez, a Mexican member of the JMLA, was killed by the gunfire. Initial reports by local newspapers blamed the JMLA for the violence; however, a statement released by the JMLA in the following days asserted that union members were not armed at the confrontation, pointing out that no union members had been arrested. The sole arrest from the confrontation was that of Deputy Constable Charles Arnold for the murder of Luis Vasquez. A subsequent coroner's inquest to determine Arnold's role in the murder saw the testimonies of 50 witnesses, many of which contradicted one another with certain witnesses claiming they had observed Arnold firing at Vasquez and others claiming that Arnold had not even raised his gun at the confrontation. After a series of conflicting witness accounts, the county coroner requested that more Japanese witnesses speak at the inquest in the following days. However, the all-white male jury refused to continue the inquest as they had reached a verdict with the given evidence. The jury found Charles Arnold innocent in the murder of Luis Vasquez and he was cleared of all charges.

Despite the outcome of the coroner's inquest, the WACC continued their striking efforts, bringing organized laborers from outside of town as well as intercepting potential strikebreakers. The Ventura Free Press reported on an incident in which members of the JMLA confronted a group of strikebreakers headed to a local farm and successfully convinced them to join the union's cause.

After the deadly skirmish in Chinatown, JMLA representatives met with representatives of local farmers and the WACC to engage in negotiations. During the first two days of negotiations, the JMLA stated clearly that they would refuse to end the strike until the WACC ended their monopoly over Oxnard Plain sugar beet operations and allow workers to contract directly with local farmers. The strike reached an official end on March 30, 1903 after the WACC agreed to cancel all standing contracts with local sugar beet farmers and grant farmworkers the right to contract directly with local growers.

### Aftermath

Japanese and Mexican laborers, formerly pitted against each other, had unified to achieve their labor goals. With the WACC as their common enemy, Japanese and Mexican farmworkers recognized their primary struggle as an issue of class conflict. JMLA membership viewed Anglo, Mexican, and even Japanese contractors who worked in conjunction with the WACC as antagonists to their cause. The success JMLA achieved showed the effectiveness of a multi-racial labor front and showed that class and Asian and Mexican shared oppression could be the unifier in labor organizing.

The racial dimensions of the JMLA victory against the WACC brought several issues to the attention of the mainstream American labor movement which traditionally refused to integrate minorities and agricultural workers into unions. While certain socialist groups and local factions of organized labor supported the organization of Japanese and Mexican farmworkers, the majority of AFL affiliates and leadership did not support the JMLA. This position was mostly based in anti-Asian attitudes and the traditional exclusion of farm laborers from AFL activities.

Following their victory against the WACC, the JMLA sought to charter as the Sugar Beet Farm Laborer's Union of Oxnard (SBFLU) under the American Federation of Labor (AFL). However, the JMLA withdrew their request to charter under the AFL after AFL president Samuel Gompers refused to recognize the membership of Asian laborers under the AFL.

