Chicanas On Strike
BY MATTHEW MEDINA
This is the third installment in our four-part blog series on the Austin Chicano Huelga and was prepared by Fowler Family Underrepresented Heritage Intern Matthew Medina. Read the series here.
ECONOMY FURNITURE STRIKE URBAN HIKE | SATURDAY, JUNE 15 | 8 AM - 11 AM
Join us for a walking tour of the sites and places of the Economy Furniture Strike, one of the most significant labor actions by Mexican Americans in Austin’s history. This 2-mile urban hike will be hosted by Preservation Austin’s Fowler Family Intern, Matthew Medina. Info and tickets HERE.
“Unnamed Chicanas of the Stirke”, Box [5], Folder [1] Economy Furniture Company Strike Collection, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.
Economy Furniture Industries started in the 1930s as a small furniture store in the back of another establishment on historic 6th Street. As the business grew, so did the need for space. The business relocated to a manufacturing plant in the heart of East Austin in the 1940s and by 1950 Economy Furniture employed over a hundred workers mostly from the surrounding area. Economy Furniture expanded again in 1965 to a brand-new plant off Old McNeil Road. When the workers of Economy Furniture voted to go on strike in 1968, the company was one of the largest furniture producing firms in the southwest, and just three years into production at their new McNeil Road plant in North Austin.
“EFI Plant Picture”, Box [2003-170/28], Milton and Helen Smith Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
This aerial photograph of the 1965 Economy Furniture plant on McNeil Road was part of a photo series commissioned by the company highlighting the stages in the furniture manufacturing process. A substantial number of workers taking part in the manufacturing process were Mexican American women who were present at most stages of the furniture manufacturing line. Of all the stages, Chicana labor comprised a third of the manufacturing process. The company relied on these women for their skilled work as seamstresses, cushion fillers, buttoners, sanders, wood finishers and more. Their labor contributed to making Economy Furniture one of the most profitable and market dominant furniture makers in the southwestern United States. Despite their integral role in production, opportunity for advancement and wage increases were few and far between. No women were promoted to the position of Foreman during the 1960s, and many of them had been making the same wages even after ten to fifteen years of service.
“Cushion Stuffing”, Box [2003-170/28], Milton and Helen Smith Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
“Seamstress at work”, Box [2003-170/28], Milton and Helen Smith Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
The two-and-a-half-year long strike morphed into the “Austin Chicano Huelga” and sparked Austin’s Chicano Movement and greater Mexican American political participation. In her 1996 master's thesis on the strike, Mary Elizabeth Riley-Metcalf completed many hours of oral histories and analyzed labor statistics to insert a feminist history of women into the story of the strike. Her work recovered the important rank and file roles Chicanas played throughout the strike, and the unique burden they faced as working-class women. Chicana oral histories are used throughout the entire thesis; however, Metcalf dedicated a subsection of a chapter titled “On Being a Woman at Economy Furniture: Circumstances that Uniquely Affected Chicanas” to contextualize the experience of the striking women. Metcalf’s analysis of Texas labor statistics revealed that in 1970 one in two Mexican American women over the age of 16 were working outside of the home, many of whom were also mothers with multiple children. Metcalf also introduced the feminist framework of Denise Segura to contextualize the unique burden of working women who are also responsible for familial care work, resulting in a “Double Day”. Interviews with huelgalistas Felis Aleman, Fidelia “Lilia” Bonilla, and Benina Castellanos, quoted extensively throughout the thesis, portrayed financial stress as the dominant reason for seeking employment at Economy Furniture. Their testimony also revealed that many of the Chicanas who worked for Economy Furniture had multiple children and were unable to take leave until very late in their pregnancies. Many of these women were back to work within three weeks after giving birth. These working-class Chicanas created and relied on their own familial networks for childcare. The tight-knit familial networks of support fostered intergenerational activism, as the children of the huelgalistas would be present for demonstrations, meetings, hand billing, and picketing.
The central role of Chicanas in the Economy Furniture strike is remembered by the local East Austin community, but their importance is not visible in the archival documents or historic news coverage of the 1968-1971 strike. An archival photo of strikers in the Austin Chicano Huelga Office shows some of the underrepresented women of the movement. Characteristic of the archival records, their names are not present on the back of the photograph unlike pictures of male strike leaders.
Wayne Clark, judy, JAMES EWELL, M, Jimi Hendrix, Barbara, roger, et al. “The Rag (Austin, TX).” The Rag (Austin, TX) 4, no. 43 (October 5, 1970). https://jstor.org/stable/community.28043167.
The lack of recognition for Chicanas is echoed in the archive of the Economy Furniture strike through omission of names. These silences, however, originate in the historic news coverage of the strike. While any positive news of the labor struggle was seldom covered in traditional media, even the community and student publications did not acknowledge names of women. A 1970 article in “the Rag”, an underground University of Texas (UT) student newspaper, prominently features the photo of a Chicana Huelgalista on the McNeil Road picket line. But the article does not include her name. The omission of the woman’s name was likely not intentional, but the absence of representation is indicative of the Chicana experience throughout the strike.
The Chicanas often went underrepresented in Union leadership despite comprising about forty percent of the striking body. Only three out of the twenty-six members of the initial strike organizing committee were women: Ida Martinez, Olivia Aleman, and LaVeryn Krempkin. This trend continued in the formation of the later 1970 Austin Chicano Huelga Strike Committee, which only featured one woman, UT student activist and East Austin native Brenda Silvas. A lack of representation on leadership committees did not discourage Chicana participation or dedication to the strike and boycott efforts. Chicanas were almost exclusively given daytime picket slots, leaving the graveyard shift of the twenty-four-hour picket to male strikers. Sometimes Chicana Huelgalistas, like Maria Molina, would be one of two people maintaining the line of protest. Felis Aleman testified in an oral history interview that she “participated in the strike from the very beginning, and [she] put in a whole lot of shifts on the picket line”. The feeling of duty to both the “Huelga” and their family led many Chicanas to bring their children along to organizational meetings and pickets, leaving a generation of young Mexican Americans with memories of community organizing and familial activism.
“Picket Sign Up Sheet 1970”, Box [3], Folder [7] Economy Furniture Company Strike Collection, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.
In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, with a struggle that had no clear end, the efforts of Chicana rank and file were integral to the UIU Local 456’s sustained hope in maintaining a successful two-year fight for recognition and back pay. Foregrounding the unique challenges faced by Chicanas during the strike is not to diminish the memory and massive accomplishment of the Austin Chicano Huelga. Rather, this acknowledgement gives a long overdue spotlight to the efforts of women during the strike. The Chicana struggle represents the larger aspirations of economic justice in the East Austin community, and the challenge of all working-class women in labor movements. The “unique” challenges facing Chicanas, and their response by forming tight familial networks greatly contributed to the intergenerational activism seen throughout the two-and-a-half-year strike. The difficult experiences of these women in their labor struggle is indicative of the challenges many women faced during the activism of the 1960s and 1970s. Chicanas at Economy Furniture radically demanded change in the community through labor organizing, even if recognition did not come with La Huelga.
“Chicana Manufacturing EFI Plant”, Box [2003-170/28], Milton and Helen Smith Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Matthew Medina is Preservation Austin’s 2024 Fowler Family Foundation Underrepresented Heritage Interns. He is pursuing a master’s degree in Public History from Texas State University.