Papers Analyzing the Historical Structure of the Cannery Labor Force

The fruit and vegetable cannery labor force in California consisted originally of Chinese men but eventually they were replace by (primarily) immigrant women. The canneries were unionized in the 1930s and since then have shared the dual aspects of a casual labor force, a la harvest agriculture and a unionized manufacturing workforce. This dichotomy often followed gender lines. The thrust of these historical papers is to analyze how the evolving technical structure of work affected the gender composition, immigrant status and union status of cannery workers.

The Decline of Child Labor in the US Fruit and Vegetable Industry: Law of Economics?, The Business History Review, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Winter, 1992), pp. 723-770.

The Decline of the Piece-Rate System in California Canning: Technological Innovation, Labor Management, and Union Pressure, 1890-1947, The Business History Review Vol. 60, No. 4 (Winter, 1986), pp. 564-601.

The Evolution of Labor Market Structure: The California Canning Industry, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Apr., 1985), pp. 392-407.

Craft Labor and Mechanization in Nineteenth-Century American Canning, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 46, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), pp. 743-756