Other
Castro, Anita (audio interview #6 of 6)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the sixth and final interview with Anita Castro, conducted in her home. She became very emotional when speaking about certain aspects of her life, particularly her medical history and the fact that she was unable to have more children. In addition to the difficulties in fully understanding her due to her speaking style, there are segments of the interview where there is background noise and other places where the recording is interrupted. TOPICS - her medical history; her divorce and being shot by a Mexican man in Montana who wanted to marry her; the formation of the Mandolin Club in the union; and her efforts to start a ceramics class for union members;the formation of various classes and activities in the union; gender discrimination; ethnic discrimination and union domination by Jews; retirement; and the Retirees Club; 8/17/1976
- Date
- 2020-03-26
- Resource Type
- Creator
- Campus
- Keywords
- Handle
- Language
- Notes
- File: lhgwacastro14.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-5:31)... Tape introduction After her first marriage, she began experiencing problems with her reproductive organs. She becomes very emotional when talking about this subject, indicating that her womb was torn inside because of her husband. She had to have some kind of an operation to secure her womb, and was unable to have any other children after her son. After she married her husband, she began to experience serious problems during her menstruation cycle. She recalls that when she arrived in Los Angeles, a doctor told her that she had a tumor and she received an operation to remove a part of her reproductive organs. Some time in her 40s, she began to experience menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes. When she went to the physician, she received hormone shots. Her menopause lasted for ten years, during which time she often became depressed and cried a lot. She was knowledgeable about what was happening to her because she read literature on the subject and was under the care of a physician. Note: a barking dog in the background makes it difficult to understand her. (5:31-10:02)... She began menstruating at the age of fourteen. Castro's mother was not very sympathetic or caring when Castro started menstruating. After she married her first husband, she began experiencing excruciating pain when she menstruated and often stayed in bed for a week. While living in Montana, she developed appendicitis and received an operation, which caused one of her ovaries to be strangled. When she arrived in Los Angeles, she received an operation to remove this ovary. After this operation, she started to experience hot flashes and she received hormone shots every week. These health problems did not affect her work with the union, and she did not have to take any time off because of her menstruation cycle. (10:02-11:07)... When she was sixteen years old and still living in Montana, the doctor told her that she had a collapsed womb and could not conceive anymore children. This pleased her because she did not like her first husband and did not want to have anymore children with him. (11:07-17:08)... After she divorced her first husband and was dating her second husband while living in Montana, she was shot by a Mexican man who was obviously obsessed with her and did not want her to marry again. She describes this incident in detail. The bullet just missed her heart and hit her in the shoulder. She was rushed to the hospital where the bullet was removed. The man who shot her hid from the authorities and wanted to pay for Castro's medical bills if she agreed to forgive him; however, she refused. Because of this experience, she was very scared whenever guns were brandished during union strikes. (17:08-19:25)... There is a very brief discussion on the formation of the Mandolin Club. [Note: Castro gathers some literature and photographs and discusses these in the interview.] (19:25-21:10)... The Mandolin Club started because the union agreed to support classes if members were interested in learning. The union supplied the mandolins and a teacher. She was a member of this group for a couple of years and participated in concerts when the Executive Board visited from New York or for union benefits. Initially, the Mandolin Club was formed in the Cloak Makers Local, and then all of the Locals were able to participate in the club. She left the club when she switched from Local 96 to Local 266. (21:10-25:55)... After she left the Mandolin Club, she went to evening classes held by the union, as well as a ceramics and Chinese painting class that was not sponsored by the union. Her initial attempts to get a ceramics class in the Local were unsuccessful. However, when she attended the labor convention in Chicago, she made a lamp for the president and asked him if a ceramics class could be formed in her Local. He agreed and the class was started. (25:55-30:46)... For the next labor convention, the women in the ceramics class made a large plate for the president and each woman signed it. The delegate at the convention presented the president with this gift and he was very impressed. The ceramics class lasted several years. She kept a kiln in her office and on Fridays, she stayed after hours and worked on ceramic projects. She recalls an incident in which she left the kiln on over the weekend and it burned a whole in the floor and almost set the union office on fire. She was reprimanded and the class was canceled. File: lhgwacastro15.mp3 (0:00-1:21)... The women in the union were progressive to a certain extent because they believed that women should learn other crafts and specialties besides sewing. One of Castro's organizing techniques was to inform workers about these classes and their opportunities for learning. Some of the classes were educational in nature and taught people skills, such as public speaking, while other classes were to teach people crafts. There were also classes that allowed people to express their talents, such as instrumental and singing classes. (1:21-3:13)... As a union organizer, she talked about all of the benefits that the union offered, including the opportunity to take classes. A lot of people joined when she told them that there were English classes available, which interested workers because they needed to learn English to become a citizen. Depending on the situation, she used different tactics to persuade people to join the union. It was more difficult to recruit a couple because they did not agree on whether the other should join. As a result, two organizers were sent so that both people could talk to the couple at the same time. (3:13-6:34)... Her first year of organizing was easy because the wages and labor conditions were so bad for the workers, and union benefits were a vast improvement over these conditions. It later became more difficult to organize workers because employers paid their workers more and improved the working conditions. Therefore, the incentives for workers to join the union were less. At this time, Castro used the classes as a recruitment tactic. Note: there is a brief interruption in the tape. (6:34-9:29)... In the early years, union organizers were not paid high wages because Dave Dubinsky, the president of the ILGWU, believed that organizers did not need a lot of money to do a good job. However, people who work for the union now will not accept a position unless the salary is good. When Castro worked as an organizer and business agent, she was the lowest paid employee with the most seniority in the union. However, by the time she left, Vice President Cornelius Wall increased her pay so that she was making the same wage as the male business agents in the union. In addition, Wall also ended all of the extra benefits that male business agents were receiving at the time, which is another reason why so many people disliked him. (9:29-10:48)... The wage discrimination in her case was probably related to both her gender and ethnicity. The Jewish men in the union were getting paid more money and all of the raises and benefits were recommended by the Jewish, male bosses in the union. Although she is not prejudiced, she felt that discrepancies existed and that people were classified according to their ethnicity or race. There was an attitude in the union that the "Latin" and "Negro" workers were secondary to the Anglo and Jewish workers. (10:48-12:11)... Before she retired, the union was still recruiting workers to work as organizers in the union. However, the union currently hires people off the street or recent college graduates. This is not a good policy because these people do not have any experience with the union. Although inexperience may be okay when someone is working as an organizer, working as a business agent requires a lot of experience and knowledge of the union. (12:11-14:23)... When people were hired outside of the union, members who were working hard to become union employees became resentful of this practice. There were occasions when she recommended people for jobs, only to be opposed by her manager. She recalls that Sam Schwartz, who was a manager, treated her differently after she went over his head and wrote to the president of the union regarding her wage discrepancies. Many of the benefits she was fighting for at the time are currently included in the benefits and wages new employees receive. She worked for the union for thirty-seven years and although she faced difficulties, she wanted to work there until she retired. Her position was secure because she was an elected official and the union could not fire her. Although she was very popular and well liked among union employers and shop workers, towards the end of her term with the union her power began to fade. Note: there is an interruption in the tape. (14:23-16:16)... She worked under Vice President Wall for one year until she became ill and retired at the age of sixty-five. Whenever there is a banquet or union benefit, the union invites her to attend. She is somewhat resentful that she was not given a retirement party like all of the other retirees. In addition, retirees were given a union clock when they retired, which was something she did not receive. (16:16-18:25)... She is somewhat active in the union's Retiree's Club. She also spoke to Wall about the Senior Citizen Club at the union, which was disbanded because the members were not very active. However, a new club will be formed in September. Union retirees help with union activities within the union office quite often. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Anita Muretta Andrade Castro became one of the first Spanish speaking women organizers in the ILGWU in Los Angeles. She became active in the union during the drive leading up to the industry-wide general strike of 1934, and was named to the Executive Board (under the name Anita Andrade). She remained active in the union as an organizer and a business agent, working particularly closely with the Spanish-speaking workers, until her retirement in 1972. Although she was actually born in Yugoslavia (the Austro-Hungarian empire), Castro was raised in Argentina and spent most of her life in the US in the Mexican community. She married Mexican men following a teen-age marriage to a Croatian, and was viewed and accepted as a Latina by the workers in the industry. At the time of the interview, Castro had suffered several strokes and her health and memory deteriorated over the course of the interview series. She was interviewed as part of the Feminist History Research Project labor series. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the sixth and final interview with Anita Castro, conducted in her home. She became very emotional when speaking about certain aspects of her life, particularly her medical history and the fact that she was unable to have more children. In addition to the difficulties in fully understanding her due to her speaking style, there are segments of the interview where there is background noise and other places where the recording is interrupted. TOPICS - her medical history; her divorce and being shot by a Mexican man in Montana who wanted to marry her; the formation of the Mandolin Club in the union; and her efforts to start a ceramics class for union members;the formation of various classes and activities in the union; gender discrimination; ethnic discrimination and union domination by Jews; retirement; and the Retirees Club;
- Rights Note
- This repository item may be used for classroom presentations, unpublished papers, and other educational, research, or scholarly use. Other uses, especially publication in any form, such as in dissertations, theses, articles, or web pages are not permitted without the express written permission of the individual collection's copyright holder(s). Please contact the CSULB Library Administration should you require permission to publish or distribute any content from this collection or if you need additional information or assistance in using these materials: http://www.csulb.edu/library/Common/SubmittedForms/digital_rep_request.html
Relationships
- In Collection:
Items
| Thumbnail | File information | Actions |
|---|---|---|
|
9306976551189092-lhgwacastro14.mp3 Public
|
Download |
|
|
4568494787018749-lhgwacastro15.mp3 Public
|
Download |
|
|
9151892651055303-gwacastro1.jpg Public
|
Download |
|
|
2632051764474238-gwacastro2.jpg Public
|
Download |