Gloria Betancourt, Local 912
March 16, 2021
Gloria Betancourt, a Teamsters Local 912 member and avid community activist in Watsonville, died on February 13, 2021.
Gloria helped to rally her coworkers at a Watsonville cannery to go out on strike in 1985. Met with police brutality on their strike line, the majority-female strike committee bolstered the effort by organizing emergency food banks and financial relief funds for affected workers.
Through their effective strike, they not only secured the retirement and medical benefits that had been under threat during negotiations, but they also ushered in an era of reform in their union, amending rules that had previously excluded mostly immigrant seasonal workers from participating in union elections. They also got seniority lists re-structured to include women and Mexican workers, opening up opportunities to progress in higher-paid positions within their worksites. In 1988, Gloria and two other women ran for positions on Local 912’s board. “Gloria was an important part of our Local’s history,” says Local 912 Secretary-Treasurer Steven Lua.
Gloria remained active in her community after retirement. She was a founding member of the Alianza, a non-profit which sponsors the bi-annual Fiestas Patrias event in Watsonville.
Gloria’s memory will continue to inspire rank and file Latinx union members and women generally to assume leadership and advocacy roles.
Gloria’s family set up a GoFundMe page, to help cover her funeral costs:
www.gofundme.com/f/gloria-betancourt
