Empire Zinc Strike (1950)

Tue Oct 17, 1950

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The Empire Zinc Strike, also known as the Salt of the Earth strike, was a 15-month-long miners’ strike that began on this day in 1950 in Silver City, New Mexico, against the Empire Zinc Company in protest of its discriminatory pay and company housing practices. Later, workers also demanded indoor plumbing and hot water for Mexican-American homes as well.

Empire Zinc fought back by sending police to harass picketers, posting eviction notices on company houses, and cutting off credit to strikers at the company grocery store. Labor activist Clinton Jencks, who was the union’s business agent, was arrested on strike and kept in solitary confinement for 16 months. After the company got a court injunction forbidding picketers to return to the picket line, the workers’ wives and children took their place.

After 15 months of protest, the company came to an agreement with the striking workers on January 21st, 1952, giving the strikers nearly everything they asked for. The strike drew national attention, and, after it was settled in 1952, a movie entitled “Salt of the Earth” (1954) was released that offered a fictionalized version of events.