Executive Director, Petra Mata, participating in a protest against Levi’s
Our History
In 1990, Levi Strauss closed one of their three manufacturing plants in San Antonio effectively leaving many Southsiders (primarily Mexican and Mexican American women) jobless and with out any compensation for the sudden layoff. Viola Casares (Fuerza Unida’s founder), angered by the lack of support, banded with Petra Mata (our Executive Director) and hundreds of others to fight for the severance pay they deserved. Thus, Fuerza Unida was born. These strong women spent the majority of the early 90’s through the mid 2000’s protesting Levis’ decision to close the San Antonio plants through numerous boycotts, hunger strikes, and protests.
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Viola went as long as 21 days without food (That is equivalent to Ghandi’s longest strike!) during Fuerza Unida’s boycott against Levis' in front of the brand’s headquarters in San Francisco, California. She and the other boycotters hoped that sacrificing their time, sanity and health would grab enough attention to spread mass awareness of the blatant inequality that lives so freely in our country.
In 1993, Fuerza Unida filed a class action lawsuit against Levis’ arguing that the closure of the plant discriminated against Fuerza’s members who filed worker’s compensation claims. The case and it’s appeal were not only dismissed but mocked to that extent that the judge, United States District Judge H.F. Garcia, charged the attorney representing Fuerza Unida $5000 for "filing a frivolous claim."
The disrespect from the courts only ignited a larger storm. Fuerza Unida spent the rest of the 90’s traveling all over the world to spread their story while maintaining a non-profit/grassroots organization here in San Antonio. The group also banded with other grassroot groups and organized more wide-spread hunger strikes. Some so large they even spread to Mexico.
Fuerza Unida’s struggle and determination brought Levis’ to provide severage packages for the employees who came after them, but Levi Strauss has neglected to fulfill the founders of Fuerza Unida’s request to receive a similar package. A Levis’ representative confirmed that the group’s noise was a factor in determining the company's severance package offerings in later layoffs.
Today, Fuerza Unida runs as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in the heart of the Southside of San Antonio. Led by their executive director, Petra Mata, the organization is still committed to fighting for garment worker rights and has expanded to advocacy and education in may other areas important to their community.
Four members of Fuerza Unida participating in a hunger strike and boycott in front of Levis’ HQ in San Francisco
Our Mission
Fuerza Unida’s mission is to empower workers, particularly women workers of color, and their families to achieve social, economic and environmental justice through education, organizing and advocacy. A special part of Fuerza Unida’s mission is to address issues confronting garment workers in economic crisis due of plant closings, lay-offs, and unfair pay. Fuerza Unida words to advance the rights of women, immigrants, low-income workers, and communities of color by providing education, training, guidance, and accessible information so that they may protect their rights and those of their families and communities.
The fight lives on
Today, Fuerza Unida continue working towards providing support to the groups that still struggle with oppression here in San Antonio. We provide a variety of services for our members, and work together to inform the community about the everyday hurdles minorities face. Fuerza Unida currently has four active programs established to support the community.