Lupe Briseno cut flowers at the Kitayama Carnation plant in Brighton, Colorado. Her starting pay was 98 cents an hour.
Most of her coworkers were Mexican American women. They worked long hours with no overtime. The greenhouses were muddy and humid.
The workers asked for a union, $1.60 an hour and better conditions. The company fired Briseno for talking with them about it. The strike began on July 1, 1968.
It lasted 221 days. In February 1969, Briseno and four other women chained themselves to the plant gate. Police cut the chains and used tear gas.
They did not win a union. By most accounts, conditions improved. She entered the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2020.
