Hoss Farm worker Jasweer Kaur Brar (right) and collegues on picket duty along the lonely road leading to the farm. Eleven women had been fired for backing the union.
"Working on my family's farm in India, I was my own boss. And because it was a family-owned farm, there was pride in the farm and in the work I did there. Here, I have no say and I'm taken advantage of. There is no respect for the work I do. I'm working for someone else and I'm subordinated by him. The employer is asking too much. He isn't respecting us very much. We were already working so hard - such long hours. That, combined with the loss of pride that I experienced coming from a family farm in the Punjab, made up my mind that I must do something." - Striker Jasweer Kaur Brar, 1984
"The 11 women brought their children with them to the picket line and for days shouts of 'Prani picker viposlo!' (All pickers back to work!) echoed down the long laneway to the Hoss Farm. Picketers were clapping, singing and chanting slogans: 'Canadian Farmworkers' Union - Zindabad!'" - The Farmworker, 1984