Here—a stone’s throw from where John Steinbeck set the events of his 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath—they slept, cooked their meals, and talked over what California had done to their dreams of reestablishing themselves as farmers. They also talked about Joseph DiGiorgio and as they talked they got angry. One of the first to join Local 218 was Phineas Parks, a preacher who worked in DiGiorgio’s packing sheds and who pitched in immediately for the cause. Hasiwar recalled how Parks would start the meetings, telling the workers,

My God, we need a Union! We got to stand up like men. The bosses are no more men than we are. They get into their pants just like we do, one leg at a time. These guys got so much money they buy Cadillacs so big that when they make a turn they need hinges on them.