ILWU leader Pedro de la Cruz on the island of Lanai during 1951 pineapple strike.

Sugar and pineapple workers and longshoremen in the Territory of Hawaii faced employers looking to cut wages and divide workers after the successful organizing drives of the 1940s. In 1951 employers targeted what appeared to be a weak section of the ILWU, the pineapple industry. Although workers on some islands accepted minimum wage settlements, the pineapple workers of Lanai won significant gains in a 7 month strike that year.