Genre | THE LABOR FILM DATABASE

The Blue Collar Worker and the Hairdresser in a Whirl of Sex and Politics (1996)

101m; Italy

Director: Lina Wertmüller

Cast: Tullio Solenghi, Gene Gnocchi and Veronica Pivetti

Synopsis (Amazon): It’s spontaneous combustion when Tunin meets Rossella at a victory rally the night of the hotly contested election. She’s a right wing pro-business zealot. He’s a leftist labor organizer whose libido shifts into overdrive the moment he sees the fiery Rossella. Tunin’s determined to seduce her, but Rossella conceives her own plan to deal with the self-centered Lothario. Only two obstacles stand in the way of a blissful union – their politics and his wife. Passion and politics run amok in this delightfully sexy farce, the latest from director Lina Wertmuller.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Big Business/Corporations, Collective Bargaining, Comedy, Communism/Socialism, Organizing

Workers Dreams (2007)

13 Jun

50m; Vietnam

Director: Tran Phuong Thao

Synopsis: Thousands of young women now work in foreign owned factories in Vietnam for approximately $2 a day. This film shows the lives of these young rural women who end up in a Japanese Canon factory in the Hanoi area. Hoping to make a new life with many consumer goods around them they are ground up in the capitalist system and their dreams and illusions about the new Vietnam are crushed.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Global Economy, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Migrant workers, Women

Workers In Peril, Union In Action (2009)

13 Jun

44m; Canada

Director: Michael Connolly

Synopsis: Covers the recent recession’s effect on workers, auto workers specifically. Also touches on pension and severance issues. Great footage and editing. Narrated by Jian Gomes.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Safety & Health

Workers Newreel (Volume 1, Number 10) [1931]

13 Jun

8m; U.S.

Director: Workers Film and Photo League of the WIR

Synopsis: Unemployment demo in Union Square in 1931

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Labor History, Unemployment-Wages

Workers’ Voices (2009)

13 Jun

2.5m; U.K.

Director: Gary Williams

Synopsis: Three school meals workers talk about their jobs and working for Chartwell’s. Filmed as part of the UNISON Three Companies project organizing blitz on 4th November 2009

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Education, Organizing

Tags: Food Service Industry

Workers’ Republic (2009)

13 Jun

50m; U.S.

Director: Andrew Freund

Synopsis: Three weeks before Christmas 2008, in the depths of the economic crisis, Chicago company Republic Windows and Doors told their workforce that the factory was closing shop. Republic executives complained about dwindling sales due to the crash of the housing market. Three days later, when the Republic employees came in to pick up their final paychecks, they were informed that they would not be paid for their final week or receive their accrued vacation pay. Their insurance benefits were cut immediately, and they were denied the 60-day severance guaranteed under the federal WARN Act.

Contact: Labor Beat in Chicago 312-316-4458 videoinsurgent@gmail.com

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Manufacturing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

The Working Class Goes to Heaven (La classe operaia va in paradiso) aka Lulu the Tool (1971)

13 Jun

125m; Italy

Director: Elio Petri

Cast: Gian Maria Volonté, Mariangela Melato and Gino Pernice

Synopsis (IMDB): Lulù is a real hard worker. For this reason he is loved by the masters and hated by his own colleagues. The unions decide agitations against the masters. Lulù doesn’t agree till he cuts, by accident, one of his own fingers. Now, after he understood the worker’s conditions, he agrees the unions and participates to the strike. He immediately is fired and, not only is abandoned by his lover, but also by the other workers. But the fights of the unions allow him under a new legislation to be hired again. At this point his mind starts giving signs of collapse.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Collective Bargaining, Drama, Organizing, Safety & Health, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

Working For Your Life (1979)

13 Jun

55m; U.S.

Director: Andrea Hricko and Ken Light

Synopsis: Covers working women and their problems and struggles to correct workplace hazards. Filmed in over 40 workplaces, the film interviews injured workers, including a woman who lost her finger in an industrial accident and another who has asbestos-related disease. Sterilization of women workers is discussed. Unlike many health and safety films, this one points out that organization is one of the best ways to protect one’s health.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Safety & Health, Women

Working Girl (1988)

13 Jun

113m; U.S.

Director: Mike Nichols

Cast: Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver

Synopsis (IMDB): Tess McGill is a frustrated secretary, struggling to forge ahead in the world of big business in New York. She gets her chance when her boss breaks her leg on a skiing holiday. McGill takes advantage of her absence to push ahead with her career. She teams up with investment broker Jack Trainer to work on a big deal. The situation is complicated after the return of her boss.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Big Business/Corporations, Comedy, Drama, Finance, Romance, Women