Genre | THE LABOR FILM DATABASE

Signal Seven (1986)

92m; U.S.

Director: Rob Nilsson

Cast: Bill Ackridge, Dan Leegant and John Tidwell

Synopsis (New York Times): The title refers to a radio distress call for a taxi driver in trouble and the movie is about people in various states of distress and the subtle signals for help they send out. It’s also about pride, loneliness, friendship, ambition, failure, fear and hope, as seen through the daily lives of a group of middle-aged cab drivers. The film follows two of them, Marty and Speed, played with depth and sensitivity by Dan Leegant and Bill Ackridge, through a night’s rounds at a time when one of their colleagues is brutally murdered. They audition for parts, play cards, trade tall tales, pick up fares, cope with the murder and try to get on with life.

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Posted by Metro Council on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Service Workers, Transportation, Working Class

Signed, Sealed and Delivered: Labor Struggle in the Post Office (1980)

07 May

By Tami Gold, Dan Gordon, Erik Lewis
1980, 45 minutes, Color and B&W, Video

On July 21, 1978 thousands of postal workers across the country walked off their jobs when their contract expired, saying “No” to mandatory overtime, forced speedups and hazardous working conditions. As a result of this wildcat strike, six hundred thousand postal workers won a better contract. But two hundred workers were arbitrarily fired by management to teach all postal workers a lesson.

SIGNED, SEALED and DELIVERED… is the story of the struggle these postal workers waged to win back their jobs. It follows their fight into the streets, onto the floor of the American Postal Workers Union’s National Convention and among workers and communities nationwide. But it took the tragic death of Michael McDermott, a 25 year old mailhandler who was sucked into a conveyor belt and crushed to death, to bring their hazardous working conditions to national attention.

SIGNED, SEALED and DELIVERED… speaks loudly and clearly to people everywhere who are organizing for safe and humane conditions in the workplace.

http://andersongoldfilms.com/films/documentaries/ssd.htm

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Posted by Metro Council on May 7, 2012 in Automation, Documentary, Public Sector, Safety & Health, Technology

Silent Voices (2010)

07 May

14m; Pakistan/France

Director: Aisha Gazdar

Synopsis: The stories of women home-based workers in Pakistan told in a gritty and realistic style

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Posted by Metro Council on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Service Workers, Women

Silicosis (2009)

07 May

45m; Turkey

Director: Ethem Özgüven, Petra Holzer, Selçuk Erzurumlu

Synopsis: At one end of the chain of distribution, there are the popular blue jeans. While on the other end are the unregistered workshops. The workers who make these jeans have contracted life threatening lung diseases. The expensive stonewashed jeans shine while the worker’s lives fade away from their dangerous work.

Contact: petramh@gmail.com

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Posted by Metro Council on May 7, 2012 in Documentary