18m; U.S.
Director: Alex Ivany
Synopsis: The legacy of Cesar Chavez and the union movement he inspired.
Contact: alex@sandraivany.com
Category Archives: Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts
The Labor Movement: Beginnings and Growth in America (1959)
14m; U.S.
Director: Coronet Films
Synopsis: Developments in labor’s organization in the US from 1873 through the merger of the AFL and CIO. The role played by Samuel Gompers, the Knights of Labor and the AFL-CIO are traced.
Labor’s Turning Point (1981)
59m; U.S
Director: John DeGraaf
Synopsis: The 1934 Minneapolis truck drivers’ strike was a pivotal struggle for working people of the mid-west. As a result of new tactics developed in the successful strike, it led to the organization of over the road truckers and the growth of the Teamsters nationally into one of the most important and powerful unions in the United States. The film shows how the strike was organized and how the union broke the back of the anti-union Citizen’s Alliance and made Minneapolis a union town. It also includes the ground breaking role of the strikers’ wives in organizing for the strike and the establishment of a daily strike bulletin. These tactics are still relevant today in the struggle of labor to organize and survive.
Contact: http://www.onedayinjuly.org/
Justice in the Coalfields (1995)
58m; U.S.
Director: Anne Lewis
https://store.appalshop.org/shop/appalshop-films/justice-in-the-coalfields/
Synopsis: This film by labor videographer Anne Lewis documents this militant strike and occupation of the company’s factory. Over 4,000 miners and their families were arrested in this struggle against union busting and the massive use of scabs to break the union and destroy the medical benefits of 1,500 pensioners, widows and disabled miners. Hundreds of state police were involved in escorting the scabs in this effort. The union also faced a $64 million dollar fine from State and Federal judges that was used to weaken the union nationally and was supported by Clinton’s NLRB Chair Bill Gould.
Kids Stonewalled at Vale-INCO Gate (2009)
5:30; U.S.
Director: Stuart Cryer
Synopsis: The strike of USW Local 6500 against Vale-INCO is into its sixth month. The strikers’ kids want to deliver their Xmas cards to Vale-INCO, but are left hanging at the company gates.
Contact: Stuart Cryer terraV@cyberbeach.net http://www.vimeo.com/8228584
The Killing Floor (1985)
118m; U.S.
Director: Bill Duke
Cast: Cynthia Baker, Dennis Farina and Clarence Felder
Synopsis (IMDB): During World War I, a poor black Southerner travels north to Chicago to get work in the city’s slaughterhouses, where he becomes embroiled in the organized labor movement. He becomes prominent as a leader of fellow African-Americans in the union, though many, including his best friend, view him as a sell-out.
Contact: Elsa Rassbach elsarassbach@gmail.com http://www.thekillingfloor-thefilm.com
It’s An Attack (2008)
8m; U.S.
Synopsis: From Seattle and the WTO, to Mexico and the struggles of Los Mineros, to Colombia and the brutal murders of trade union activists, It’s an Attack highlights the global attack on workers and the ongoing activism of the United Steelworkers in fighting for the rights of all workers, in the U.S. and around the world. The video premiered at the USW 2008 Convention.
I Am Cuba (1964)
141m; U.S.S.R.-Cuba
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Cast: Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood and José Gallardo
Synopsis (IMDB): Four vignettes in Batista’s Cuba dramatize the need for revolution; long, mobile shots tell almost wordless stories. In Havana, Maria faces shame when a man who fancies her discovers how she earns her living. Pedro, an aging peasant, is summarily told that the land he farms has been sold to United Fruit. A university student faces down a crowd of swaggering U.S. sailors and then watches friends shot by police when they try to distribute a pro-Castro leaflet. The war arrives on the doorstep of peasants Mariano, Amelia, and their four children when Batista’s forces bomb the hills. Mariano wants peace, so he seeks out the guerrillas to join the fight. If nothing else, an incredible example of pure film-making with stunning and innovative camera work.
I Am Somebody (1970)
28m; U.S.
Director: Madeline Anderson
Synopsis: Striking black hospital workers, mostly women in Atlanta.
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