30m; U.S.
Director: Sue Hagedorn
Synopsis: 83 day nurses’ strike.
Contact: www.holdingthelinefilm.com
Category Archives: Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts
Fury Below (1936)
58m; U.S.
Director: Harry L. Fraser
Cast: Russell Gleason, Maxine Doyle and LeRoy Mason
Synopsis (IMDB): Jim Cole, heir to a mining operation, takes over the mine, which is suffering from unexplained low production, and is facing a strike by the miners. Jim will soon loose the mine if production doesn’t increase and the sabotage continues. Mary Norsen, office-secretary, accidentally learns of a plot by Fred Johnson to wreck the mine and force Cole to sell his coal-mine. She and her brother, Joe, join Cole in his fight to stop Johnson
Germinal (1993)
166m; France
Director: Claude Berri
Cast: Renaud, Gérard Depardieu and Miou-Miou
Synopsis: Gerard Depardieu plays the role of Toussaint Maheu from the film version of Emile Zola’s landmark book by the same name. He attempts to organize the coal miners to resist exploitation by the owners. The novel was one of the first to properly, using the finest art and understanding, to show the lives of working men and women. The film version was not shown widely, perhaps due to its theme and its length. John Sayles film “Matewan” is not based on this novel/film, but has many similarities. There were earlier versions including a British mini-series in 1970, and films in 1963, and 1913.
Business as Usual (1987)
89m; Australia
Director: Lezli-An Barrett
Synopsis (IMDB): After seeing her husband fail in fighting a battle to keep his factory open, a manageress loses her job in a disagreement with the manager over sexual harassment of her staff. She accepts the advice of her father and joins his son, a left-wing organizer, and takes her plight to the union.
COSATU and the Freedom Charter (1987)
60m; South Africa
Director:
Synopsis: Documentary detailing labor strikes by South African unions against the apartheid regime.
CUPE 3903 Strike Ads
9:56
Synopsis: These spoof ads were independently produced by graduate students in film and theater at York University during the CUPE 3903 strike of 2008/09. These individuals were not paid to specifically produce these ads. They, like picketers, were provided minimal strike pay of 10 $/hour for up to 20 hours/week. The funds for the Strike pay were derived from union dues paid by members on every paycheck prior to the strike. The equipment and space necessary for the production of these ads was either the personal property of these members or was borrowed, without charge, from various resources available to them as members of the filmmaking community.
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)
127m; U.S.
Director: Michael Moore
Synopsis: On the 20-year anniversary of his groundbreaking masterpiece “Roger & Me,” Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” comes home to the issue he’s been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans. But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene is far wider than Flint, Michigan.
Captain Boycott (1947)
92m; Ireland
Director: Frank Launder
Cast: Stewart Granger, Kathleen Ryan and Cecil Parker
Synopsis (NYT): Briskly, this “Captain Boycott” tells us how tenant farmers in Parnell’s Irish Land League resisted an outrageously haughty landowner, Captain Boycott by name, with a technique of non-cooperation when he persisted in bleeding them for rents, and how this treatment, in the end, was more effective than an advocated plan of violence.
Clara Lemlich: A Strike Leader’s Diary (2004)
51m; U.S.
Director: Alex Szalat
Synopsis: Biographical film about Clara Lelich, a Jewish socialist textile worker who played a major role in the “Uprising of the 20,000” which was a powerful moment in organizing New York’s textile sector and the growth of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU).
Contact: http://icarusfilms.com/new2005/clar.html
Coal Wars: The Battle in Rum Creek (1991)
29m; U.S.
Director: Kathleen Foster
Synopsis: In the tradition of Harlan County, USA, this documentary looks at the role women played in the 1989-90 coal strike in the Southern Appalachian coalfields. The location is Dehue – Logan County, WV. The miners and their wives are fighting one of the most intense battles since the 1920s. Clips from other films made about that era, along with photographs, are used to illustrate the conclusion – namely that “its workers again’ bosses…forever!”
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