Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts | THE LABOR FILM DATABASE

From the Shadows of Power

This awarding winning documentary is a powerful story set in coalfields of Appalachia, Wales and England. It documents firsthand the turmoil in the aftermath of the British Miners Strike of 1984/85 and the parallel struggle of the UMWA in its long running battle with Pittston Coal. This film brings to life the real struggles of working people at the pivotal moment when state power was used to open the floodgates to global capital, aid the destruction of coalfield communities and its labor institutions. Chronicling the critical role played by working class women in these watershed events, it features economist Helen Lewis, Reverend Jesse Jackson, women miners, Betty Heathfield of Britain’s Women Against Pit Closures, NUMs Arthur Scargill, and Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock.

Directed by: Jean Donohue

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2090505/

http://www.mwg.org

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Posted by andrew765 on June 28, 2014 in Class, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Manufacturing, Occupation/Type of Work, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Themes, Women, Working Class

Tags: coal mining, Mining, unions, working conditions

Joe Hill’s Secret Canadian Hideout

25 Jun

Did Wobbly protest singer Joe Hill hide out at the Rossland Miners’ Union Hall back in 1912? Is the spirit of the’ Man Who Never Died’ alive and well in this old British Columbia mining town? Find out by seeing ‘Joe Hill’s Secret Canadian Hideout.’

Directed by: Ron Verzuh

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Posted by andrew765 on June 25, 2014 in Documentary, Labor History, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Working Class

Tags: organize, solidarity, unions, unite, worker's rights, workers

Popieluszko – Freedom Is Within Us

03 Feb

Another contemporary take on a life story on early-‘Solidarity’ union hero; more about struggle for freedom than labour struggles
In 1984 Jerzy Popiełuszko, widely known as the “Solidarność-Priest” for his role in the resistance against communism, was murdered by agents of the Polish internal intelligence agency. This film debut attracted over 1,3 million cinema viewers in Poland.
http://www.filmfestivalcottbus.de/en/archive/2012/films/pgm_id=1296&film_id=970&seite=3

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Posted by Labor Film Database on February 3, 2014 in Drama, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

Black Thursday (CZARNY CZWARTEK)

03 Feb

by Antoni Krauze (Poland) – contemporary take on the tragic events when Gdansk shipyard workers were killed by police during strike of December 1970 – got a FIPRESCI PRIZE (FIPRESCI Prize for a film in the World Competition) award at 37th Montreal World Film Festival.

Still a painfully remembered event, the brutally suppressed shipyard strikes of December 1970 get a stirring, street-level dramatization from Antoni Krauze that focuses on the tragic story of Brunon Drywa and family. When protests spread among coastal towns, troops in Gdynia responded by firing on people on their way to work; the victims would include Drywa, who was shot in the back. Filming on historic locations in Gdynia, Krauze forcefully brings to the screen a rarely depicted yet pivotal chapter in Polish history.

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Posted by Labor Film Database on February 3, 2014 in Drama, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Safety & Health, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

Let It Be War (2012)

21 Jan

Directed by: Andrew Heaberlin
Narrative Short (18 minutes) 2012

A young coal miner returns home from the Second World War to the unchanged, harsh reality of life in a company town. Unionization has the town divided and thoroughly at war with itself. Still, the miners toil away in the depths of the mountains, harvesting the company’s black gold. Jim struggles to support his family, and in his darkest hour, he and the other miners summon the will to act. They strike back against the company, sending structures crashing to the ground in a heap of fiery rubble.

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Posted by andrew765 on January 21, 2014 in Drama, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Working Class

Tags: coal mining, strike

Andrew Carnegie and the Homestead Strike

03 Jan

Andrew Carnegie and the Homestead Strike

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Posted by Labor Film Database on January 3, 2014 in Available Online, Documentary, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Working Class

The Homestead Steel Strike of 1892

03 Jan

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Posted by Labor Film Database on January 3, 2014 in Available Online, Documentary, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Working Class

Haymarket Martyrs–Origins of International Workers Day

03 Jan

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w-z8ud_9QU
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKkEl9XzjFc

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Posted by Labor Film Database on January 3, 2014 in Documentary, Labor History, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Unemployment-Wages, Working Class

Al Jazeera World : Revolution Through Arab Eyes – The Factory

03 Jan

A glimpse into life inside Egypt’s Mahalla textile factory – a place renowned as a cauldron of revolt where striking workers first inspired the Egyptian uprising.