3:48; U.S.
Synopsis: SEIU pioneered an initiative in which all political candidates seeking SEIU endorsement is required to spend a day with an SEIU member at work and at home with their families.During the 2008 election, now President Barack Obama walked a day in the shoes of Pauline Beck, an SEIU member and homecare provider from California.
Contact: Jennifer Wynter jennifer-wynter.philis@seiu.org
78m; Brazil
Director: Glauber Rocha
Synopsis: Relation between strike and proleterian life on the Brazilian coast. Depiction of striking fishermen, “black magic rituals,” and emotional relationships.
53m; U.S.
Director: Shawn Bennett
Synopsis: Story of the ultimately successful 1990 Steelworker’s strike against Ravenswood; Shawn Bennett grew up in Parkersburg, studying film at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and studying under Julia Reichert (“Union Maids.”) His father Joe worked at The Ravenswood Aluminum plant for years, and was part of the famous lock-out that took place for almost two years starting in 1990. Using historic footage, TV news broadcasts, and interviews with people who took part in one of the most important labor struggles in recent American history, he presents a compelling story of global capitalism vs. devoted workers. The United Steelworkers and fellow union members traveled around the country and world, protesting the inhumanity of the corporate leaders in a model campaign for justice. Marc Rich, an international criminal pardoned by President Clinton during his last day in office, was the man at the top.
Contact: http://www.battleoflocal5668.com/ shawn@shawnbennett.net 310-729-9080 (Cell)
42m; U.S.
Director: Wayne Rose
Cast: Aaron Douglas, Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell
Synopsis: Battlestar Galactica ran for four seasons on the SyFy network and is considered by many the best science-fiction television program yet created. Focusing on a fleet of human survivors from a mass genocide, the program explored all manner of personal and political issues. Among those was labor – in this episode from the third season one of the main characters restarts a union by becoming the leader of a strike on a mining ship. “Dirty Hands” explores several facets of labor, most interestingly how unions navigate their relationship to the government and their role in promoting social mobility.
Key Scene
21m; Argentina
Director: Grupo Alavio & Marie Trigona
Synopsis: The story of the bankruptcy of a modern 4 star hotel in Buenos Aires and the role of the workers in protecting their jobs through an occupation.
45m; U.S.
Director: Tia Lessin
Synopsis: Expose of sweatshop conditions on Saipan.
Contact: Witness; 212-274-1664 witness@witness.org tia@igc.org Winner 2002 Sidney Hillman Award http://www.uniteunion.org/pressbox/050102-hillman.html
113m; China
Director: Xiaoshuai Wang
Cast: Lin Cui, Xun Zhou, Bin Li
Synopsis (IMDB): A seventeen-year-old country boy working in Beijing as a courier has his bicycle stolen, and finds it with a schoolboy his age.
3m; U.S.
Director: Hope Tucker
Synopsis: Life of garment workers.
172m; U.S.
Director: William Wyler
Synopsis (IMDB): Three WWII veterans return home to small-town America to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.
56m; Canada
Director: Elaine Brière
The story of the little-known struggle of merchant seamen to save the merchant fleet and their livelihood. It traces the history of Canadian shipping from the international strike of 1949 to the globalization of coastal shipping in Australia by Canada Steamship Lines — owned by the family of Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin
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