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Category Archives: Working Class

Workers Republic

29 Jun

What would you do? Your boss gives you three days’ notice that your workplace is closing. You will be unemployed in a recession, without the severance the law says you deserve. If you are the employees of Republic Windows and Doors… you fight back! For six days in December of 2008, laid-off Chicago factory workers took over their closing workplace, declaring they would not leave until the owners and creditors agreed to pay them the severance they were owed. Republic’s credit line had been cut off by Bank of America, which had just received billions of dollars in federal bank bailout money. These 260 workers decided, “If I don’t fight, I know I’ll lose. If I do fight, at least I stand a chance of winning.” In these revolutionary times, when a new movement has risen from below to occupy Wall Street and expose the greed of bosses and banks, the workers of Republic are a beacon of hope and optimism, a microcosm of how everyday people may be the most qualified to forge a better world.

Directed by: Andrew Friend

http://vimeopro.com/insurgentproductions/andrew-friend/video/30882647

 
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Posted by on June 29, 2014 in Cities-Urban, Class, Documentary, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Working Class

 

The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (1980)

28 Jun

The U.S. entry into World War II created an unprecedented demand for new workers. Thousands of posters and billboards appeared calling on women to “Do the Job He Left Behind.” Rosie the Riveter was born — the symbol of working women during World War II. The story is told by the women themselves, five former “Rosies,” who movingly recall their histories working in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco during the war. Their testimony is interwoven with rare archival recruitment films, stills, posters, ads and music from the period, which contrast their experiences with the popular legend and mythology of Rosie the Riveter.

Directed by: Connie Field

 
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Posted by on June 28, 2014 in Automation, Documentary, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Technology, War, Women, Working Class

 

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Expect Resistance

28 Jun

Looks at the “Take Back the Land” and Occupy Wall Street movements as they began to respond to the foreclosure crisis. The film follows Leonard Spears, a man fighting to keep his home after a foreclosure has passed and an eviction notice has been filed. We meet activists who are willing to put themselves on the line and take direct action to keep people like Leonard in their homes, and to even move homeless families into bank-owned homes that are sitting empty from previous foreclosures.

Directed by: Shane Burley

 

 
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Posted by on June 28, 2014 in Big Business/Corporations, Cities-Urban, Class, Documentary, Legal System, Organizing, Politics, Unemployment-Wages, Working Class

 

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From the Shadows of Power

28 Jun

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.

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Directed by: Jean Donohue

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

http://www.mwg.org

 

 
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Posted by 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

 

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

 

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Forward

25 Jun

Self-financed with a $1000 budget as an art experiment by Dusan Harminc and Matt Mullins, ‘Forward’ (Wisconsin’s state motto) is an activist-level view of the uprising that swept state senators out of office, triggered the third governor recall election in American history, and inspired the Occupy movement that swept the country. This film uses the reflections of people involved in the protests of winter 2011 to show what galvanized non-radicals into a movement that quickly drew international attention to Madison, Wisconsin for political action unlike anything seen in America since the Vietnam War.

Directed by: Dusan Harminc, Matt Mullins

http://forward-movie.com/forward/

 

 
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Posted by on June 25, 2014 in Cities-Urban, Documentary, Organizing, Politics, Working Class

 

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Car Wash Workers in NYC Clean Up Dirty Business

23 Jun

The WASH NY Campaign. the story of the recently successful campaign by RWDSU to bring dignity and fairness to exploited “Carwasheros” around NYC. Special recognition to Charles Fostrom and Janna Pea of the RWDSU and Chio Valerio of New York Communities for Change.

Directed by: Charles Fostrom and Janna Pea of the RWDSU and Chio Valerio of New York Communities for Change

http://www.washnewyork.org/index.php?currentpage=11

 
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Posted by on June 23, 2014 in Cities-Urban, Documentary, Organizing, Safety & Health, Service Workers, Transportation, Working Class

 

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Sky Blue Collar

23 Jun

A businessman and a carpet installer enjoy a wild and playful friendship, but when their class-conscious bosses pressure them to steer clear of each other, the Romeo and Juliet of the workaday world must decide what’s more important: how we make a living, or who we’re living for.

Directed by: Derek Frey

http://www.lazerfilm.com/films/skybluecollar/index.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3029942/

 
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Posted by on June 23, 2014 in Class, Comedy, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), White Collar, Working Class

 

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Tears in the Fabric

23 Jun

A Documentary Film and Resource Website by Rainbow Collective and Openvizor. In Savar, Bangladesh, Razia struggles to raise two grandchildren after losing her daughters in the Rana Plaza factory collapse, a disaster which claimed the lives of over 1000 garment workers. One year on, Tears in the Fabric follows Razia as, amidst the struggle of raising and educating her grandsons, she searches for resolution and answers through protest on the streets of Dhaka and amongst the rubble and torn fabrics of Rana Plaza. Tears in the Fabric offers a starkly honest and deeply moving view of the human cost of high street fashion.

Directed by: The Rainbow Collective, UK

http://www.rainbowcollective.co.uk/#!tears-in-the-fabric/c1zdc

 

 
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Posted by on June 23, 2014 in Cities-Urban, Consumerism, Documentary, Global Economy, Manufacturing, Organizing, Outsourcing, Retail, Service Workers, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Textile Industry, Women, Working Class

 

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Twin Cities Assembly Plant: A Job and a Family

10 Feb
  • Format: DVD Video, 40 min., with bonus 14 min. slideshow
  • Publisher: Labor Education Service, U of MN
  • Usually ships in: 1 to 3 business days
  • Product ##: 7517

The history of the Twin Cities Ford Assembly Plant, United Auto Workers Local 879 and the unique community of workers in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood.

Since 1925, Ford Motor Company has operated a manufacturing plant on the banks of the Mississippi River in Saint Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood, employing thousands of workers. This documentary tells the history of the Twin Cities Assembly Plant, United Auto Workers Local 879 and the unique community both hourly and salaried workers created inside and outside the factory.

$20; order here: http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=2607

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2014 in Documentary, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Transportation, Working Class

 

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