- 1-800-INDIA
- Over the past decade, India has emerged as the leader in the global market for white-collar "outsourcing" jobs-- a notable component of India's rapid economic growth. This documentary explores the experience of young Indian men and women who have been recruited into these new jobs requiring long hours, night shifts, and westernized work habits. Also reveals the human and cultural effect on Indian family life, the evolving cities and towns, and on the aspirations and daily lives of young Indians, especially women, entering the work force. Dist.: Films Media Group. Originally broadcast on PBS television program Wide angle on Sept. 13, 2005. 57 min. DVD 6570
- A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs & Freedom.
- Biography of the African American labor leader, journalist, and civil rights activist, A. Philip Randolph. Randolph won the first national labor agreement for a black union, The Sleeping Car porters. His threat of a protest march on Washington forced President Roosevelt to ban segregation in the federal government and defense industries at the onset of WWII and again he forced Truman to integrate the military. Finally with the 1963 March on Washington, Randolph succeeded in placing civil rights at the forefront of the nation's legislative agenda as he passed the torch to Martin Luther King, Jr. Includes music of the labor and civil rights movements. 86 min. Video/C 4127
- America 1900(parts 3-4)
- This program chronicles the forces of change which ultimately shaped the coming century. Part three and four examine the presidential campaign of Fall 1900, the 1900 Paris Exposition, the Boxer Rebellion in China, racism against Afro-Americans, the Galveston hurricane, labor unrest among coal miners resulting in the formation of the United Mine Workers Union, the developing music industry and popular culture at the turn of the century. 92 min. Video/C 5811
- American Dream.
- In this Academy Award winner for best documentary in 1991, the true-life story of a workers' strike against Geo. A. Hormel & Company in Austin, Minnesota is documented from beginning to end. When Geo. A. Hormel & Company made $2 million in profitsand then cut their worker's salaries by $2 an hour each, the workers had only one option: Go out on strike. Director, Barbara Kopple. c1992. 98 min. DVD 6527; vhs Video/C 2268
- American Industrial Ballads (Pete Seeger)[SOUND RECORDING]
- Contents: Peg and awl -- The blind fiddler -- The buffalo skinners -- Eight-hour day -- Hard times in the mill -- Roll down the line -- Hayseed like me -- The farmer is the man -- Come all you hardy miners -- He lies in the American land -- Casey Jones -- Let them wear their watches fine -- Cotton mill colic -- Seven cent cotton and forty cent meat -- Mill mother's lament -- Fare ye well, old Ely Branch -- Beans, bacon, and gravy -- The death of Harry Simms -- Winnsboro Cotton Mill blues -- Ballad of Barney Graham -- My children are seven in number -- Raggedy -- Pittsburgh Town -- Sixty per cent. Sound/D 69
- American Jobs
- Independently produced and based on 80 hours of interviews, this documentary explores the impact of low-wage foreign competition on America's workers, families and communities. From the textile mills of North Carolina to the Softward hub of Seattle, displaced workers share their stories and their concern for America's future. Produced and directed by Greg Spotts. 2004. 62 min. DVD 3658
- American Social History Project (Who Built America?)
- Film series which explores the central role working men and women have played in the key events of American history. 30 min. each installment. 1987.
The Big H. Part one in a film series which explores the central role working men and women have played in the key events of American history. The Big H ("H" for history) is an introduction to the history of working people and the difficulties of understanding the past. Video/C 5826Tea Party Etiquette This film depicts Boston Tea Party and other events of the American Revolution from the perspective of Boston shoemaker George Hewes. Video/C 5827 Daughters of Free Men This film presents working conditions during the 1830's of young girls at the Merrimack Textile Mill in Lowell, Massachusetts. Also depicts a strike by the girls because of poor working conditions and wages. Video/C 5828 Doing as They Can. In this segment a fugitive woman slave describes her life, work, and day-to-day resistance on a North Carolina planation during the 1840s and 1850s. Video/C 5829 Five Points. This film examines New York City in the 1850s as seen through the conflicting perspectives of a native-born reformer and an immigrant Irish family. Video/C 5830 Dr. Toer's Amazing Magic Lantern Show This film examines the struggle to realize the promise of freedom in the years following the Civil War, as depicted by ex-slave J.W. Toer and his traveling picture show. The show featured music and stories of the black people before, during and after the Civil War. Especially focuses on the misrepresentation by the North of the former slaves and the progress of Reconstruction. Video/C 5831
1877, The Grand Army of Starvation This film examines the summer of 1877, in which eighty thousand railroad workers went on strike, and were joined by hundreds of thousands of other Americans. The Great Uprising inaugurated a new era of conflict over the meaning of equality in the industrial age. Video/C 5832
Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl In this film photographs, motion pictures and words derived from interviews, memoirs, newspapers and other sources are presented to show the life of immigrant shirtwaist makers in New York City during the first decade of the 20th century. The film illustrates their working conditions, the strike movement and their arrests. Video/C 5833
Up South: African-American Migration in the Era of the Great War This film chronicles the migration of 500,000 African-Americans from the South to cities in the North between 1916 and 1921. Mississippians chose Chicago as their destination in the great migration. Their story is told through the recollections of migrants themselves and through letters, oral histories, songs, photographs and art. Video/C 5834 - Anarchism in America
- Examines the development of anarchism in the United States, showing how anarchist thought from Russia and Europe fused with American nineteenth-century traditions of individualism. Includes archival footage of events in anarchist history and significant personalities including Sacco and Vanzetti, Emma Goldman, Kenneth Rexroth, Ursula LeGuin and Murray Bookchin. 1981. 75 min. DVD 6882
- The Anarchist Guest: Emma Goldman
- Depicts the life and philosopies of Emma Goldman, an anarchist nicknamed "Red Emma" for her radical political views. Follows her tumultuous life from Russia to the United States and her eventual deportation from the U.S. because of her politics. Traces Goldman's journey to the Canadian home where she found exile in her later years. Emma Goldman Papers, UC Berkeley, 2000. 42 min. Video/C 7932
- The Automobile Story (Made in America; 2)
- Once it was the symbol of American industry, style, and leisure--until Toyota adapted American mass production methods to Japanese standards. Only now are embattled American auto makers trying to reverse history by using Japanese success strategy in planning, design, engineering, and manufacturing. 58 min. Video/C 2586
- Belfast, Maine (2001)
- Frederick Wisemen, one of the giants of American documentary filmmaking, spent a month in the fall of 1996 shooting footage of life in a small fishing-and-factory New England town. The city of Belfast, Maine has suffered an economic downturn in recent years, and the town is gearing up for a new business (a credit card collection facility) that it hopes will give the local economy a boost. In the meantime, the people of Belfast go on with their lives trapping lobsters, canning fish, teaching school, helping the poor and indigent, staging local plays and trying to make the most of their evenings and weekends. 100. c1999. 248 min. Video/C MM508
- Beyond Measure: Appalachian Culture and Economy.
- Discusses the effect of coal and natural gas mining on the traditional Appalachian way of life and the environment. 1995. 58 min. Video/C 5289
- A bientôt, j'espère (Be Seeing You)
- A film by Chris Marker. From 1967 to 1976 Chris Marker was a member of SLON (the "Company for the Launching of New Works"), which was based on the idea that cinema should not be thought of solely in terms of commerce. 1967 was also the year an important strike broke out at Rhodiaceta, a textile plant in Besancon, France. Chris Marker and members of SLON visited the city to document the strike and the lives and attitudes of the workers. The film's most important moments are composed of conversations with workers and their wives who believe the working class is at the mercy of a system that would like them to remain powerless. And so it was that their local demands grew to questions about the larger political system. Originally produced in 1968. 39 min. Video/C 9871
- Blood, Sweat & Lace.
- Examination of the working conditions of Asian American women garment workers who sew piece work in Oakland, California. Focuses on attempts by the workers to extract back wages from Jessica McClintoch Corporation, designer/distributor of the fashions they sew, after their subcontractor declared bankruptcy. 1994. 18 min. DVD 1329; also VHS Video/C 3601
- Blue Collar Capitalism.
- Story of one of the largest worker-owned and operated businesses, the Vermont Asbestos Group, Inc. To avert its shutdown, the asbestos workers bought out their mine. The documentary explores the delicate transition from corporate to worker ownership. 1979?. 28 min. Video/C 130
- Breadline, 1929.(The People's Century)
- The 1920s found Americans enjoying the fruits of a new prosperity in a post-war boom. Then, in 1929, the New York Stock Exchange crashed; banks failed and industry withered. From Europe and the United States to Latin America and Asia, the Great Depression shattered economies and communities worldwide. In this film the people who were there remember the blow as workers from the United States, Chile, Britain, Belgium and Scandinavia recall the hungry 1930s. c1998. 56 min. Video/C 5550
- The Burning Mines: Impact of Coal Mining on Women
- A documentary on the family life of coal miners of Bhubaneswar, India, with particular reference to its impact on women. PAL format. 1998. 33 min. Video/C 7926
- The Business of America.
- Studies the effects on steelworkers and their families of the United States Steel Corporation's shutdown of its plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Examines the decline of the American steel industry as a result of its refusal to modernize steel-producing facilities and a shift of its investments to acquisitions in more profitable sectors of the economy. 1984. 56 min. NRLF B 4 175 396
- California Since the Sixties: Revolutions and Counterrevolutions. Popular Organizing and People's Movements, 2/4/99 (California Studies Conference. [11th : 1999 : University of California, Berkeley])
- Contents: Breaking with union centrism: some thoughts for revitalizing the U.S. labor movement / Peter Olney (23 min.) -- Regional racial formations in political culture / Laura Pulido (25 min.) -- Trends in youth organizing / Julie Brown (10 min.).
A panel of political and labor organizers comments on the history and current directions in American labor and political movements with particular reference to minorities and youth. Concludes with questions from the audience. Presented at a conference held on February 4-6, 1999 at the University of California, Berkeley. 1999. 100 min. Video/C 5973
- Chain of Love (Keten van liefde)
- A documentary examining the Philippines' second largest export product--maternal love [domestic workers]--and how this export affects the women involved, their families in the Philippines, and families in the West. The money the expatriates earn in the West is sent home to the Philippines, where local help is hired to look after their children. This money is the Philippines' largest source of income in foreign currency. A film by Marije Meerman. 2001. 50 min. DVD 8490; vhs Video/C 9325
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UC Berkeley users only - Requires Windows Media Player or Flip4Mac - Chicken Ranch: A Legal Brothel in Nevada.
- Documentary about the prostitutes employed on the Chicken Ranch, one of the 38 legal brothels in Nevada. A film by Nick Broomfield & Sandy Sissel. 1983. 84 min. DVD 5338; vhs Video/C 585
- Chicano!: The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement.
- A four part series chronicling various aspects of the struggles for equal rights by Mexican Americans. 57 min. each installment
Episode 1: Quest for a Homeland. Examines the events at Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, that sparked a national movement for social justice. It focuses on the 1967 struggle by Mexican Americans to regain ownership of New Mexico lands guaranteed them by the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and then visits the landmark Denver Youth Conference in 1969. The program concludes with the Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War, held in East Los Angeles in 1970...an event that turned into a tragic riot resulting in the death of renowned journalist Ruben Salazar. Video/C 4308
Episode 2: The Struggle in the Field. Examines the efforts of farmworkers to form a national labor union. Under the leadership of nonviolence advocate Cesar Chavez, farmworkers launched a strike against California grape growers in 1965, demanding better working conditions and fair wages. In 1970, they undertook a national table grape boycott that eventually led to the first union contracts in farm labor history. An important milestone in the struggle was the passage of the California Labor Relations Act. Video/C 4309
Episode 3: Taking Back the Schools. Documents the Mexican-American struggle to reform an educational system that failed to properly educate Chicano students, resulting in a more than 50% drop out rate, and leaving many others illiterate and unskilled. It focuses on the 1968 walkout by thousands of Mexican-American high school students in East Los Angeles, which resulted in conspiracy indictments against 13 community leaders. Video/C 4310
Episode 4: Fighting for Political Power.Focuses on the emergence in Texas of Mexican-American political power and the creation of a third political party, La Raza Unida. Although the idea of a third party eventually proved ineffectual, La Raza Unida inspired a generation of political activists and pioneered voter registration strategies that eventually led to the election of thousands of Chicanos to political office. Video/C 4311
- Goodman, Walter. "Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement."
(television program reviews) New York Times v145 (Fri, April 12, 1996):B8(N), D18(L), col 4, 8 col in.
- Child Labor. [Part 1]
- First segment: Looks at Pakistan's system of child labor and the movement to abolish it with excerpts from "The Carpet," a documentary film by Magnus Bergmar. The segment concludes with an examination of the tragic death of Iqbal Masih and charges that his death was part of a conspiracy against him by Pakistan's carpet "mafia." Second segment: An interview with UNICEF deputy executive director, Guido Bertolaso. Broadcast April 25, 1995. Video/C 6720
- Cinderella of the Cape Flats(Real stories from a free South Africa; v. 2)
- Everyday the working class Coloured women in the garment industry of the windswept flats around Cape Town toil anonymously to make clothes so that other women will look beautiful. Invariably they cannot afford these garments themselves. But for one day a year they come out in all their glory at the Annual Spring Queen pageant. The pageant is created by the workers and their trade union to bring their families together for an evening of solidarity and fun. Set against the preparation for the 2003 pageant, this film explores the lives of working women and celebrates them as creators of beauty. Although the end of apartheid has not taken away the drudgery of repetitive factory labor, this pageant shows working class women inventing their own lively folk culture. A film by Jane Kennedy. 2004. 58 min. DVD 5264
- Child Labor. [Part 2]
- First segment: Investigates the complicity of U.S. corporations in the global exploitation of children through the promotion by celebrity endorsements of products produced by children in Third World Countries. Includes excerpts from the film "Zoned for slavery." Second segment: Examines the life a child worker in Pakistan's brick kiln industry through excerpts from the film "My life is mine," produced by Magnus Bergmar. Third segment: New York Times columnist, Bob Herbert, discusses the response of American corporations to the public outcry against child labor. Broadcast July 24, 1996. Video/C 6741
- City of the Big Shoulders.
- Polish immigrants were the driving force behind Chicago's remarkable industrial growth. But they never achieved political cohesiveness, and while a million Poles now live in Chicago, their political power is not commensurate with the number of votes they cast. Film includes interviews with stockyard and steel mill workers in Chicago and closes with an interview with a guide at the Polish museum. 1992. 52 min. Video/C 2640
- Child Labor [Part 1]
- First segment: Looks at Pakistan's system of child labor and the movement to abolish it with excerpts from "The Carpet," a documentary film by Magnus Bergmar. The segment concludes with an examination of the tragic death of Iqbal Masih and charges that his death was part of a conspiracy against him by Pakistan's carpet "mafia." Second segment: An interview with UNICEF deputy executive director, Guido Bertolaso. Segment from the television program Rights & wrongs broadcast April 25, 1995. 27 min. Video/C 6720
- China Blue
- Following a pair of denim jeans from birth to sale, China Blue links the power of the U.S. consumer market to the daily lives of a Chinese factory owner and two teenaged female factory workers. Filmed both in the factory and in the workers' faraway village, this documentary provides a rare, human glimpse at China's rapid transformation into a free market society. Directed by Micha X. Peled. 2005. 88 min. DVD 6984
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UC Berkeley users only - Requires Windows Media Player or Flip4Mac - Chinese Workers in Disney's World: Those With Justice
- An investigation into the exploitative working conditions of workers from rural provinces of China who have immigrated to Shenzhen to work in the Hung Hing Printing Factory which has contracted to Walt Disney Company for the production of children's books. c2005. 11 min. Video/C MM997
- Chipping Off the Old Block(Livelyhood; episode 5)
- This documentary examines the American motivation to work, looking over the past 100 years in a quest to understand the amazing American work ethic. c1999. 56 min., 46 sec. Video/C MM1115
- Clara Lemlich: A Strike Leader's Diary
- On November 22, 1909, New York City garment workers gathered at Cooper Union to discuss pay cuts, unsafe working conditions and other grievances. After two hours of indecisive speeches by male union leaders, a young Jewish woman strode down the aisle and demanded the floor. Speaking in Yiddish, she passionately urged her coworkers to go out on strike. Clara Lemlich, a flegling union organizer, thus launched the "Uprising of the 20,000," when, two days later, garment workers walked out of shops all over the city. A film by Alex Szalat. c2004. 51 min. DVD 4653
- Coal Face (1935)
- Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti. Heroic documentary on the life of work of British miners. 12 min. Video/C 5024
- Coal Mining Women.
- Women coal miners tell of the economic conditions that led them to seek employment in the coal mines and problems encountered once hired. 1983. 40 min. Video/C 522
- Danger Children at Work(Life series 3)
- Part of a series examining the issue of glabalization and its effect on ordinary people around the world. This segment looks at the production of fireworks by poor families and their children in Guatemala. Since the land is poor, many have turned from agriculture to producing fireworks at home. The practice has become the major source of income for 80% of local people, with no safety controls and frequent accidents. Directed by Emily Marlow. c2002. 27 min. Video841
- A Day Without Sunshine.
- A documentary on the Florida citrus industry and the plight of the farmworkers. Includes interviews with citrus industry leaders, growers, union organizers and government officials, as well as presenting portraits of three migrant families. 1976. 89 min. 3/4" UMATIC Video/C 187
- Day After Day.
- Pictures life in a paper-mill town in Quebec, showing that the inhabitants live out their lives--whether they are on the job, on the street, in the restaurant, or in the home--in a dull round geared to the dominant routine of the mill. National Film Board of Canada, 1963? 28 min. Video/C 4672
- The Devil's Miner
- The story of 14 year-old Basilio Vargas and his 12 year-old brother Bernardino as they work in the Bolivian silver mines of Cerro Rico (Potosi). Abandoning their Catholic beliefs, Cerro Rico miners believe that Satan, as represented by hundreds of statues constructed in the mines, determines whether they live or die there. A film by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani. 2005. 82 min. DVD 5345
- Dhobighat.
- The Dhobighat is the world's largest out-door laundry. Here 4,000 members of the Dhobi caste work night and day to guarantee an essential service to Bombay's 15 million inhabitants. Most Dhobias are illiterate, but they are highly organized and efficient. An intriguing example of how India's caste system works. 2004. 48 min. DVD 4588
- The Diary of Sacco and Vanzetti
- A docu-drama about the 1927 Massachusetts trial and execution of two Italian-American immigrant anarchists based on Vanzetti's own letters and speeches. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants to America were executed after they were convicted of killing two people during a robbery in South Braintree. Their controversial trial became a political firestorm fueled by anti-immigration and "Red Scare" hysteria that gripped post-World War I America. This unique docu-drama, shot on location around Boston where the case took place, tells the events from the point of view of Vanzetti. Written and directed by David Rothauser. 2004. 57 min. DVD 6909
- Diverted to Delhi
- The toll-free telephone numbers used to place orders are often answered thousands of miles away by Indians trained to speak and think like Americans, or Brits or Australians. This film follows a group of university graduates through a rigorous 3-week course which they hope will prepare them for prestigious, well paying positions in these call centers. Over 200 of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies now choose to service their clients via Indian call centers where labor and set-up costs are low and the staff highly educated. c2002. 55 min. Video/C 9721
- Don't Mourn, Organize!: Songs of Labor (Joe Hill)[SOUND RECORDING]
- Contents: Joe Hill / Phil Ochs (Billy Bragg) -- Joe Hill's last will / Joe Hill (Utah Phillips) -- Joe Hill's ashes / Mark Levy (Mark Levy) -- The preacher and the slave / Joe Hill ("Haywire Mac" McClintock) -- Joe Hill / Alfred Hayes, Earl Robinson (Paul Robeson) -- Paper heart / Si Kahn, Charlotte Brody (Si Kahn) -- Casey Jones, the union scab / Joe Hill (Pete Seeger and the Song Swappers) -- Mr. Block / Joe Hill (Mats Paulson) -- Joe Hill listens to the praying / Kenneth Patchen (Joe Glazer) -- The tramp / Joe Hill (Cisco Houston) -- Joe Hill / Afred Hayes, Earl Robinson (Earl Robinson) -- The white slave / Joe Hill (Alfred Esteban Cortez) -- Narrative (Elizabeth Gurley Flynn) -- The rebel girl / Joe Hill ; arr. and adapted with original material by Hazel Dickens (Hazel Dickens) -- There is power in a union / Joe Hill (Entertainment Workers IU 630, I.W.W.). Sound/D 71
- Double Burden: Three Generations of Working Mothers.
- A multicultural multigenerational look at mothers and work. c1992. 56 min. Video/C 2926
- Dreadful Memories: The Life of Sarah Ogan Gunning, 1910-1983.
- Reminiscences by fellow musicians, friends and relatives of the events in this folk singer's life. Sarah performs some of her own songs which protest the working conditions of Kentucky coal miners and became a rallying point for the establishment of trade-unions for the coal miners.1988. 39 min. Video/C 3847
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- Dust Bowl Ballads (Woody Guthrie)[SOUND RECORDING]
- Contents: The great dust storm (Dust storm disaster) -- Talking dust bowl blues -- Pretty Boy Floyd -- Dusty old dust (so long it's been good to know yuh) -- Dust bowl blues -- Blowin' down the road (I ain't going to be treated this way) -- Tom Joad, Part 1 -- Tom Joad, Part 2 -- Do re mi -- Dust bowl refugee -- I ain't got no home -- Vigilante man -- Dust can't kill me -- Dust pneumonia blues -- Talking dust bowl blues (alternate version). Recorded in New York City, Apr. 26, 1940 and May, 3, 1940. SOUND/D 72
- Economics U.S.A. 28 parts series, e.g.:
- Economics USA. Lesson 22, Labor and management: How Do They Come to Terms? Explains how the demand for labor depends on the marginal value product and the real wage rate. As examples film examines labor struggles of immigrant garment workers in New York, the demise of the New York herald tribune and the role the union played in its collapse, and negotiations between workers and management in the automobile industry. 1985.28 min. Video/C 1229:21-22 Pt. 22
- Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: The Rebel Girl
- Discusses the life of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964), one of this country's most famous and important union organizers, radical activists, and defenders of civil rights. Rare archival photographs, historical film footage and recordings of her speeches shed light on her role as labor leader, orator and self-proclaimed revolutionist. c1993. 20 min. Video/C MM688
- The Empire's New Clothes.
- Investigates the situation in sweatshops in New York City where thousands of women, primarily recent immigrants from Chinese and Latino communities, are sewing garments under dangerous and unfair labor conditions, which often lead to psychological exhaustion, permanent disability and even death. A production of the Witness Project which uses video technology to investigate human rights abuses. A production of the Witness Project which uses video technology to investigate human rights abuses. 2000. 10 min. DVD 3266Witness web site
- Enthusiasm (Entuziazm)(1922)
- Directed by Dziga Vertov. Vertov's first sound film. This lyrical sound and musical documentary celebrates the enthusiasm with which the peasants and miners of the Don River basin in Russia fulfilled their first five-year plan quotas following the October Revolution. The film is noted for its innovative use of sound in synchronization as well as in counterpoint, and for its interesting cinematic effects, such as multiple superimpositions. 67 min. DVD 9188; vhs 999:2063
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database - Eugene Debs and the American Movement.
- A biographical sketch of Eugene V. Debs, labor leader, industrial unionist, and American Socialist, in Deb's own words, narrated from his speeches and writings. From after the Civil War until his death in 1926, Debs was part of U.S. history at a time when the foundations of modern industrial and corporate America were established. In this fifty year period, Debs was influenced by events as diverse as the massive railroad strike of 1877, the rapid growth of monopolies in the 1890s, World War I during which he was jailed for opposing the war, and the Russian Revolution. 1977. 44 min. Video/C 7298
- Eyes on the Fries.
- While good jobs in high tech and manufacturing are increasingly hard to find, companies like Subway, Starbucks, and Blockbuster are opening stores at a pace of one a day. This film examines the rise of the low wage service sector and what it means for a generation of young Americans whose lives depend on it. A film by Casey Peek and Jeremy Blasi. 2004. 21 min. Video/C MM410
- Factory Farms.
- 1959 documentary by Harvey Richards. Tells the story of California agriculture, a highly capitalized, sophisticated industry with substandard wage rates that keep its workers in poverty. Documents 1959 labor conditions for farm workers. Produced by the United Packinghouse Workers Union. 1959. 32 min. DVD 4248; also VHS Video/C 2794
- Farmers and Farmworkers: The New Harvest
- Examines the ongoing negotiations among growers, farmworkers, and teamsters including the impact of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. United Farm Worker history is traced from the Delano beginnings to the present. An interview with Cesar Chavez is included. California Journal report; 104. 1981. 30 min. DVD 7646 [preservation copy]; Video/C 2097
- Fast Food Women
- Looks at the lives of the women who prepare the food at four different fast food restaurants in eastern Kentucky. These women, mostly middle-aged with children to raise, are often the sole source of income for their families. They work for salaries barely above minimum wage, have trouble getting full-time hours because of their employer's scheduling policies, and are without benefits. Scenes of women working at the various restaurants are included in this look at the other side of the counter. 28 min. c1991. Video/C 9702
- The Farmers Wife.
- This film follows Juanita and Darrel Buschkoetter, a remarkable young Nebraska farm couple, to tell a compelling love story. Gleaned from more than 200 hours of film shot on location over three years, 'The farmer's wife' follows Juanita and Darrel as they face seemingly insurmountable economic hardship, only to confront an even greater challenge: repairing their damaged marriage. What emerges is an epic story of faith, perseverance, and triumph, and an indelible portrait of a real American family's struggle to hold onto their dreams and each other. 1998. 3 videocassettes (375 min.) Video/C 6115
- Dawes, Gil. "The Farmer's Wife." (Review) Sojourners v27, n5 (Sept-Oct, 1998):74 (2 pages).
Goodman, Walter. "Frontline: The Farmer's Wife." (television program reviews) New York Times v147 (Mon, Sep 21, 1998):B5(N), E5(L), col 1, 14 col in.
Leonard, John. "The Farmer's Wife." (television program reviews) New York v31, n36 (Sept 21, 1998):71.
- Farmworkers' Diary
- In the farmworker's own words, shows the living conditions, hopes and fears of Mexican migrant farmworkers in California. The documentary captures their dreams and anxieties, their longing for their families and their fear of becoming unemployable as farm mechanizaton increases. Produced by Tony Cisneros and Paul Shain. 1990. 10 min. Video/C MM600
- The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers' Struggle.
- The story of Cesar Chavez, the charismatic founder of the United Farmworkers Union and the history and impact of the movement that he inspired. The heart of the UFW, Chavez remains the most important Latino leader in this country's history. The activities he and his dedicated organizers led inspired the Chicano activism of the 1960's and '70's, helping to create a Latino civil rights movement. Film includes archival footage, newsreels and present-day interviews with activists, politicians and Chavez family members. Produced and directed by Ray Telles, Rick Tejada-Flores. 1997. 115 min. DVD 8780; vhs Video/C 4746
- Ferriss, Susan and Ricardo Sandoval. The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement.
New York: Harcourt Brace, c1997; UCB Bancroft HD6509.C48 F47 1997; UCB Moffitt Ordered for Moffitt
- Gallegos, Aaron. "The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers' Struggle." (television program reviews) Sojourners v26, n3 (May-June, 1997):59 (3 pages).
Goodman, Walter. "The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers' Struggle." (television program reviews) New York Times v146 (Wed, April 16, 1997):B6(N), C18(L), col 5, 2 col in
Harvey, Dennis. "The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers' Struggle." (movie reviews) Variety v365, n12 (Jan 27, 1997):79 (2 pages).
Weintraub, Irwin. "The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers' Struggle." (video recording reviews) Library Journal v122, n13 (August, 1997):152 (2 pages).
- Finally Got the News
- A documentary presenting the workers' view of working conditions inside Detroit's auto factories. It focuses on the activities of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in their efforts to build an independent African American labor organization which, unlike the United Auto Workers, would respond to the racism and dangerous working conditions faced by African American workers in the industry. It also explores the educational "tracking," the role of African American women in the labor force, and racial relations between workers. 1970. 55 min. Video/C 6858
- Fired
- When actress Annabelle Gurwitch was fired from a play by Woody Allen, she wondered how she would cope with being fired by a cultural icon. Turning to friends in show business, she was assured she was not alone. Once the subject had been broached, everyone she knew, from her rabbi, to her gynecologist, had stories of getting the boot. This set her off on a journey to answer the question: was being fired going to be the best thing, or worst thing, that had happened in her working life? c2007. 70 min. DVD 7863
- Fragile Promise
- What promise does the new millennium hold for Asia's vast army of child laborers? One answer can be found in Bangalore, India where working children have organized a union to fight for their rights and welfare. This is the story of children changing their lives for the better, children for whom the future holds a fragile promise. 2001. 11 min. Video/C 9142
- Free Voice of Labor--the Jewish Anarchists.
- Look at lives and ideals of the participants in the Jewish anarchist movement in the United States who believed in the possibility of society without government. The centerpiece of the film is a series of clips from interviews with members of the collective that published the Yiddish language anarchist paper Freie Arbeiter Stimme together with still photographs of anarchist demonstrations, and old newsreel footage. Dist.: Cinema Guild. 1997?. 60 min. DVD 6882; vhs Video/C 305
- Freedom!
- A documentary series chronicling the epic journey of America's commitment to liberty and the idea of freedom. Based on the book series A History of US by Joy Hakim. c2003. 52 min. each installment Episode 4: The Industrial Revolution brings Americans new leisure and personal freedom, but also mounting problems to factory workers, including children. DVD 2196
Episode 9: As the split widens between the rich and the poor, a new labor movement arises fighting for the rights of workers. DVD 2196
Episode 10: The newly unveiled Statue of Liberty symbolizes all that is best in America, inspiring an era of reform and compassion. Looks at the work of Susan B. Anthony and women's suffrage, child labor, John Muir, Ida Tarbell and her exposure of abuses by Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and Jane Addams, the first American social worker. DVD 2196
- GATT, What's That?: or Afta NAFTA Where are Worker's Rights?
- Through interviews with Nikos Valance of the Foundation for Economic Democracy and Hector Figuerao of the A.C.T.W.U. this program takes a harsh look at the results of NAFTA and GATT and the future predictions and strategies for labor organizing. 1995. 28 min. Video/C 7702
- Getting to Heaven (Ganarse el cielo)
- This docu-drama, based on interviews with actual immigrants, portrays Hispanic immigrant workers at a New York City restaurant, depicting their workaday reality and dreams for a better life in the United States. Produced and directed by Alfredo Bejar Dist.: Cinema Guild. c1996. 19 min. Video/C 7869
- The Global Assembly Line.
- Documentary, filmed in electronic and garment factories, examines working forces in United States and free-trade zones of developing countries particularly the Philippines and Mexico. Director, Lorraine Gray. Dist.: New Day Films. 1986. 58 min. Video/C 1580
- Global Assembly Line web site (New Day Films)
- Globalization & Human Rights
- Documentary examining the clash between the trend of increasing economic globalization and international human rights advocacy. Investigates the impact of foreign economic influence on gold miners in South Africa, the petroleum industry in Nigeria, the collapse of the economy of Indonesia, the Nike shoe industry in New York and Indonesia, child labor abuses in Thailand and the situation in East Timor. 1998. 57 min. Video/C 6591
- Golden Cage: A Story of California's Farmworkers.
- The experiences of Mexican farmworkers in California are chronicled. Using historical footage, interviews, newspaper clippings and black-and-white stills, the documentary traces the history of the United Farmworkers Union from the sixties to its current decline. It also examines the impact of the new immigration law. c1989. 29 min. Video/C 1935
- Golden Lands, Working Hands.
- A 2-part history of the labor movement in California from the 1860's to the present day. 1999.
Part 1. This first segment examines the Workingmen's Party of the 1870's, Chinese union exclusion, San Francisco as a union town and Los Angeles as open shop at the turn of the century, the plight of migrant labor as in the Beet Workers Strike of 1903 and the Wheatland Hop Riot of 1913, the framing of Tom Mooney, the impact of the Stock market crash and the Great Depression on unionization, Roosevelt's New Deal, militancy in the west coast maritime trades culminating in the San Francisco General Strike of 1934 and the beginning of the CIO, WWII defense industries and the employment of Afro-Americans, "Okie" and women workers which challenged the unions concerning inclusive or exclusive membership policies. Contents: Step by step (6 min.) -- No danger from strikes among them (15 min.) -- Bombs and ballots (24 min.) -- Not so jazzy (10 min.) -- Labor on the march (18 min.) -- Battling for democracy (8 min.). 81 min. Video/C 6254
Part 2. This second segment examines the DiGiorgio strike of 1947-50, the struggle for the Fair Employment Practices Law and the threat of the Right To Work campaign of 1958, the expansion of the labor-civil rights connection in the 1960's, the continued struggle of California's farm labor movement with the advent of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. The PATCO strike of air traffic controllers marked the end of the post-WWII social compact between labor and capital. A new corporate regime replaces full-time union jobs with part-time, temporary, disposable employment, as millions sink into unemployment and underemployment. In response, a new organizing mood emerges among California working people grappling with the effects of the global economy. Contents: We Called It a Work Holiday (17 min.) -- Building the house they lived in (28 min.) -- Against the tide (21 min.) -- Golden lands, new demands (22 min.). 91 min. Video/C 6255
- Good Work, Sister: Women Shipyard Workers of World War II, An Oral History.
- Women tell of their personal experiences in the shipyards at Portland, Or. and Vancouver, Wash., and the difficulties confronting them when they took over jobs during World War II which had traditionally been considered men's work in addition to their continuing responsibility for child-raising and housework. 1982. 20 min. Video/C 4065
- Granton Trawler.(1934)
- Directed by John Grierson. Granton trawler is a documentary study of fishermen engaged in dragnet fishing in the 1930's off the coast of Scotland. 11 min. DVD 6061; vhs Video/C 5023
- Great Depression (60 min. each.)
- A Job at Ford's. Just before the advent of the Great Depression, Henry Ford controlled the most important company in the most important industry in the booming American economy. His offer of high wages in exchange for hard work attracted workers to Detroit, but it began to come apart when Ford hired a private police force to speed up production and spy on employees. After the depression hit in 1929, these workers faced a new, grim reality as unemployment skyrocketed. Video/C 3171
The Road to Rock Bottom. As the Great Depression progressed economic collapse took its toll on rural America. Crops went unsold, farm mortgages were called in by banks, hungry farmers protested, and robberies increased dramatically. The U.S. Army was called in to defend the nation's capital from veterans who were demanding that President Hoover and Congress pay a bonus for their services in World War I. The film ends with Franklin Roosevelt's landslide election to the presidency. Video/C 3172
New Deal/New York. In his first one hundred days in office, in a effort to stem the effects of the Great Depression, President Roosevelt created many new federal agencies giving jobs and relief to people and transforming the American landscape with public works projects. Nowhere was this transformation more apparent than in Mayor Fiorello La Guardia's New York City. Together Roosevelt and La Guardia expanded and redefined the role of government in the lives of the American people. Video/C 3173
We Have a Plan. By 1934, as the nation grappled with the Great Depression, challenges to the New Deal from both sides of the political spectrum began to appear. Despite new government programs unrest was increasing especially in California, where the socialist, Upton Sinclair, ran for governor promising to turn idle land and factories into self-governing cooperatives. Sinclair's campaign ended in defeat, but one year later President Roosevelt's signing of the Social Security Act signaled America's emergence as a modern welfare state. Video/C 3174
Mean Things Happening.In the American democracy of the 1930's two visions of liberty collided as working men and women battled landowners and factory managers for the right to join a union. On the tenant farms and in the steel factories working people asserted their citizenship in the midst of great economic turmoil and a tide of government reform. Video/C 3175
To Be Somebody.Many Americans, struggling to survive the Great Depression, were determined to help build a better America through direct action in the courts, in the Congress and in everyday life. At a time when lynchings, segregation, and anti-semitism were commonplace, black heavy-weight champion, Joe Louis became a symbol of national strength. In very different ways Louis and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt challenged America to live up to its promise of justice and opportunity for people of every race and faith. Video/C 3176
Arsenal of Democracy.By 1939 Americans were still struggling to end the Great Depression. Their dreams of peace and prosperity were celebrated at World's Fairs in New York and San Francisco, but prosperity did not come in peacetime. Millions fled the "dust bowl" states to finally find work in new defense industries. While the New Deal changed America forever, it was war that ended the Great Depression. Video/C 3177
- Cole, Lewis. "The Great Depression." (television program reviews) Nation v257, n18 (Nov 29, 1993):668 (5 pages).
Goodman, Walter. "The Great Depression." (television program reviews) New York Times v143 (Mon, Oct 25, 1993):B3(N), pC18(L), col 1
Leonard, John. "The Great Depression." (television program reviews) New York v26, n42 (Oct 25, 1993):97 (2 pages).
Ward, Geoffrey C. "The Great Depression." (television program reviews) American Heritage v44, n7 (Nov, 1993):16 (2 pages).
- The Guestworker
- Documents the story of Mexican farm workers who enter the United States legally as part of the H-2A guest worker program, and looks at the issues surrounding the program. Focuses on a 66-year-old man who has worked on North Carolina farms for forty years, both legally and illegally, and on his employer, who is dependent upon foreign laborers to sustain his farm. Produced and directed by Cynthia Hill and Charles Thompson. 1990. 53 min. DVD 6622
- H-2 Worker.
- Examines the exploitation of Jamaican laborers by the Florida sugar cane industry. c1990. 67 min. Video/C 2324
- Hard Work: "To Make Both Ends Meet"
- In 1888 the Main State Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics conducted a survey to assess working conditions for women in the state's shops and factories. The bureau hired Flora Haines, of Bangor to complete the survey. She spoke with the women in the workplace and handed out over 600 questionnaires. Hundreds of women responded discussing such issues as health and safety, wages and working hours, sanitary conditions and other matters. In this documentary the women's voices are brought to life again to tell the story of conditions for women both on and off the job in the latter part of the 19th century in Maine. Produced by Jim Sharkey. 2004. 59 min. Video/C MM477
- Harry Bridges: A Man and His Union.
- Sympathetic biographical overview of the life of the union organizer, Harry Bridges and his struggles to organize stevedores on West Coast American ports. Includes the unsuccessful attempt to deport him by industry mogels and politicians hostile to his labor movement and the current impact of mechanization and containerization on Stevedores and other dock laborers. Dist.: Cinema Guild. 1992. 60 min. Video/C 2550
- Harlan County U.S.A.
- Directed by Barbara Kopple. A docu-drama of the 1973 Kentucky coal miner's strike against the operators of the Brookside mine and the Duke Power Company which resulted from the company's refusal to honor the union's national contract with the United Mine Workers of America. 1976. 103 min. DVD 5665; 999:509
Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- Harvest of Shame
- Shows the degradation and exploitation of millions of migratory farm workers in the United States. Spokesmen for the groups present thier views, both for and against the use of migratory workers under the conditions seen. This broadcast by legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow, led to permanent changes in the laws protecting workers' rights. Originally broadcast in 1960 on CBS Reports. Narrator: Edward R. Murrow. Producer, David Lowe. 55 min. DVD 4008; also vhs Video/C 356
- The Harvesters.
- Documents the late 1950's farm labor conditions in California's fields when 14- to 16- hour days paid workers at eighty-five cents to a dollar per hour. It also exposes how the bracero program imported Mexican nationals to work at wages lower than the subminimum rates available to American workers. This film was used the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) and the United Packinghouse Workers Union as an organizing film. A film by Harvey Richards. 1960. DVD 4249
- The Heartbeat of America.
- Examines how General Motors Corporation went from being the undisputed number one car company in America to suffering the biggest corporate loss on record. Drawing on interviews with current and former GM board members, executives, designers, workers and automotive analysts, the GM saga is revealed. 1993. 96 min. Video/C 3070
- Hi Tech Families
- Presents a look at the impact of technology in the late 20th century on representative families who live and work in the Silicon Valley of California where computers and scientific technology are the main product. 1971. 29 min. Video/C 2627
- The Hidden Army
- Produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps as an official war film in 1944. Using a mixture of dramatized events and newsreels, this film extols the work of women in industry during World War II. It was primarily made to get more women involved in the industrial sector of war work, since the number of women factory workers had actually declined in 1943. 17 min. DVD 8797; vhs Video/C MM494
- The Hidden Face of Globalization: What the Corporations Do Not Want Us to Know
- Examines the working and living conditions of garmet factory workers in Bangladesh, calling for an end to child labor and sweatshop abuses. 2003. 34 min. Video/C MM996
- Homecoming: Sometimes I Am Haunted by Memories of Red Dirt and Clay
- A documentary film by Charlene Gilbert exploring the history of ownership of farm lands by African Americans from Reconstruction to the present day. Their struggle for land of their own pitted them against both the Southern white power structure and the federal agencies responsible for helping them. As part of Reconstruction, Congress alloted 45 million acres of land to former slaves but little land was ever actually distributed. Despite formidable obstacles one million African Americans, mostly former sharecroppers, managed to purchase over 15 million acres of land by 1910. 1998. 56 min. Video/C 5734
- Honey, We Bought the Company(Livelyhood; episode 3)
- Discusses new ways created by American workers to save jobs by redefining business culture. Covers such issues as cooperative businesses, profit-sharing, employee-owned businesses, sole proprietorships, and franchises. c1998. 56 min., 46 sec. Video/C MM1113
- Humain, trop humain (Human, too Human)
- A meditative investigation of the inner workings of an auto assembly plant showing how steel sheeting becomes an automobile. Includes visits with the plant workers. Directed by Louis Malle. 1973. 72 min. DVD 7511
- The Human Cost Behind Bargain Shopping
- What price do people in faraway places pay so Americans can get their bargains in stores like Wal-Mart? Dateline investigates what's behind the bargains and how problematic it can be for American companies to monitor the working conditions in foreign factories they don't control, where factory owners are under pressure to keep costs down. Dateline invented a phony clothing company to gain access to the factory floor in Bangladesh and spoke with the workers about their pay and working conditions. A segment from the June 17, 2005 NBC News television program, Dateline NBC. 29 min. Video/C MM998
- I Am a Child!
- Through compelling images and moving personal stories, investigates the issue of child labor through children at work in the fields and plantations of Kenya, in the streets and workshops of Thailand, and in the charcoal yards of Brazil. 1999. 52 min. Video/C MM1129
- If Japan Can...Why Can't We?
- Looks at the causes for Japan's high industrial growth rate and the essentially static condition of U.S. industry. Shows that high reinvestment, worker input and support, and a self-monitored quality control system are factors that have contributed to Japan's success. Points out that American industry can benefit from examining these factors and implementing some of the methods to increase productivity. 3/4" Umatic format. 1980. 77 min. Video/C 345
- In The Pit (En el hoyo)
- A powerful documentary about the personal struggles behind the construction of a massive elevated freeway over Mexico City. With lyricism and compassion, this reveals the medieval nightmare underneath an ambitious utopian dream. Mexico City's Periferico Beltway, more than ten miles of elevated reinforced concrete, supported by massive towers, has been planned to both soar above and link the city's densely gridlocked urban neighborhoods. But while the roadway is a spectacular miracle of modern architectural design, it comes with a human cost. Written and directed by Juan Carlos Rulfo. 2006. 84 min. DVD 8334
- In This Affluent Society (America's War on Poverty; 1).
- In the early 1960s, hundreds of Kentucky coal miners are displaced by machines and strike out at their former employers. Millions of others displaced by machines across Appalachia and the rural South head north to begin a new life in Chicago, where they face overcrowded tenements and schools, and the familiar inequities of segregation. This program recounts these stories of desperation and hope and explores the origins of the federal government's war on poverty and how attitudes toward race and faith in the accessibility of the American dream shape the battle plans for the nation's greatest effort to reduce poverty. 1995. 57 min. Video/C 3926
- India the Little Serfs
- This program spotlights the exploitation of children in India as bond slaves in the rug-weaving, bangle-making, quarrying, and gemstone-cutting industries and the measures being taken to eradicate this practice. c2000. 45 min. Video/C 7840
- India: Working to End Child Labor. (What in the World? People of the Developing Nations)
- This documentary follows the lives of 5 child laborers in India: Bala (11) and Rama (9), stone cutters; an 8 year old girl who makes incense sticks; a 7 year old girl who works 10 hours a day in the poppy fields and a 10 year old boy who was pulled out of school to tend cattle. Also tells of the work of political science professor Shanta Sinha's program that rescues children from jobs and places them in a special school program. The film makes a strong case that child labor increases poverty levels. 2004. 26 min. DVD 5450
- Indonesia: One Struggle, One Change
- Interviews with Indonesians who have been affected by the repressive policies of the government against the labor movement and pro-democracy advocates. Labor organizers, students, East Timorese, political activists and workers speak out about life under the boot of the Suharto regime. It moves from an elderly farmer's scornful appraisal to the trials of activists from the outlawed People's Democratic Party. 1997. 30 min. Video/C 5405
- An Injury to One
- Investigates early 20th century American labor history in Butte, Montana and how the history of Butte was entirely shaped by its exploitation by the Anaconda Mining Company. Chronicles the mysterious death of Wobbly organizer Frank Little in August 1917 who was abducted by still-unknown assailants who hung him from a railroad bridge. c2002. 53 min. Video/C 9768
- Inside Japan, Inc. (Pacific Century; 6)
- Examines the economic miracle of post-war Japan and the increasing tensions between Japan and the United States because of Japan's resolve to control its own economic destiny. 1992. 60 min. Video/C 2501
- The Internationale
- Using rare archival footage and interviews with historians, musicians and activists, this film tells the story of this 100-year-old anthem of the oppressed and exploited, and celebrates the relationship between music and social change. A Spanish Civil War veteran, a labor activist, a student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests and others describe the emotional reaction they have when they hear the notes which still unite those who are part of the international movement for justice and equality. 2000. 57 min. Video/C 7476
- Introduction to Workers' Compensation
- Examines the economic miracle of post-war Japan and the increasing tensions between Japan and the United States because of Japan's resolve to control its own economic destiny. 1998 16 min. Video/C 5867
- Invisible Indians: Mixtec Farmworkers in California
- This presentation examines the distinct culture of Mixtec Indians from Oaxaca, Mexico, who started to migrate to California in the early 1970's to work in the produce fields. This program focuses on the special skills and values that these people bring to California agriculture jobs and their continuing connection to their communities in Mexico. Also examined are their living conditions in California. 1993. 35 min. Video/C MM684
- The Iron Road (American Experience)
- Relates the saga of the building of the transcontinental railroad by the Central Pacific Railroad Company and the Union Pacific Railroad Company with special emphasis on the personal experiences and living conditions of the laborers who built the railroad. 1990. 59 min. Video/C.1926
- Is Wal-Mart Good for America?
- Examines Wal-Mart's importation of Chinese goods into the United States. Discusses that while some economists credit Wal-Mart's focus on low costs with helping contain U.S. inflation, others charge that the company is the main force driving the massive overseas shift to China in the production of American consumer goods, resulting in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs and a lower standard of living in the U.S. Originally broadcast on Nov. 16, 2004 as a segment of: Frontline. 60 min. DVD 36
- Islands on Fire
- A documentary on human rights abuses in Indonesia and East Timor stemming from the July 1966 government crackdown, highlighting the efforts of the opposition movement to bring democratic change to Indonesia and East Timor. Includes scenes of the July 27th riots and the 1991 Dili massacre in East Timor. The film also explores how U.S. companies exploit Indonesian labor, in particular the U.S.-owned Nike Corporation. 1996. 25 min. Video/C 3190
- It Takes a Child: Craig Kielburger's Story: A Journey into Child Labour
- In 1995 when child labor activist Iqbal Masih was killed in Pakistan, that event changed Craig Kielburger's life forever. He went on a seven-week trip to South Asia to find out everything he could about the lives of child laborers. What he learned has turned him into a passionate, articulate, and incredibly effective advocate on their behalf. With a group of his peers Craig has founded "Free the Children," a children's organization that now has 10,000 members in 20 countries. Director/writer, Judy Jackson.
c1998. 56 min. Video/C 8118
- Justice on the Table
- Farmworkers are paying a price to put food on our tables. Excluded from labor laws, they face low wages, harsh working conditions, and a 48-year life expectancy. This documentary listens to farmworkers themselves tell of their treatment in Oregon's fields, and highlights their contributions to regional and national economic prosperity. c2003. 24 min. Video/C 9819
- The Labor Movement, Protectionism, and the International Economy
- A conversation on the national and international impact of the labor movement between Douglas A. Fraser (former president of the United Automobile Workers and regents lecturer in the School of Business Administration, U.C. Berkeley) and Raymond E. Miles (Dean of the School of Business Administration, U.C. Berkeley). Recorded Feb. 12, 1985 at the University of California, Berkeley. c1983. 60 min. Video/C 1320
- Labor Stories
- Three important labor stories of the 1970's. These films not only allowed the workers and their union to tell their compelling stories but they also affected the course of events for each union. HSA strike '75: Documents a group of doctors who fight for better health care for their patients at Chicago's Cook County Hospital. U.E. Wells: Captures the United Electrical Workers' efforts to organize a cast-iron foundry. What's happening at Local 70: Follows the experiences of unemployment compensation workers who strike because of working conditions. Produced by Kartemquin Films; directed, photographed, and edited by Judy Hoffman, Sharon Karp, Gordon Quinn, Jerry Blumenthal, and Peter Kuttner. c2006. 55 min. DVD 5834
- Labor Women, the New Generation
- Profiles Jun Chong, Karla Zombro, and Quynh Nguyen, three Asian American women who are labor union organizers in Los Angeles. They are immigrant daughters on the frontlines of the fight for economic justice, organizing South Central welfare recipients, Asian and Latino slaughterhouse workers, and LAX airport workers. Their challenges are juxtaposed with inspiring perspectives of "veteran" labor women who paved the way and are now labor leaders. Produced, directed and written by Renee Tajima-Peña. 2002. 35 min. DVD 7328
- The Land.
- Director, Robert J. Flaherty, 1941. Portrays American agriculture during the depression decade. Explores the problems of agricultural unemployment, erosion of farm land, the desolate lives of migrant workers, and the role of the machine in farming. 198?. 44 min. Video/C 3225
- The Land is Rich.
- Documents the United Farm Workers struggle to organize California farm workers in the early 1960's. Film contrasts the economic strength of California agribusiness and migrant workers poverty and the the effect of extensive exposure to agricultural chemicals on them. The film was used by the United Farm Workers Union. A film by Harvey Richards. 1966. 27 min. DVD 4246; also VHS Video/C 2800
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- Latino Employment and Unemployment.
- Explores, analyzes, and compares the socioeconomic situation of Latinos and Hispanic Americans with that of the general population, illustrating some of the obstacles Latinos face in making the transition from poverty to financial independence. c1992. 27 min. Video/C 2631
- Leaving Home.
- Examines the Mexico-U.S. Free Trade Agreement by looking at how workers on both sides of the border have been affected by the maquiladora program. Economists, free trade advocates, and Latino community leaders debate our free trade future. 199?. 60 min. Video/C 2626
- Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter.
- Five women reminisce about their jobs and working conditions during World War II. Includes topics of sex discrimination, the women's movement, and the role of movies and radio in helping mold public opinion during World War II. c1987. 65 min. Video/C 1927
- Live Nude Girls Unite!
- This documentary follows Julia Query, a peepshow stripper, on her journey to help organize the only strippers union in the United States. In need of money, Julia became a stripper in San Francisco but after discovering that the strippers were being covertly videotaped for amateur porn, Julia and her colleagues contacted the Service Employees Internation Union. The Theater responded by hiring an anti-union law firm. Written and directed by Julia Query, Vicky Funari, 2000. 70 min. Video/C 7452
- The Loom (Saacha)
- A film about the poet Narayan Surve, the painter Sudhir Patwardhan, and the city of Mumbai (Bombay). Explores the work of Surve and Patwardhan, and their involvement in the Left movement, and looks at Mumbai as the origin and centre of the working class movement in India. Directed by Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar. 2001. 49 min. DVD 8918
- Made in Thailand.
- A documentary about women factory workers in Thailand and their struggle to organize unions. In Thailand women make up 90% of the labor force responsible for garments and toys for export by multinational corporations. While probing the impact of the New World Order on populations that provide cheap labor in Thailand, the film also profiles women newly empowered by their campaign for human and worker's rights. Producers/directors, Eve-Laure Moros, Linzy Emery. 1999. 33 min. Video/C 7084
- Made in L.A. (Hecho en Los Angeles)
- Traces the moving transformation of three Latina garment workers on the fault lines of global economic change who decide they must resist. Through a groundbreaking law suit and consumer boycott, they fight to establish an important legal and moral precedent holding an American retailer liable for the labor conditions under which its products are manufactured. But more than this, Made in L.A. provides an insider's view into both the struggles of recent immigrants and into the organizing process itself: the enthusiasm, discouragement, hard-won victories and ultimate self-empowerment. A film by Almudena Carracedo, Robert Bahar; directed by Almudena Carracedo. 2007. 70 min. DVD 9283
- Maid in America
- An intimate look into the lives of three Latina immigrants working as nannies and housekeepers in Los Angeles, three of the nearly 100,000 domestic workers living in that city today. Judith hasn't seen her four daughters for the two years since she left Guatemala, but hopes to give them a better future by sending half her income back home. Telma, from El Salvador, has cared for the now six-year-old Mickey since he was a baby, essentially becoming his 'mom' so his mother can keep her career on track. Eva, one of the thousands of college-educated immigrants who have fled Mexico's unstable economy, is attending night school to improve her skills, and views housekeeping as a necessary transition.These women's stories vividly reveal how immigrants are redefining their roles, and underscores the vital role they play in many American households. The issue of worker's rights is introduced in the film through Dynamic Workers, a collective of women who have formed their own business to provide job security and benefits, and Domestic Workers Association, a support organization providing information and advocacy. Produced & directed by Anayansi Prado. 2004. 58 min. Video/C MM507
- Making Sense of Free Trade
- Steve Brier discusses the complex labor and economic issues involved in ratification of NAFTA with Edgar De Jesus of the NY Board of ACTWU, and Peter Connelly, UAW Local 664. 1993. 30 min. Video/C 77009
- The Malaysian Migrant Worker (Correspondent BBC Two)
- Malaysia once provided work for 2 million laborers from Thailand and Indonesia but with the economic downturn in Asia, Malaysia has now instituted "Operation Go Away." Many ethnic minorities employed in Malaysia are threatened with deportation and persecution if returned to their countries of origin. This film examines their plight and the conditions in detention camps in Malaysia where unwanted aliens are being held. 1999. 19 min. Video/C 7274
- Manufacturing Miracles: A Japanese Firm Reinvents Itself.
- Shows how Mazda formalized joint labor-management consultation throughout the firm and invested heavily in comprehensive training, eventually transforming itself into an integrated "neural network", continually responsive to a rapidly changing global economy. 32 min. Video/C 1227
- Maquila: A Tale of Two Mexicos (Emerging Powers)
- This documentary presents the pros and cons of the maquiladora (or maquila) an export manufacturing program established by the Mexican Government and looks at industrialization in Mexico after NAFTA, considering low wages, working conditions, environmental and cultural impact. 2000. 55 min. Video/C 7459
- Maquilapolis (City of Factories)
- Explores the environmental devastation and urban chaos of Tijuana's assembly factories and the female laborers who have organized themselves for social action. Carmen earns six dollars a day but she is not a victim. She is a dynamic young woman, busy making a life for herself and her children. In "Maquilapolis," Carmen and her friend Lourdes confront labor violations, environmental devastation and urban chaos, reaching beyond their daily struggle for survival to organize for change, taking on both the Mexican and U.S. governments and a major television manufacturer. The women also use video cameras to document their lives, their city and their hopes for the future. Produced and directed by Vicky Funari, Sergio De La Torre. 2006. 68 min. DVD 6606
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UC Berkeley users only - Requires Windows Media Player or Flip4Mac - Memorable Media Moments in Labor History
- Through film excerpts and commentary this documentary presents an interesting and powerful survey of Hollywood films' treatment of union issues and worker's stories. Film excerpts: Salt of the earth -- Homefront -- Norma Rae -- Killing floor -- Designing women -- Matewan -- The organizer -- Nine to five -- Grapes of wrath -- A vision shared. 1992. 27 min. Video/C 7703
- Migrante.
- Examines the lives and working conditions of migrant Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong. Discusses the labor abuses and hardships they face and the social costs of separation from their families. In Tagalog with English subtitles. 1988. 44 min. Video/C 6245
- Mine Wars: Coal miners' War for Freedom.
- Focuses on the coal mine wars of southern West Virginia and their influence on American life. Uses rare historical footage and letters written by participants to show the labor struggle that took place during the early 20th century, explaining what happened at the Matewan Massacre, the Battle of Blair Mountain, and elsewhere. A film by Bill Richardson. 2004. 57 min. DVD 3990
- Los Mineros.
- Videocassette release from the PBS series, The American Experience. This story, spanning nearly half a century, tells the history of Mexican American miners in Clifton-Morenci, Arizona, and their union's battle for fair labor practices in the copper industry. 60 min. Video/C 1925
- Minsan lang sila bata
- A Documentary film profiling child labor abuses in the Philippines through commentary by the children themselves about their lives and work. In Tagalog and various languages with Tagalog subtitles. 1996. 50 min. Video/C 5658
- Miles of Smiles: Years of Struggle.
- Personal narratives of retired porters about their work and duties on the Pullman trains and about the formation of their union. c1982. 60 min. Video/C 381
- Miyah: The Life of a Javanese Woman
- An intimate portait of a Javanese woman who works as a servant and cook for a family in Jakarta, Indonesia. Miyah represents millions of rural dwellers who seek work in the cities and whose labor undergirds Asia's economies. While many aspects of her life are specific to circumstances in Indonesia, Miyah also presents women all over the world who must struggle with the day to day problems of making a living to support not only her own children but also her aging parents. c1999. 33 min. Video/C 9467
- Modern Heroes, Modern Slaves
- Shows the human and sometimes tragic side of the overseas contract worker from the Philippines, where each day, thousands of women leave to seek work as domestics in more prosperous countries. 1997. 45 min. Video/C 7273
- Motherhood Manifesto
- Moving personal stories combined with humorous animation, expert commentary and old film clips tell the tale of what happens to working mothers and families in America. See how enlightened employers and public policy can make paid family leave, flexible working hours, part-time parity, universal health care, excellent childcare, after-school programs and realistic living wages a reality for American families. Introduction (10 min.) -- Maternity/paternity leave (7 min.) -- Open flexible work (10 min.) -- Television we choose & other after-school programs (5 min.) -- Health care for all kids (9 min.) -- Excellent childcare (7 min.) -- Realistic and fair wages (2 min.) -- Conclusion (6 min.) Based on the book: The motherhood manifesto, what America's moms want and what to do about it by Joan Blades & Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. Directed by Laura Pacheco; written by John De Graaf. 2006. 57 min. DVD 9235
- Molders of Troy.
- A documentary about the conflict between labor and management in Troy's foundries depicting the struggle of iron molders to form unions and to improve their work conditions. A number of photographs of the city and the striking molders in the 1850's are included in the program. 1999. 59 min. Video/C 368 NRLF #: B 3 969 195
- My Father's Garden.
- In less than fifty years agriculture has been transformed by synthetic chemicals which have had a serious impact on the environment and on the health of farm families. This film tells the story of two farmers. Herbert Smith, championed the new miracle sprays of the 50's in his orange grove in Florida, while Fred Kirschenmann of North Dakota, steered his land through the transition to organic farming to prove, 20 years later, that sustainable organic agriculture is a viable economic alternative for any size farm. Producer/director, Miranda Smith. 1995. 58 min. Video/C 4112
- NAFTA: A 3-way Tie for Last.
- Examines the "unheard voices" of the debate centering around the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, U.S. and Mexico. Presents the concerns of Canadian, American and Mexican workers, native Americans, farmers and environmentalists who perceive NAFTA to be a "dangerous" trade policy. 1993. 28 min. Video/C 3642
- Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night
- A documentary about the outsourcing of American jobs to India. From the perspective of an Indian immigrant living in the United States, using humor and satire to capture the lives of Indian telemarketers who undergo voice and accent training to speak to U.S. customers with an American accent. A complex look at life as per Eastern Standard Time in India. A film by Sonali Gulati. 2005. 27 min. DVD 5383
- National Industrial Policy (Made in America; 4)
- This program looks at the enormous costs, the huge risks, and the potentially colossal pay-offs in the commercial aircraft industry. Boeing is still number one, but major components of its jets are now made in Japan. What does this portend about the U.S. position in the high-stakes global economy? c1992. 58 min. Video/C 2588
- New Harvest, Old Shame.
- Discusses the living conditions of migrant farm workers in the United States. c1990. 59 min. Video/C 2434
- Night Mail(1936)
- Night mail is the most celebrated documentary of the GPO Film Unit. Showing the Postal Special's nightly run from London to Scotland, it has all the qualities that British documentary stands for from its realism through its perfect structure to the inspirational character appeal. Producer, John Grierson ; directors, Harry Watt & Basil Wright ; music, Benjamin Britten; verse by W. H. Auden. DVD 6240; also vhs Video/C 999:524 and Video/C 5024
Information about this film from the Internet Movie Database
- No Time For Play
- Examines the plight of some three to five million Filipino children who are forced to work in factories, sugarcane plantations, even the depths of mine tunnels and looks at what is being done to help them. 1996. 50 min. Video/C 5367
- Oh Freedom After While: 1939 Sharecroppers Roadside Protest.
- In January 1939, Missouri Bootheel sharecroppers--black and white--staged a dramatic roadside protest to call attention to unjust treatment by local plantation owners. Their demonstration spurred the U.S. government to develop new housing for displaced sharecroppers. Some demonstrators also established a remarkable farming community--and learned how to make lasting change in their lives. 1999. 57 min. Video/C 6453
- On the Edge: America's Working Poor
- Presents an examination of the working poor in the United States. Several families including single mothers as head of households describe their lives as members of the working poor community where one unexpected expense, sudden illness, or a missed payment could mean financial ruin. Originally broadcast on April 15, 2004 as a segment of: Nightline. 22 min. DVD 4655
- On the Line, 1924. (The People's Century)
- When Henry Ford's Model T rolled onto the scene in 1908, it was inconceivable that it would ever be anything more than a plaything for the wealthy. But mass production and later, Ford's moving assembly line, allowed manufacturers to produce goods at affordable prices that made them accessible to a new mass market. This film follows the acceleration of mass production, from the days of master craftsmen to the pressures and benefits of assembly-line work to the growing strength of "people power" as labor and management struggled to divide the fruits of increased productivity. 1998. 56 min. Video/C 5546
- One Day Longer: The Story of the Frontier Strike.
- Recounts the story of the grit and determination behind America's longest running strike; six years, four months and ten days by 500 restaurant workers of the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. This defining labor struggle largely ignored by the media, features contemporary interviews with prominent labor leaders. Produced and directed by Amie S. Williams. c1999. 52 min. Video/C 7867
- Organizing America: A History of Trade Unions in the U.S.
- Broadly tracing American labor history, this program incorporates interviews, personal accounts, and archival footage to provide a fresh perspective on the history of labor issues including health and safety conditions, the minimum wage, discrimination, job security and strikes. It presents the struggle of American labor against the backdrop of major events that shaped American society as a whole: world wars, the industrial revolution, immigration, unemployment, class conflict, child labor, women in the workplace, civil rights and the emergence of high technology. 1994. 40 min. DVD 1950; also on VHS Video/C 5602
- Our Towns(Livelyhood; episode 4)
- "A television journey outside the Beltway and beyond Hollywood to meet extraordinary ordinary Americans who face new challenges at work." 1999. 56 min., 46 sec. Video/C MM1114
- Out at Work: A Documentary.
- Documents the lives of three gay workers from 1991 to 1996. One is a lesbian who became politically active after being fired from Cracker Barrel restaurant in Georgia. The second case concerns a gay man who worked with his union to fight harassment in an auto factory in Detroit. In the final case a New York Public Library employee sought health benefits for his partner. 1996. 56 min. Video/C 6227
- Out of Darkness: The Mine Workers Story
- Intersperses archival film footage and interviews to describe the history of the United Mine Workers of America and the history of coal mining in the United States and elsewhere. Closes with an account of the Pittston Coal Strike from the miners' perspective. [1990?] 100 min. Video/C 6405
- Out of the Depths: The Miner's Story. (A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers)
- Takes a look at coal-miners in Colorado at the turn of the century; the poor working conditions, their almost feudal existance, and their attempt at a strike. Includes interviews with former Colorado coal-miners. 1984. 58 min. 3/4 in. Video/C 876
- Outsourcing: White Collar Exodus
- Contents: The death of distance -- A twist of the twine -- My job went to India and all I got was this lousy t-shirt -- Regulation -- Good-bye middle class -- Sushi and tulips -- There is only one constant: change.
More than two million jobs have been outsourced from the U.S. to India since 2000. This documentary explores factors that encourage the outsourcing (U.S. laws, special training and cheap wages in India ...) and the impact the outsourcing has on both the U.S. and Indian workers. Analysts consider possible U.S. policy and natural economic responses to the outsourcing. 2005. 50 min. DVD 4515
- Perch of the Devil
- Reviews the history of the copper mines in Butte, Montana, the strike of 1960, the history of the Butte mines, and the many, violent struggles that have occurred in the mining camps of the western Rockies. Includes footage of mining operations in tunnels a mile below the surface and interviews with miners and victims of silicosis, a fatal lung disease among miners. A film by Harvey Richards. 24 min. 1960. DVD 4230
- Performing the Border
- Set in the Mexican border town Ciudad Juarez where U.S. industries assemble their electronic and digital equipment, this film examines the socioeconomic problems of the Mexican-American border region, focusing on hardships faced by women in newly urbanized areas. A film by Ursula Biemann. 1999. 43 min. DVD 5503; vhs Video/C 1079
- Period Films of the Great Depression
- Contents: Financing the American family / Household Finance (1935, 11 min.) -- Frontiers of the future / National Industrial Council (1937, 10 min.) -- Griffith Park relief workers demonstration (1933, 3 min.) -- San Francisco General strike (1934, 3 min.) -- Valley town / producer, New York University (1940, 25 min.).
Financing the American family: Household Finance sponsored this film to educate struggling families on how obtaining a low-cost loan from their corporation to help families get out of debt. Frontiers of the future: Narrated by Lowell Thomas, traces the pattern of modern industrial growth from 1844. Proceeds with a brief outline of the many inventions and discoveries since that time. The value of research in bringing new products is emphasized, concluding with the statement that new frontiers of progress lie in the laboratory. Griffith Park relief workers demonstration: Brief newsreel of a demonstration held against the city and officials of Los Angeles to protest the death of about 100 relief workers at the Griffith Park Fire of 1933. San Francisco General Strike: Brief newsreel of a city-wide general strike held to support striking San Francisco longshoremen during the 1934 San Francisco Maritime Strike. Valley town: Documents how new technology was destabilizing the economic and social underpinnings of many steel towns of the 1930s through the story of one Pennsylvania town. This unique film presages the outcry against automation a generation later, while documenting both the boomtown phenomenon and the technological progress of this bleak industrial age. 52 min. DVD 2651
- San Francisco General Strike Online Video (I) (via Internet Moving Image Archive)
- San Francisco General Strike Online Video (II) (via Internet Moving Image Archive)
- Phantom of the Operator.
- This delightful found-footage film reveals a little-known chapter in labor history: the story of female telephone operators' central place in the development of global communications. Presents more than one hundred clips from rarely seen industrial, advertising and scientific management films produced in North America between 1903 and 1989 by Bell and Western Electric, transformed into a dreamlike montage documentary. As the first agents of globalization, this invisible army of women offered a way for companies to feminize and glamorize what was a highly stressful, underpaid and difficult job. Not merely 'Voices with a Smile,' telephone operators were test pilots for new management systems, and the face of shrewd public relations campaigns. As the work of operators has been eclipsed by the advent of automated systems, this artful piece of labor history also offers an insightful comment on women's work, industrialization and communications technology. A film by Caroline Martel. c2004. 66 min. DVD 4512
- The Philadelphia Story. (Life, Part 5)
- This film profiles the case of Cheri Honkala, executive director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union of Philadelphia, one of the U.S. workers left behind by the globalized economy who tells the story of what's happened in her hometown. Includes commentary by academicians and noted authorities examining how the globalized economy affects American jobs. c2000. 24 min. Video/C 7765
- Planet Work.
- Has your job gone global? The television newsprogram Livelyhood packs its bags and heads to Italy, Ghana, Cambodia, Guatemala, India, Singapore and New England in this 2 part series on how the global economy is transforming work life. Neither a condemnation of the effects of economic globalization nor a celebration of it, this is an informative look at how the mass movement of information, products and people is affecting everything from national cultures to the nature of work and the patterns of individual lives. Originally broadcast on the PBS television program: Livelyhood. 2001. 114 min. Video/C MM1119
- Poletown Lives!
- Documentary that tells, from the residents' point of view, the story of Poletown, an inner-city Detroit neighborhood that was destroyed in 1981 when the city used its power of eminent domain to turn the land over to General Motors for construction of a Cadillac plant. Shows the changes in attitudes as the people realized that the institutions they trusted -- the courts, the United Auto Workers, the church, the City Council, and the media --were not going to help them. Produced and directed by George Corsetti.1982. 52 min. DVD 4855 (preservation copy); Video/C 5460
- A Portrait Harry Bridges.
- Biographical overview of the life and struggles of the union organizer, Harry Bridges. Video/C 2789
- The Promise Fulfilled and the Promise Broken. (America series)
- Deals with the promise of unlimited prosperity after World War I, the boom of the 1920's, the Depression and the New Deal. Video/C 1424
- Reflections, George Meany
- This documentary combines in-depth interviews with film footage to explore early labor organizing efforts, the rise of collective bargaining, and the factors that led to the AFL-CIO merger. 1979. 60 min. Video/C 123
- Richmond Oil Strike
- Documentary of the Richmond oil strike commencing January 4, 1969 with newsreel coverage of events surrounding the strike and interviews with employees on strike against Shell Oil in Martinez and Standard Oil in Richmond, California. Originally produced in 1969. 17 min. Video/C 5861
- The Road to Happiness: The Life and Times of Henry Ford.
- A documentary of Henry Ford's personal life history. Newsreels, dramatic films and documentaries tell the story of this American legend from boyhood to his death in 1947. 59 min. Video/C 241
- Roger & Me.
- Directed by Michael Moore. When hard times came to his hometown, Michael Moore sunk every penny he had into filming "Roger & Me". He emerged as a modern folk hero, because he doggedly and hilariously pursued what every working person wants to do - talk to the man at the top. Moore's efforts to meet General Motors chairman Roger Smith and to get Smith to visit Flint, Michigan provide the framework for the film. 1978. 91 min. DVD 1855; also VHS Video/C 999:439
- Sacco and Vanzetti
- Examines the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti through archival film, music, poetry and excerpts from the 1971 feature film. Also includes interviews with historians, artists and activists as well as readings from the prison diaries of the two defendants. The many personalities involved in these historic events including the judge, the attorneys, the Italian anarchist movement and the Communist Party are examined within the period's political context, especiallly the notorious "Red scare," of the 1920's which led to the arrest and deportation of thousands of immigrants. c2006. 81 min. DVD 6486
- Salesman (1968)
- A film by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin. A documentary feature film in cinema verite style which closely follows the activities of four door-to-door Bible salesmen on their routes. 90 min. DVD 817; Video/C 1880
Information about this film from the Internet Movie Database
- San Francisco Iron Workers Strike, 1917
- Newsreel footage of striking iron workers marching down the cobblestone streets of 1917 San Francisco. Great shots of trolly cars too ... too bad they destroy one. 6 min. DVD 2649
- The Seafarers
- In 1951 a 21 year old Stanley Kubrick was commissioned by the Seafarers International Union to film a documentary extolling the benefits of membership in the Seafarers Union. Kubrick provided his own sound and camera equipment, and was able to utilize the 'Seafarers Log' editorial staff as his crew. The goal of the film was to recruit young men into a life at sea by extolling the benefits of the union. In the decades that followed, aspiring directors would hone their technique in specialized film schools, but for the young Kubrick, the short documentaries he made were his film school. Originally produced as a motion picture by the Dept. of Education of the AFL-CIO in 1953. 28 min. Video/C 7629
- Serving With Dignity
- This documentary spotlights a usually ignored segment of working-class America: the women who make the food-service industry run. This film profiles three single, ethnic women who work as waitresses, the challenges they face daily, and how they feel about their jobs. Produced, directed and written by Gia M. Amella. 1996. 30 min. Video/C MM827
- Sewing Woman.
- This program tells the story of Zem Ping Dong, an immigrant who worked in America's garment factories for over 30 years and her struggle, along with other Chinese women, to leave war-torn China for a new life in America. 1982?. 14 min. Video/C 1485
- Sexual Harassment on the Job.
- Discussion about the problems of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination of women on the job. c1977. 29 min. Video/C 42
- Shift Change(Livelyhood; episode 1)
- Looks at how working Americans are adapting to changes in the workplace due to downsizing, the effects of the global economy, temporary jobs, and new technology. 1997. 56 min., 46 sec. Video/C MM1111
- Sit Down and Fight: Walter Reuther and The Rise of the Auto Workers Union. (American Experience)
- Tells the story of Walter Reuther, a man whose leadership and vision of worker's rights changed the way America worked. c1992. 58 min. Video/C 2845
- Something to Hide
- Today in the global economy, corporations hide their production around the world behind locked factory gates and armed guards. This documentary investigates the unconditional operations of off-shore corporations contracted by American businesses while looking into the long and difficult hours that adults and children in developing countries are working to produce brand name American products for such firms as Wal-Mart. 1999. 25 min. Video/C MM999
- Songs for Political Action [SOUND RECORDING]
- Disc one, The leftist roots of the folk revival. Disc two, Theatre and cabaret performers, 1936-1941. Sound/D 75-79 See Pathfinder for contents listing
- Stories from the Mines
- A documentary that recounts the epic human rights conflict between immigrant anthracite coal miners, turn-of-the-century industrialists and the United States government. The film blends dramatic re-enactments with archival film footage and photographs to show how America's ascendency as the world's pre-eminent superpower was fueled by the extraordinary social and industrial impact of anthracite coal mining in northeastern Pennsylvania. c2002. 57 min. DVD 2015
- Strikes, Lies, and Videotape: Labor in the Media
- A discussion of the press coverage of labor issues and strikes, intercut with man-on-the-street opinions. ASHP director Stephen Brier interviews Janine Jackson, resident director of Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. 1991. 27 min. Video/C 7701
- Strikestory: San Francisco Before the '34.
- Chronicles the events of the "big strike" in the summer of 1934 when dock workers and seamen shut down every West coast port from San Diego to Seattle. 100,000 workers in San Francisco staged a general strike that paralyzed the city and eventually resulted in legislation giving workers the right to organize unions. 199?. 60 min. Video/C 2625
- Stripped and Teased: Tales from Las Vegas Women.
- Documentary on life in Las Vegas as seen by women in various occupations. Each woman is first seen on the job, describing what her work entails. Ensuing segments of the film take the women to other settings, where they talk about a broad spectrum of activities and concerns: gambling, housing, family life, personal relationships, leisure-time activities, and aspirations for the future. The documentary also includes images of Las Vegas as tourist mecca, with interviews with the stereotypical Las Vegas woman: showgirls and exotic dancers. c1998. 62 min. Video/C 7952
- Struggles in Steel : A Story of African-American Steelworkers.
- Interviews with more than 70 retired black steelworkers who tell of struggles with the company, the union and white co-workers to break out of the black job ghetto. Film traces a century of black industrial history--the use of blacks as strikebreakers against the all-white union during the 1892 Homestead Strike, the Great Migration of fieldworkers to the North in World War I, the racial divisions between workers during the Great Steel Strike of 1919 and the ultimate success of the CIO organizing drives of the 1930s. When black vets returned to the mills after WWII, they were still locked into the worst jobs with no rights to bid on better-paying, higher-skilled work. The steelworkers recount how they finally won agreement in 1974 compelling the company and the union to set hiring and promotion goals for women and minorities.1996. 58 min. Video/C 4465
- There's No Such Thing as Women's Work.
- Gives a history of women's roles in the American work place, from the colonial period up to the present. 198?. 30 min. Video/C 1782
- This Is What Democracy Looks Like
- Composed of film segments shot by over 100 media activists during the 1999 World Trade Organization's Ministerial meeting in Seattle when human rights activists, environmentalists, indigenous people, labor activists, fair trade proponents, people of faith, union workers, farmers, students and teachers from more than 700 organizations took to the streets to protest against the meeting. 2000. 60 min. DVD 3575; also VHS Video/C 7705
- Through Conflict to Negotiation.
- Shows what occurs when a community action group in Rochester, N.Y., confronts the largest employer in the community on the issue of corporate responsibility and the employment of minority groups. 1968. 46 min. Video/C MM906
- Tobacco Blues.
- Four American tobacco farming families share their struggles and concerns about their dependency on a crop in decline. They all face the problem of whether to continue to raise the doomed crop, or whether to risk their future on something untried and new. The farmers are presented as neither victims nor villians, but as hard working families who love their land and their way of life. 1997. 58 min. Video/C 7024
- Los Trabajadores (The Workers)
- "We build the buildings, we do the hardest jobs, and still they don't want us." Los Trabajadores tells the story of immigrant day laborers, placing their struggles and contributions in the context of the economic development of Austin, Texas. Through the stories of Juan from Nicaragua and Ramon from Mexico, and through the controversy surrounding the relocation of a day labor site from downtown to a residential neighborhood, the film examines the misconceptions and contradictions inherent in America's dependence on and discrimination against immigrant labor. As Juan says, "they say Austin is growing, but thanks to whom?" Produced, directed, edited by Heather Courtney. 2003. 48 min. DVD 6655
- Trade Secrets: Blue Collar Women Speak Out.
- Four women, an ironworker, welder,sprinkler fitter, and electrician reveal how their lives changed when they entered into the traditional male world of skilled crafts. 1985. 23 min. Video/C 906
- The Trials of Juan Parra.
- Records presentation of the play and interviews of Parra, some actors and audience on the firing of Parra from Watsonville Canning & Frozen Food Company. c1985. 28 min. Video/C 1399
- Trouble Behind.
- White racism is discussed in the context of the town of Corbin, Ky., where on Oct. 31, 1919 a race riot drove all of the Black residents out of town. Since that date few Blacks have attempted to settle in Corbin. Residents are interviewed to give their perceptions of whether or not racism still exists in their town. 1990.56 min. Video/C 3783
- Troubled Harvest.
- Examines the health and safety hazards which confront America's agricultural laborers. c1990. 30 min. Video/C 3353
- Type/caste: A Secretary with a Camera
- Although the early 20th century "working girl" epitomized independence and modernity, by the end of the century the "secretary" had become the symbol of female subservience. This innovative documentary was shot and edited over a period of several years by a secretary working in downtown San Francisco. Loosely structured as a "day in the life" of a secretary, the film is a funny and compelling look inside the traditional female role in the American workplace. The film effectively interweaves narration, information on the history of clerical workers in the United States, interviews, the voices of secretaries, and provocative music, poetry, and performance to create a multilayered and highly discussible filmic essay that will stimulate thought and debate in a wide variety of courses in women's studies, labor studies, sociology, psychology, and American studies. Produced by Eileen Flanagan. c2002. 36 min. Video/C MM543
- Union Maids.
- Presents an adaptation of the book entitled Rank and file by Alice Lynd, about the American labor movement in the 1930's. Relates the personal experiences of three militant women who tried to organize laborers in this period. Each recalls the Depression and the intolerable conditions through which they lived and worked. They discuss the role of women in labor unions then and now, the relationship to the Women's Liberation Movement, and the future of labor unions in the United States. A film by Julia Reichert and Jim Klein. 1976. 48 min. Video/C 4705
- Union Maids web site (New Day Films)
- United Rairoad Employees Strike, 1917
- Shot in San Francisco in 1917, this brief newsreel presents marching bands leading disgruntled striking San Francisco laborers. 2 min. DVD 2649
- Uno Veintecinco.
- 1962 documentary film by Harvey Richards. Shows the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), AFL-CIO, strike to get lettuce pickers in California $1.25 / hour. Reviews history of labor organizing in California's fields. A film by Harvey Richards. 1962. 20 min. DVD 4247; also VHS Video/C 2796
- The Uprising of '34
- This films tells the story of the General Strike of 1934, a massive but little-known strike by hundreds of thousands of southern textile workers. After three weeks the strike was stopped, the strikers denied jobs. Sixty years later this strike is virtually unknown, and union representation in the South still suspect. 1995. 87 min. Video/C 7453
- Gaines, Jane.
"Radical Attractions: The Uprising of '34" Wide Angle - Volume 21, Number 2, March 1999, pp. 101-119
UC users only
- Voces del Campo (Voices of the Fields)
- Documentary follows farmworkers from California's Salinas Valley who have returned to their roots in the fields of rural Mexico, where they recount their everyday struggle on family farms to cope in the midst of the globalization of agriculture and the impact of NAFTA. 1995. 45 min. Video/C 6856
- Wage Slaves: Not Getting By in America
- Looks at five people working in low-wage jobs in Nevada, Alabama, California, and Florida who are not earning enough to support themselves or their families as the minimum wage does not cover basic needs. It compares the people living at the povety level in America with people in other countries and finds that poor Americans are in worse shape because of the cost of living. Based on the book Nickel and dimed / by Barbara Ehrenreich (Morrison Rm HD4918.E375 2001; Bus & Econ HD4918.E375 2001 Soc Welfare HD4918.E375 2001 DESK. Originally presented on the A&E television program Investigative Reporets in 2002. 89 min. Video/C 9733
- Waging a Living
- More than 30 million Americans are stuck in jobs that pay less than the federal poverty level for a family of four. Shot over a 3 year period, this documentary chronicles the day-to-day struggles of four low-wage earners to support their families. Jean Reynolds (nursing assistant) and Mary Venittelli (waitress) of New Jersey, Jerry Longoria (security guard) of San Francisco, and Barbara Brooks (student and single mother) of Freeport, N.Y. relate their dreams, frustrations, and accomplishments. Produced and directed by Roger Weisberg. 2004. 85 min. DVD 3660
- Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.
- Looks at the effect Wal-Mart stores have on local businesses, their employees' economic status, the rights of women and minorities as Wal-Mart Associates, the lack of environmental responsibility by Wal-Mart starting with corporate headquarters on down, and the exploitation of Chinese and Bangladesh workers. Shows that Wal-Mart has concern for its own profits by heavy in-store security but well-known lack of security in their parking lots which have an inordinate amount of crime. Gives some case studies of activist groups that have won some victories for the workers and have prevented construction of Wal-Mart stores in various communities. Produced & directed by Robert Greenwald. Special features: Making of segments, film highlights, a call to action, and parodies of Wal-Mart commercials. 2005. 97 min. DVD 4619; vhs Video/C MM1096
- Watsonville on Strike.
- Relates events of strike of Mexican American frozen food workers in Watsonville California, commencing September 1985 and lasting 18 months. English and Spanish. 1989. 65 min.Video/C 1400
- We Dig Coal, a Portrait of Three Women.
- Shows how, through courage, determination, and persistence, Mary Louise Carson, Bernice Domroski, and Marilyn McCusker won jobs in a man's world as coal miners in Pennsylvania. 1981. 58 min. Video/C 912
- We Have Fed You All a Thousand Years [SOUND RECORDING]
- Traditional tunes from the "Little Red Songbook," published by the I.W.W. labor union in the early 20th century. Contents: The boss (0:19) -- We have fed you all a thousand years (1:59) -- Sheep and goats (1:02) -- The timberbeast's lament (1:41) -- Dump the bosses off your back (4:15) -- The lumberjack's prayer (1:48) -- Mr. Block (4:27) -- The preacher and the slave (4:12) -- The popular Wobbly (2:04) -- Casey Jones ; the union scab (2:57) -- Where the Fraser River flows (2:53) -- Bread and roses (2:56) -- Joe Hill (4:14) -- Union burying ground (3:31) -- The two bums (1:02) -- Hallelujah, I'm a bum (5:28) -- Solidarity forever (4:19) -- There is power in a union (3:42). Performer: Utah Phillips, vocals and guitar. 1993. Sound/D 100
- Westray
- On May 9, 1992, the Westray mine in Pictou County, Nova Scotia exploded, instantly killing all 26 men working underground. This film focuses on the stories of three widows and three miners whose lives were torn apart when the methane and coal dust ignited deep underground. This is a film not only about Westray but about working people everwhere whose lives are often entrusted to companies that violate the most fundamental rules of safety and decency in the name of profit. Directed by Paul Cowan. c2001. 80 min. Video/C 9312
- Whose Children?
- A documentary that raises basic questions about child labour in India's glass factories in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh exploring social, economic, legal and moral aspects of the issue. 2003. 30 min. DVD 4267
- With Babies and Banners: A History of the Women's Emergency Brigade.
- Combines archival footage and interviews tracing the role of women in the formation of the United Auto Workers. Focuses on the contributions of the Women's Emergency Brigade to the labor movement of the 1930's. Producers, Anne Bohlen, Lyn Goldfarb, Lorraine Gray. 1978. 45 min. Video/C 380
- Borda, J. L. "Feminist critique and cinematic counterhistory in the documentary With Babies and Banners." Women's Studies in Communication, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 157-182, 2005
UC users only
- Who Built Ameri
