If you would like to go to a State agency home page, please click
on the following like that will take you to the State's list of
agency links:
List of State Agency's
Labor Federations
Labor Unions
Labor (General)
Labor Education
Labor Movies
- Matewan (1987): Accurate and dramatic
depiction of the real-life struggles of striking coal miners in
post-WWI West Virginia. A union organizer struggles to bring white,
African-American, and Italian immigrant miners together in the
face of murderous company opposition. Based on a true story.
- Brassed Off (1997): Touching and humorous
look at British miners and their community during the attacks
of the Thatcher era. The movie centers on the local colliery's
brass band as it attempts to bring back some pride to the dying
town and it's workers. Starring Ewan McGregor.
- The Full Monty (1997): Unemployed
steelworkers transform themselves into the British working-class
Chippendales (almost!). As with Brassed Off, a touching and hilarious
film that evokes the courage and humor of British workers in the
wake of Thatcherism.
- Harlan County,USA (1977): Excellent
pro-union documentary that follows the entire course of a miners'
strike in Kentucky. Shows confrontations with scabs, cops, and
armed company thugs. Guaranteed to get you motivated.
- Norma Rae (1979): A rare bird! A pro-union
popular movie. Depicts an organizing drive in a hostile Southern
textile mill. Sally Field won an Oscar for her powerful performance.
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940): John Ford's
Oscar-winning classic from 1940 is a powerful movie interpretation
of the poignant John Steinbeck novel. The story follows the peregrinations
and travails of the Joad family as they move from the Dust Bowl
of Depression-era Oklahoma to the migrant labor farm camps of
California.
- Salt of the Earth (1953): Made on
a shoe-string budget, this gritty classic used real-life union
activists who were involved in a New Mexico copper miners' strike.
The scenes depicting picket lines and altercations with scabs
are the "real deal". Made during the height of McCarthyism,
the film was banned and many of the participants were blacklisted,
and the lead actress was deported to Mexico.
- Business As Usual (1987): Glenda Jackson
plays the manager of a dress shop in Liverpool who is fired for
standing up for one of her employees. The women at the store join
a union and strike, bringing about their persecution by the authorities
- including unwarranted drug-searches of the workers. The activities
of the police only generate public sympathy for the workers.
- The Killing Floor (1984): Set against
the backdrop of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, this film follows
two young African-American men who head north to look for work
in Chicago's meatpacking industry. One quits his job and joins
the Army, while the other stays and becomes active in his union.
Management try to break the union by fomenting tensions between
white and black workers.
Labor Reading
- Labor Books:
A great site where you can find and order books about labor and
union issues.
- The Iron Heel by Jack London
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- The Abolition of Work by Bob Black.
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