| Labor
(General)
- LaborNet :
An organization working to support human rights and
economic justice for workers by providing labor news
and information.
- Labor
Links : An extensive list of links to other unions
on the Internet.Labor
Online : More links to labor information.
- AFL-CIO : The
official site of the AFL-CIO.
- Connecticut AFL-CIO
: Home page of the Connecticut AFL-CIO.
- Union Web
: AFL-CIO sympathetic site.
- IWW : The Industrial
Workers of the World. Official site of one of the
most storied labor unions in US history.
- Union Democracy
: Organization devoted to increasing democracy in
the labor movement.
- Labor Notes
: Since 1979, Labor Notes has campaigned to "put
the movement back in the labor movement".
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.
For the more adventurous movie viewer, we'd recommend
investigating the work of Soviet cinema pioneer Sergei
Eisenstein (Strike, Battleship Potemkin), and French
New Wave director, Jean-Luc Godard - both of whom made
classic pro-worker films.
Labor
History
Alternative
News
- Labor
Beat : An independent rank-and-file labor forum.
Producers of labor television and radio.
- FAIR
: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. FAIR is the
national media watch group that offers well-documented
criticism of media bias and censorship. They seek
to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for
greater diversity in the press.
- The Nation
:Venerable alternative news source in print or on
the Internet.
- In These
Times
- Mother Jones
- Z
Net : an independent political magazine of critical
thinking on political, cultural, social and economic
life in the US. Features such luminaries as Noam Chomsky
and Howard Zinn.
- Institute for
Public Accuracy
- Adbusters
: Sick of banal and/or dishonest advertising? This
is definitely a site to visit.
- Public Citizen
: Watchdog organization founded by presidential candidate,
Ralph Nader.Left
Business Observer : Alternative economics for
the masses. Find out what the Wall Street Journal
and presidential candidates really stand for with
their economic beliefs.AlterNet
: More alternative news.
Election
2000 (Go see what the candidates had to say
on their websites)
Labor
Reading
- The Iron Heel by Jack LondonThe Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
- The
Abolition of Work by Bob Black. The full text
of this important and humorous book is available online
by clicking on the title.
- John
Zerzan: A wide variety of texts by anti-technology
guru John
Zerzan is available online by simply clicking
on his name.
[ Introduction
| Know Your
Rights | Resources/links ] |
