Books and films

The Lucas Plan

The book tells the story of the Lucas Aerospace workers’ campaign to defend their jobs and transform the company from largely military production towards socially useful products. It traces the creation of the Shop Stewards’ Combine Committee, the development of the Alternative Corporate Plan, collective bargaining for employment security, wages and…

Sorry to Bother You

The film follows a young African-American telemarketer who adopts a "white voice" to succeed at his job, after which he is swept into a corporate conspiracy and must choose between chasing profit or joining his activist friends who are attempting to unionize.

Triangle Fire

PBS documentary examining the infamous Triangle shirtwaist fire in 1911 that killed 146 mostly women immigrant workers.

Red clothes

A film about the hard labor of Cambodian garment workers, who produce cheap clothing for pennies. They went on a demonstration to demand higher wages.

Crónicas de trabajadores en lucha por la libertad sindical

The production of six documentaries on Trade Union Freedom and Collective Bargaining in the six focal countries of the Campaign—Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and the Dominican Republic—helped raise visibility for the demands of the working class in these countries. The films denounce employer and government abuses, and highlight the…

Mémoires d’un condamné / Memoirs of a Convict

This tells us through fragments of testimony and journey in the city of Le Havre the story of Jules Durand, secretary of the port coal workers' union, wrongly accused and convicted at the beginning of the 20th century and which is today quite a symbol in the working world. A striking film because of its echoes with current events and because it tells us…

Prendre le large / Catch the Wind

Edith, a 45-year-old textile worker, sees her life overturned by a restructuring plan. Rather than face unemployment, she is the only employee to accept a transfer to the company’s relocated factory in Tangier, Morocco, where she must confront the harsh reality of offshoring, unfamiliar working conditions and a new social environment.

Working Melancholy

This is the story of Lucie Baud (1870-1913), a silk worker in Dauphiné who led strikes in Vizille and Voiron

Die ideologische Ausrichtung der Lehrkräfte 1933–1945

The National Socialist Teachers’ League organized 97 percent of all educators. One third of them were members of the NSDAP.

La historia es nuestra: Pascual, lucha obrera y cooperativismo

A collective account of one of the most remarkable episodes of the contemporary Mexican labor movement; an example of unity and class consciousness embodied by men and women who turn their struggle into an everyday act of homage. This feature-length film recounts the fight waged by the workers of the Pascual soft-drink company between 1982 and 1985…

The Light and the Strength / La luz y la fuerza

The Light and the Strength documents the struggle of the Mexican Electricians’ Union (SME) after the 2009 government decree that dissolved the public company Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC). Portal Insurgencia Magisterial+2laizquierdadiario.mx+2 The film follows, over several years, how nearly 16,599 electricians resisted, maintained their union…

De vuist van de vakbond / The union fist

When 300,000 people flock to Museumplein on October 2, 2004, for the largest trade union demonstration ever, the power of the trade union movement seems great. Although the demands to retain the schemes for early retirement are met, it turns out to be primarily a Pyrrhic victory.

La Matamoros

From a factory seamstress to an international union leader, the life of Marta Matamoros was devoted to defending the rights of Panamanian women and workers. Her struggle brought her persecution and imprisonment—bitter moments that were transformed into great victories: the achievement of the minimum wage and maternity protection, benefits that today are…

The Nothing Factory / La fábrica de nada

One night, a group of workers realizes that management is stealing machinery and materials from their own factory. When they get ready to organize the equipment and production themselves, they are ordered to do nothing, as retaliation, while negotiations for their dismissal are underway.

Strike a Rock

After a massacre shakes their poverty-stricken mining community, Marikana, two grandmothers lead their community in a historic fight for justice. In an intimate story where the personal becomes political, how will they take on Goliath-enemies and make their voices heard?

Our time is now / Vår tid er nå

The Swedish series "Our time is now" has been for three seasons at NRK and can still be seen. There is genealogy from the post -war Stockholm, where the establishment of a trade union in the restaurant industry is an important side story in a very nice series.

American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs

Dolores

The Egyptians: A Radical History of Egypt's Unfinished Revolution

On January, 25, 2011, a revolution began in Egypt that succeeded in ousting the country’s longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak. In The Egyptians, journalist Jack Shenker uncovers the roots of the uprising and explores the country’s current state, divided between two irreconcilable political orders.

The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone,

How did the iPhone transform our world and turn Apple into the most valuable company ever? Veteran technology journalist Brian Merchant reveals the inside story you won't hear from Cupertino-based on his exclusive interviews with the engineers, inventors, and developers who guided every stage of the iPhone's creation.

Liquidation

This film retraces the entire conflict between the management of Goodyear and the employees of the Amiens-Nord factory. The result of a long investigation, it looks back at the struggle of these workers to defend their jobs.

Thank you, boss! / Merci patron!

Jocelyne and Serge Klur worked at a factory near Valenciennes that produced Kenzo clothing for the LVMH group. After production was relocated to Poland, the couple lost their jobs, fell into debt, and faced losing their home.

Like lions / Comme des Lions

The film about the workers of PSA Aulnay, fighting against the closure of their factory.

7 minuti

The textile company Varazzi, with a female workforce, is bought by French partners. The new owners propose that the factory council reduce the lunch break by 7 minutes in order to optimize production.

Panamerican Machinery / Maquinaria Panamericana

It seems like any other Friday at Maquinaria Panamericana S.A., a company specializing in the sale and repair of construction and destruction machinery. The employees prepare for the coveted weekend, wasting time on little rituals and routines, until an unexpected twist snaps them out of their peaceful monotony.

The Mechanics of Trade Unions

An anti-union film about MPRA.

Blood on the Mountain

In Dubious Battle

In 1933, two union organizers go to the California valley intending to initiate a strike among the apple pickers. But to encourage the workers to rise up, it is necessary to wait for the opportune moment…A powerful and conflicting film that could be read as sharply anti-union.

Union Time: Fighting for Workers' Rights

Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights follows the story of workers at the Smithfield Pork Processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, who fought for safe, fair working conditions – and won. It goes beyond hype about unions (from both sides) to show how people standing together can break the cycle of poverty and injustice.

Bunt

A gripping, multi-threaded story of a rebellion that changed Poland. It begins at the moment when, after the bloody suppression of the strike in December 1970, the authorities promised a better life; access to consumer goods increased and the world seemed closer, and yet rebellion came.