Books and films

Wanted: Dangerous Criminal

Wanted: Dangerous Criminal (Russia, 1992) – A feature film about a tank regiment commander who did not go against his people and refused to carry out the command to suppress a workers' revolt at a factory. However, he went against the Soviet system, for which he lost everything—his rank, position, awards, and freedom.

Stalin Over Wisconsin: The Making and Unmaking of Militant Unionism, 1900–1950

For union organizers, community activists, and labor scholars the republication of Stephen Meyer’s Stalin Over Wisconsin: The Making and Unmaking of Militant Unionism, 1900–1950 is especially timely. Meyer tells the story of fiercely militant, and Communist-influenced, UAW Local 248, which represented the huge Allis-Chalmers plant outside Milwaukee,…

Harry Bridges: A Man and His Union

Hoffa

Jack Nicholson stars as James R. Hoffa, the president of the truck drivers' union.

Newsies

This retro musical is based on real events. In the late 19th century, two major newspaper publishers in New York, the Journal and the World, conspired to raise the wholesale price of their publications.

Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story

Bill Presser decides to leave the truck drivers' union council, but before that, he chooses to nominate his son Jackie as the new union leader in place of the suddenly missing Jimmy Hoffa. Jackie faces resistance from the leadership, but by establishing contacts with the FBI and the mafia, he begins to consolidate power using any means necessary, even…

Women's strike 1991 Switzerland | Women's strike day of June 14, 1991 / Der Aufstand gilt dem Patriarchat. Frauenstreik 14.Juni 1991

A short film about a campaign organized in 1991 by the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions to combat discrimination against women in the workplace, income, social security, and education. The campaign's slogan is particularly striking: "If women want it, everything will stop" (or, in another translation, "Everything will fall into place").

Riff-Raff

The film is dedicated to Britain construction workers who have come to London in search of a better life: migrants, homeless individuals, and guys recently released from prison. They all work, have fun, and try to survive in any way they can.

$4 a Day? No Way!: Joining Hands Across the Border

The story of Mexican Ford workers in Cuautitlán, whose fight for union democracy in 1990 was met with violence.

ABC OF STRIKE / ABC DA GREVE

A detailed look at the events that led to the continuous strikes that shut down many factories during the still repressive days of the military regime. The workers union, led by syndicalist Lula, demanded better work conditions and better payments, fighting not only against their exploitative bosses but also the political establishment of the time.

My Macondo

Inspired by the people and landscape of Colombia's Banana Zone, Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez created the Buendia family and the village of Macondo, placing them at the centre of his acclaimed novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Among the events described in Marquez' novel is the 1928 Banana Strike and the subsequent murder of 3 000…

María Cano

Colombia receives compensation from Panama and accepts foreign credit to undertake development projects, which leads to an increase in the number of workers, albeit with poor wages and terrible working conditions inherited from the colonial era. This is where María Cano emerges, a political activist who begins her struggle for the conditions of salaried…

Fredriksson's factory

The series is about the small Norwegian clothing factory "Fredriksson's fashion", which is run by the stated Swede, director Fredriksson. His seamstresses are four Norwegian women, who are more concerned with scrapping and pursuing their own things than working.

American Dream

The film is about the 6-month strike at Hormel Foods (Austin, Minnesota) in 1985-86. Local union P-9 rejects the company's decision to cut wages and declares a strike.

Imperfect Union: Canadian Labour and the Left (4-parts)

Imperfect Union: Canadian Labour and the Left is a three-part NFB documentary series tracing the evolution of Canada’s labour movement. It covers the movement’s early roots shaped by international socialist ideas, its explosive growth during the Great Depression through strikes and organizing, and its wartime transformation, which led to stronger unions,…

Santosh

An Indian intrigue. The ruthless Kamla falls in love with a poor man, marries him, and gives birth to Santosh.

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Set in New York, 1952. A six-month strike by the metalworkers' union at the Brickman Metals Co.

Roger & Me

The film masterfully directed by Michael Moore tells the story of how the American dream was buried in the town of Flint, Michigan, with the help of the auto giant General Motors. The plant was closed, leaving thirty thousand workers out of work.

Amor, mujeres y flores / Love, Women and Flowers

A documentary film that portrays the harsh working conditions on Colombia’s flower farms, where the workforce consists almost entirely of women.

To Kill a Priest

Warsaw, 1981. The "Solidarity" trade union movement takes a course of confrontation with the authorities.

Good faith - 50 years of peace agreements in the machinery and metal industries / Treu und Glauben - 50 Jahre Friedensabkommen in der Maschinen- und Metallindustrie

A short film exploring Switzerland's labor relations system, known as the "Labor Peace." The plot is simple: a journalist is assigned to write an article about the anniversary of the "peace agreement" between industrialists and trade unions in the metalworking and engineering sectors. She interviews workers and managers, shares her findings with the…

The Luddites

This historical drama, based on documents (except for the emotional scenes of negotiations and the execution of John Butt), focuses on the Luddite movement in the early 1810s in the Northwest of England. Textile workers, who called themselves Luddites, destroyed mechanical looms in factories, as the spread of these machines led to mass unemployment and…

Cultures of Solidarity

In three vivid case studies Fantasia explores the complicated, multi-faceted dynamics of American working-class consciousness and collective action

Friends & Enemies

A film about defeat. A thousand workers rose up against the Southeast Queensland Electricity Board (SEQEB) management’s introduction of a new employment contract.

Clotario Blest

A life story and account of the struggles of the emblematic union leader (1899–1990), founder of the National Association of Public Employees (ANEF) and the first president of the Unified Workers’ Central (CUT). Inspired by Christian values, he renounced both his calling to the priesthood and romantic love in order to dedicate himself to union work.

Çark / Cogwheel

In the history of Turkish cinema with his scenario, which starts in the glass workshop and continues in the shipyard and extends to the leather workers with medieval workplace . the first pure workers He is considered one of [ 3 ] The director Muzaffer does not at all, but even though he was reluctant to shoot the film, he then gives up his idea and…

Business As Usual

The film is based on real events. An assistant manager at a boutique stands up for her employee, who is being sexually harassed by the store owner.

Comrades

This is the true story of six agricultural workers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset, who, in 1834, formed a union bound by secret oaths and "intimidating" rituals. At the time, such oaths and rituals were considered a crime in England.

Behind the Lines: Gender and the Two World Wars

What effect did the two world wars have on the relations between women and men? Drawing on broad comparative material—from government policy to popular media, poetry and fiction, and personal letters—this book examines the redefinition of gender that occurred in many Western countries during both world wars.

Matewan

The film is based on real and bloody events that took place in the town of Matewan, West Virginia, in 1920 during a strike by local miners at The Stone Mountain Coal Company, leading to a tragedy known in history as the "Matewan Massacre." The film's tagline: "It takes more than guns to kill a man."