Browse: Home / Look For the Union Label

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • Taco Break: And Seinfeld Begat Always Sunny
  • Celebrating the Living: Fairuza Balk
  • Attention Must Be Paid: George Burns
  • Disney Byways: "Canine Patrol"
  • Tales from the Backlog: Vomas on 1970
The value of organized labor

Look For the Union Label

Posted By Gillianren on May 24, 2023 in Short Articles | Leave a response

It looks like my partner’s workplace did not approve their union. We are both sorely disappointed by this; honestly a lot of the difficulties in our household right now would be eased by, say, a union that stood up and said, “No, your schedule cannot still be uncertain for next week on the last day of this week.” I can’t help wondering if the results would be different were the writer’s strike more in the public consciousness and the awareness of what the writers are trying to get, and long haven’t, and how union and strike are the tools in the writers’ arsenal to earn a living wage for work essential to their industry.

There are definitely movies about the value of unions, not least because writers, directors, and actors are all aware of their union protections. Everything from Harlan County, USA, to Newsies. Often, these movies are about the brutal suppression of unions over the years. They make clear how having a union has long been life and death to workers, how the protections unions offer are vital to workers. Heck, in The Devil and Miss Jones, the owner of the company discovers that a union would protect his workers from abuses even he himself disapproves of. It took stepping into the workers’ shoes to understand the union’s importance.

Oh, union movies are not painting the universal prospect of a workers’ utopia. Even the documentaries often include details about the darker side—hard to talk about unions without talking about organized crime, after all. There’s union in-fighting. There’s bigotry; several union movies are about how the union doesn’t protect women in some way, even though several are also about the important role women play in union activities. Other union movies discuss other bigotries—you can’t talk Cesar Chavez without talking racism, after all.

It’s not surprising that the union movie is an international phenomenon, either. French and British movies are notable, as are Italian ones, and that’s just what I can find doing a search on English-language sources. It seems likely there are plenty of early Soviet ones, and if there isn’t a documentary about the importance of Solidarity in Polish history, I’d be shocked. Quite a lot of history of the last couple of centuries is written in unions—while John Frankenheimer may have been born in Queens, but The Burning Season is set in the Brazilian rainforest. Unions matter there, too.

My partner asked me last night when Colbert would be coming back, and I told him it was after the writers’ strike was resolved. We can wait. The writers are asking for their due. The actors may be about to follow suit. Without them, the movies we love don’t exist. Even if AI could do their jobs, and the evidence is clear that it can’t, that’s no excuse not to pay the people who are actually doing the work now. Support unions wherever you find them, including in the arts.

And on top of all that, my primary income looks certain to be late next month thanks to political goings-on; keep me afloat by supporting my Patreon or Ko-fi!

Posted in Short Articles | Tagged union

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

Taco Break: And Seinfeld Begat Always Sunny→

Years later, Johnson would use these techniques to film Star Wars actors interacting with golfballs that would be replaced by Porgs or some shit.Lunch Links: EVIL DEMON GOLFBALL FROM HELL!!!→

One . . . two . . . three!Commercials You Can Hear→

Should have shot from the other side of the tracks to make it a smile!Lunch Links: SMILES→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    35484 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    28163 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    26792 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • Gordon with Mr. Looper

    Attention Must Be Paid: Will Lee

    26636 views / Posted January 7, 2023
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    20699 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • Taco Break: And Seinfeld Begat Always Sunny

    October 2, 2023 / Tristan "Drunk Napoleon" Nankervis
  • One of two ways to picture her

    Celebrating the Living: Fairuza Balk

    October 1, 2023 / Gillianren
  • Gonzo fiddles while George Burns

    Attention Must Be Paid: George Burns

    September 30, 2023 / Gillianren
  • So what is Pluto doing here?

    Disney Byways: “Canine Patrol”

    September 29, 2023 / Gillianren
  • Tales from the Backlog: Vomas on 1970

    September 29, 2023 / Sam "Burgundy Suit" Scott

Last Tweets

    ©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

    Menu

    • Home
    • Who We Are
    • About
    • Privacy
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!