Labor Beat's Late 20th Century Labor History Videos: Special Selection The Teamsters: Whose Union Is It? [LB 301] In the fall of 2001, a New York federal jury declared former Teamsters President Ron Carey innocent of lying to investigators during the probe into illegal use of union funds in the 1996 Teamsters election. Carey's innocent verdict compels us to reexamine the circumstances surrounding his removal in 1997. "The Teamsters: Whose Union Is It?" looks at the Teamsters in the period of the UPS strike, the removal of Carey, the Hoekstra hearings, and the delayed re-run election. Addresses the issue of government involvement. Uses exclusive footage and interviews from union reform activists. Examines issues and events surrounding Carey's removal (without trial or right to defend himself) as IBT President by the government-controlled IRB. Among those appearing are: Pete Camarata (a co-founder of Teamsters for a Democratic Union), John Riojas (candidate for IBT General Vice-Pres.), Ken Paff (TDU), Jerry Gordon (Chair, Ohio State Labor Party). Scenes from Carey's last speech as president, mass outdoor rallies with Carey and Sweeney, street debate between Leedham and Hoffa supporters, and much more. Narrated. 23 minutes. Marchin' in The Street [LB 274] The giant 'Action! Motown '97' march and day of action on June 21, 1997. Covers the big march, the great river of 100,000 union members and supporters bursting the streets of downtown Detroit to show their support of the locked-out newspaper workers. The video also explains (through action footage, interviews, and narration) the background to this event: the early mass picketing, the rank-and-file appeal to the AFL-CIO to have the march, the campaign to build 'Motown '97'. Visits the press conference on the NLRB decision given on the eve of the big day; then the two spirited action events the same day of the march: protests at the Sterling Heights police department and at the Gross Pointe Farms home of Detroit News CEO Frank Vega. And, of course, the video presents the big march itself, bringing together footage from four Labor Beat cameras. Underlying this unique coverage of a major event in the Detroit newspaper strike, the message emerges that the working class can place in the streets massive forces, and is capable of complex strategic actions. This video was televised on Chicago's PBS affiliate WTTW. Narrated. 21 minutes Labor Party Convention '96 [LB 248] The only video about the historic founding convention of the Labor Party in Cleveland in June of 1996. Presents the key debates on whether to run candidates now, and explores other dynamics of the Convention. Also highlights of labor solidarity speeches from the Detroit newspaper strikers and the Illinois War Zone, with speech by Decatur militant Mike Griffin who calls for a labor party that will challenge the comfort zone bureaucracy. Interviews with unionists attending the convention to find out why they feel it's time for a Labor Party: Paul Swanson, Director of Organizing of BMWE; Baldemar Velasquez, President of FLOC; and Ashaki Binta, Black Workers for Justice and International Field Rep. for SEIU-Southern Region. Video follows along on one of the most exciting event during the Convention, which was the 1,500-strong protest by conventioneers who pour onto the street and walk two blocks to Cleveland City Hall. This was in response to Democratic Mayor White of Cleveland's attacks on city workers. Video is a front row seat to the convention. Narrated. 30 minutes SEIU - The Search for the Future [LB 243] Covers 1996 SEIU International Convention, in the context of changes created by John Sweeney, former SEIU President, leaving post to become President of AFL-CIO. Focuses on fight for reforms and democratizing SEIU, health care battles, Robert Wages of Labor Party Advocates debates reps from Dems and Republicans at convention. Also dramatic segment of SEIU Local 25 rank-and-file Janitors' protest at union meeting against misleadership of local's then-president Eugene Moats (since removed by International); also controversy over the NYC local run by Gus Bivona. Narrated by Hilary Diamond. 30 minutes. Showdown in Company Town [LB 197] The historic June 25, 1994, Decatur, IL rally for locked-out Staley workers and striking Caterpillar workers. The early stages of three unions uniting, and the beginnings of a political fight in City Hall. The episode of police peppergassing workers at the plant gate. Background to issues, labor militancy, police brutality, and the role of local government. 30 minutes. The Gathering Storm [LB 209] Shows the early conditions for and first steps toward an independent political instrument for labor in Decatur, Illinois, during the historic War Zone struggles. Join with the 7,000-strong march in the face of court injunctions on Oct. 15, 1994, where the coalition of unions (UAW, URW and UPIU) demonstrate their control of the streets. At the press conference that day, Dave Watts (then-president UPIU 7837 at Staley) points out that the labor movement needs its own party, a labor party. Video shows Decatur City Council meetings where hundreds of workers gather to oppose City Council's and Mayor's anti-labor policies. In the fall of '94 a union-community coalition announces that it will run its own candidates for Mayor and City Council in the spring. The video interviews the chairperson and organizer of this campaign. Since the city election is non-partisan, the relation between this independent political "party" and the Democratic Party remains ambiguous. We also follow the coalition's 2-day long march from Decatur to Springfield, the State capital, to demand the right to erect picket shacks along state roads. This march ends in a militant sit-in at the Governor's office and demonstration in the chambers of the legislature in session. 30 minutes. Our Class of People [LB 221] The June 24, 1995 Labor Conference sponsored by the UPIU, UAW and URW locals in Decatur, IL marked a new stage in the class struggle in the U.S. It opened up a needed discussion on what must be changed in the labor movement at a time when the leadership of the AFL-CIO is being debated. Presents highlights from that conference discussion and shows the events in the past year that lead up to it. The video goes to Bal Harbor, Florida with 70 'War Zone' union members who try to address the AFL-CIO Executive Council. We see the three Decatur union presidents ushered into the meeting, but they are prohibited from speaking. Afterwards, they describe what happened. At Bal Harbor, we watch Dave Watts tell Secretary of Labor Reich to his face that Labor-Management schemes have caused great suffering to unions in Decatur. Mike Griffin, locked-out Staley worker, narrates how the Decatur unions began to develop solidarity internationally, and we watch Staley employees from Montreal try to meet with company executives in Decatur. We follow Griffin to Slovakia where he explains to union activists from around the world the need for their solidarity with the War Zone struggle. The video visits the campaign headquarters for union candidates running for City Council, and later takes up this theme of independent labor politics when Tony Mazzocchi (Labor Party Advocates) addresses the War Zone Labor Conference. We hear some of the comments at the Conference from such trade unionists as: Dave Yettaw, President UAW 599; Bill Yockey, UMWA leader from Indiana; Mark Froemke, Grain Millers President from Grand Forks, ND; Tom Balanoff, President SEIU 73; Jerry Gordon, International Rep. Region 4 UFCW; Harry Kelber, Labor Educator editor and dissident candidate for AFL-CIO Executive Council. The video ends with scenes from the June 25, 1995, giant march and rally, as UPIU 7837 President Dave Watts tells Tom Donahue and others on the podium "we're tired of dog and pony shows" and that workers need a strategy that works. 29 minutes. It Could Have Been Won [LB 236] In January of 1996 the Madison, WI UPIU Local 1202 hosted a forum to discuss the role of the United Paperworkers International Union and the AFL-CIO in the narrow vote of Decatur UPIU Local 7837 to accept A.E. Staley's contract offer. The title is "It Could Have Been Won" because all of the speakers featured felt it was a battle that was winnable, if the International and the AFL-CIO had been committed to the struggle. Speakers featured include: John Vellardita, Pres. UPIU 1202; Dave Watts, former Pres. UPIU 7837; Gary Lamb, Vice-Pres. UPIU 7837; Dick Schable, Staley worker; Mike Griffin, "Road-Warrior" coordinator; and comment from the floor by Jack Spiegel, retired ACTWU officer. The forum marks a key episode in the history of the labor battles in the Decatur "War Zone." 30 minutes. All for One [LB 267] Global solidarity against deregulation in docking. International resistance to privatization. On January 20, 1997, workers in ports around the world - from Tokyo to San Francisco to Stockholm - staged actions in support of Liverpool dockworkers locked out by the Mersey Docks Co. Protests and work stoppages in unity with the dockworkers locked-out a year and a half earlier for opposing deregulation and unpaid overtime. Liverpool cranes occupied to bring operations to a halt; the port of Stockholm at a standstill; an interview with a representative of the Svenska Hamnarbetarforbundet; a protest at the Ooi port, Tokyo; an interview with the president of Tokyo Docker's Union Council; an ILWU protest at the British Consulate in San Francisco as part of actions shutting down West Coast US ports. Produced in collaboration with Union Producers and Programmers Network. 21 minutes. Commercial Media Labor Struggles: NABET & SAG/AFTRA Strikes [LB SGN] 1) NABET Vs, ABC ("Bummer in Fantasyland")-The world behind the scenes of Disney/ABC that you are not seeing when you watch "the news". In 1997 ABC forced their employees to work without a contract. NABET fought back with a strike during a recent golf tournament, and we show entertaining footage of NABET's 'merry pranksters' who visit ABC reporters while they're broadcasting live. Watch a San Francisco ABC reporter blow his top and chase around a NABET supporter who holds a sign up during his report. 2). SAG/AFTRA, Commercial Actors Strike-Creative protest lines cropped up during this major and conditionally successful strike of the Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. For actors appearing in ads that were getting plays on cable-tv and on the internet, this confrontation over royalties was unavoidable. Much of the acting community, as well as Chicago-area unions (NABET 41, IBT 705, and IBEW 134 to name a few) got behind the strike. Tim Kazurinsky testifies at Chicago City Council hearings, seeking its support for SAG/AFTRA. Kazurinsky says: "The producers are pushing a new show. It's called Who Wants To Be a Millionaire By Sticking It to The Actors." Studs Terkel also speaks before the City Council, and is interviewed. Other interviews: Shelby Scott, AFTRA National President, and Larry Oran, SAG-Chicago Vice President, too. "Commercial Media Labor Struggles" can also be a valuable source for studies in corporate media issues. 30 minutes. The Road to Haymarket [LB GV5] A show commemorating the Chicago Haymarket martyrs who were hanged for their political convictions and labor leadership in 1886. This show combines historical stills, narration, documentary footage of the current labor movement, music, and dramatic reenactments to tell the story of the working people's struggle, suppression and persistence to have control over their labor. An essential history lesson that has been left out of too many history books. 30 minutes. Trainwreck of Ideologies [LB 317] In Chicago, the Haymarket affair is an eternal fount of contention within the labor movement. The 1998 dedication of the brass plaque designating the Haymarket monument as a national historical site was no exception. The debate concerns how this struggle (which gave rise to the celebration of international May Day) should be remembered: generally as a fight for workers' rights, or specifically as the efforts of anarchists/socialists who tried to overthrow capitalism. The Illinois Labor History Society, which sponsored the event, invited a spokesperson from the U.S. Government to mumble some official remarks. Anarchists in attendance thought this was in bad taste, since it was in fact the government that unjustly hung the Haymarket martyrs back in the 1880s. Albert Parsons and the other Chicago martyrs were, not incidentally, anarchists themselves. Both the original and latter-day anarchists shared a contempt for the government. The charged atmosphere jumped yet a few more amps when a Catholic priest was invited to pronounce his invocation over the graves of atheists. 'Why were representatives of the government and organized religion given a place at the podium and no one from the anarchists allowed to speak?' was the refrain of the anarchists. In spite of the open discontent, the ceremony continued... including the reciting of a poem by famous labor poet Carlos Cortez, and other moving scenes. Labor Beat producer Martin Conlisk brings together scenes from this bizarre day at Forest Home Cemetery amid union officials, anarchists, security guards, priests, a German Band, government suits and hundreds of union activists. A shoving match breaks out after an anarchist spits on the newly revealed (U.S. Government) plaque, while Lucy Parsons (portrayed by an actor) becomes outraged for real. Did anyone actually expect a humdrum event? 25 minutes. Teamster Victory Mural [LB 328] Internationally acclaimed labor muralist Mike Alewitz, in the act of creating and talking about his mural on the historic 1997 Teamster strike victory over United Parcel Service. Commissioned by Local 705 at Teamster City in Chicago. Alewitz is a socially engaged artist who has painted murals in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Iraq, as well as across the United States and at Chernobyl, Alewitz also tells how he got his start and why he makes the kind of art he does. Explains to Teamsters stewards how he relates the UPS victory to the images and story of the Haymarket martyrs. Scenes from the dedication of the mural. Video created in close collaboration with the artist. A "process" video that would have value to art students as well as labor history students. 30 minutes. To order: Mail your show list, name, address, and check to Labor Beat / 37 S. Ashland Blvd. / Chicago IL 60607 (312) 226-3330; Fax (773) 561-0908 History collection brochure PDF: www.laborbeat.org/3/laborhistoryvids.pdf History collection web page: www.laborbeat.org/3/laborhistoryvids.htm History collection longer text: www.laborbeat.org/3/lhcoldesc.txt Labor Beat email address: mail@laborbeat.org Labor Beat web site: www.laborbeat.org