Collective bargaining, what’s that?? Before last week, the only kinds of unions that showed up in the news were civil unions. Now, with the governor of Wisconsin calling for the end of collective bargaining for public employees of the state, signaling a move on the right towards targeting labor rights in general, unions are big news. While Democrat state senators have fled the state to avoid the quorum that Governor Scott Walker needs to pass his anti-union bill, President Obama has spoken out against the bill. Meanwhile, the Tea Party has arrived to counter the protest at Madison’s state capital building, and to up the crazy quotient in Wisconsin in general, which is usually pretty high anyways. I mean, these are people that walk around wearing cheese on their heads at all times, apparently.


We at Bareknuckle Vengeance feel the need to throw in our collective voice to this terribly complex situation. Here’s what we have to say:

1. The right to bargain collectively is a pretty good one.

2. We don’t know Walker personally, but we think he seems like kind of a dick.

Now that that’s clear, I suggest that we all watch some good pro-union films. Here are three of my favorites. Let me know of others that I missed.

Harlan County, USA
This film from the early 1970s won the Academy Award for best documentary, and its easy to see why; the filmmaker captures the entire year long strike at a Kentucky coal mine, chronicling the nasty tactics of the mining corporation and its local allies and the tremendous efforts of the miners. My favorite scene is one which a miner travels to New York City and ends up talking to a policeman on the street. The miner is shocked when the policeman tells him how great his pay and benefits are. (In Wisconsin of course, the policemen's union is safe from Walker’s plan since it endorsed him the last election. Methinks that we're not ready for democracy yet.)

Cradle Will Rock
Tim Robbin’s masterfully written, star studded recreation of the eponymous Great Depression era agitprop play. Marc Blitzstein’s 1937 socialist musical, the first of its kind, tells the story of steel workers in Steeltown, USA who organize after World War I. Robbins weaves Blitzstein’s story in with those of Diego Rivera, Nelson Rockefeller, and Federal Theater Project director Hallie Flanagan, whose autobiography and HUAC transcripts provided much of the film’s dialog. And did I mention it has Bill Murray, Hank Azaria, Jack Black, John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Vanessa Redgrave, Cary Elwes, and John Turturro?

Matewan
One of John Sayles’ best films, and that’s saying quite a bit. Matewan depicts the “coal wars” of the 1920s in West Virginia, and he does so with a keen eye towards not only the murderous tactics of the coal company, but also by shedding light on the ways in which matters of race intersected the battle between capital and labor. The company brings in black and Italian workers via railroad, hoping to appeal to the xenophobia and bigotry of the local miners. I guess its unlikely that we will see the kind of violence depicted in Matewan show up in Madison, and thats definitely a good thing. But understanding the country's past labor battles, even if we do so through good film, might help put the right's new attacks on unions in some sort of perspective.

Finally, whatever you do, don’t see Pajama Game, the 1957 Doris Day musical romantic comedy about women who strike at a pajama factory. It really sucks.