US Labor Video Production
On A Growth Curve
Steve Zeltzer
The growing need of the US trade unions and American working people to have their voice heard is now being reflected in the increasing use of labor video productions both in community access television and in the production of labor video documentaries.
The introduction of community access televison in the 1970s allowed for the first time the opportunity of unions and worker organizations to use television for labor programming. A democratic struggle took place nationally that led to a Federal law that cities or communities could require the cable company to provide a community access television station and that any resident of the city would be able to programming without any censorship.
This law has protected community access producers including labor video producers who have produced programming on controversial issues.
It has also prevented the government and corporations from seeking to stop labor video television directly on community access television.
Today, there are more than 2,000 community access television channels and with more than 65% of the US population having cable, this means the potential penetration of labor cable programming is immense.
At present there are from 40 to 50 labor cable shows in the United States. They range from independent labor video groups such as Labor Beat in Chicago and Labor Video Project in San Francisco to Minnesota Works sponsored by the University Of Minnesota Labor Education Service and a growing number of union locals that are sponsoring their own labor TV show on community access television.
In San Francisco, the National Association of Letter Carriers Local 214, the American Federation Of Musians Local 6 and the United Food And Commerical Workers Local 101 all sponsor monthly tv shows on community access. Some of these programs are also programmed on other stations around the Bay Area.
The community access stations provide free or low cost training to unionists on how to use the equipment and low cost or free production and editing time in the facilities.
This has allowed trade unionists and labor supporters who work on Labor TV shows to develop skills in production and editing.
Many of the issues covered in these shows are of concern to the entire labor movement. These have included the effects of privatization and deregulation, union labor rights, the global economy, sexual harassment, the role of the corporate controlled media and health and safety issues.
In many cases, their labor television shows have been a vehicle to encourage union members who are not that active in their union local to become involved in a union TV show. The Letter Carriers had a program on photography of their members and they also had a talent show of postal workers that was quite successful.
These shows have also be very useful in exposing the role of the anti-union corporations. In Minneapolis, a struggle to organize the Marriot Hotel was shown on cable television with interviews of the workers and also with the management. These tapes were presented to the city officials and had a very strong effect in building support for the unionization effort.
In North Carolina, a cable producer had daily interviews with workers and managers in a union organizing drive at the local textile mill. The small rural community was electrified by seeing this struggle on a daily basis on television. It also helped bring about a successful vote for the union. Without cable television, it would have been much more difficult to build community and public support for the struggle since the main stream media would not have given positive and regular coverage of this oranizing story.
US and Canadian Labor Video producers are also documenting important labor battles and conflicts that are being censored by the US media.
Over 5 video documentaries were made about "The War Zone" struggle. This labor battle took place in 1995 and 1996 in Decatur, Ill where workers were on strike at Caterpillar Tractor, Bridgestone-Firestone tire plant and the Staley which processed sugar and was owned by British multi-national Tate & Lyle Corporation.
These videos showed the workers rights being violated, Their effort to fight 12 hour days and rotating shifts and the effort to run a labor slate for the city council.
They also showed the international character of the US labor struggle. Workers in the US must now reach out internationally to take on the biggest multi-nationals in the world.
The ongoing Detroit newspaper workers' strike has also led to the production of 4 or 5 documentaries. Nearly 2,000 workers are still locked out and the US media has again blacked out any coverage of this struggle. It has only been with the use of labor television and cable media that US working people have been able to get an accurate and uncensored view of the Detroit struggle and the danger of corporate domination of the media. The two companies that the newspaper workers are fighting, The Gannett Corporation which produces USA Today and the Knight-Ridder Corporation both control hundreds of papers in the United States and their "control" of the news threatens democracy.
In Canada, Working TV has produced a documentary on the Toronto general strike and has a national labor TV show financed by the Labor in Vancouver, Canada.
A labor youth music video called "Up To Scratch" was produced in Vancouver, Canada. The need to develop popular videos for young people is gaining interest. Mike Konapacki, a labor cartoonist in Madison, Wisconsin is using computer animation to do labor cartoons for use on labor TV programs around the country. The growing connection between the Web and TV will be greatly enhanced by the use of computer animation by labor communicators like Konapacki.
The US labor videos have also dealt with struggles for union democracy within the US trade union movement from the Carpenters to the UAW and the United Paperworkers International Union. Labor videos have shown the increasing need for a democratic trade union movement in order to be successful in defending the trade unions from the ongoing ant-labor offensive by US and international capital.
US labor video producers are also now distributing their tapes around the world to education and build solidarity with workers who work for the same companies.
One of the most important international labor video collaboration was the production of "All For One". This video is about the international dock workers strike and protest on Junuary 20, 1997. It was simultaneously shot on 3 continents. It had footage from Sweden, Liverpool,England, San Francisco and Japan as well as showing a web page from the Quebec, Montreal dockers.
This video showed that the struggle of the 500 fired Liverpool dockers was not just an issue for the Liverpool dockers but for all dockers around the world who face privatization, deregulation and union busting. It was a co-production of labor video producers in Sweden, England, the US and Japan.
As workers face multi-nationals in every country of the world from GM, Toyota, Hyundai, BMW and others, they will more and more link their struggles with the use of video. This tool is critical in building international support and helping to educate workers world wide.
The formation of the organization Union Producers And Programmers Network (UPPNET) which links together labor video and radio producers and programmers has been an important step to help develop this work. "All For One" was an international production of UPPNET. UPPNET also has a web page at http:www.mtn.org/~jsee/uppnet.html and it has helped build support for labor video and radio producers, and also helped inform unions about the production of new labor videos.
One of the critical needs is for information about these videos to get out world wide. It is not profitable for the capitalist to distribute labor videos so labor must develop it's own distribution network, and (UPPNET) is seeking to build this international labor video distribution network.
We want to list every labor video in the world, what it's subject is and how to get this video. In this way we will help build an international labor distribution network.
These are all important steps but they are only the beginning. UPPNET is fighting for the development of a national labor cable channel broadcast by satelite, and the need for an international labor cable channel much like CNN, is growing by the day.
Labor video producers in the United States believe their work will help not only defend US labor but bring world labor together in it's common struggles.