Harlan County, U.S.A.: Solidarity at Brookside

• by Rahul Chadha, March 19, 2011

The programming of Harlan County, U.S.A. seems a bit prescient in retrospect, given the union protests in Wisconsin and several other states over the past few months. Viewing it in that context, the film reminds us that the struggle of organized labor is one that’s been happening in the U.S. for a long time, and seems to reinvigorate itself in cycles lasting a few decades. Regardless of your feelings on the power and political role of unions, it’s hard not to feel a sense of awe when watching the mothers and wives of mine workers facing off against a group of armed strikebreakers. In a political landscape where the gravest confrontations occur in comments posted anonymously on the Internet, the film is a needed reminder that standing by your convictions is easy when a gun is not pointed in your face. Following the screening, STF Artistic Director Thom Powers spoke with Director Barbara Kopple and labor expert Jeffrey Grabelsky. Click “Read more” below for the Q&A.

(Photo: from left, Barbara Kopple and Jeffrey Grabelsky, courtesy of Cathryne Czubek)

Barbara Kopple: First I would like Jeff, who is so knowledgeable about what is happening in unions today, to tell us something about yourself and your background and where the labor movement is going.

Jeffrey Grabelsky: My name is Jeff Grabelsky. I’m a union electrician by trade and a labor educator by profession and a radical trade unionist by conviction. I work at Cornell University and direct a program there that provides training, education and research and technical assistance to union leaders all across America. What I felt through the film is how timeless the recurring question of “Which side are you on?” is. And the irrepressible spirit of workers to stand up and fight back against oppression, which is also timeless. The workers who were struggling for union recognition in this fight were exercising a right that private sector workers won in the 1930s during the New Deal, which bestowed upon private sector workers the legal right to organize and engage in collective bargaining. The law that provided for that right, the National Labor Relations Act, says in its preamble that the reason why we should promote the practice of collective bargaining as policy—and that’s what it says, not that the government should remain neutral on this question—was that there was a recognition at the time, in 1935, in the middle of the Depression that employers were very well organized and workers were not. And as a consequence to that disparity in collective bargaining meant that wages were depressed because workers didn’t have the power of organization.

What those strikers were fighting for were not just the rights of those workers, but rights for workers throughout the economy to engage in a process that’s essential to a functioning economy and essential to a democratic society. When you look at what happened after 1935, literally millions of workers organized, the percentage of the workforce that was unionized in the 1930s was about 10%. Through the 1930s and the second World War millions of workers organized, the level of unionization rose from about 10% to about 35%, which meant that one in three workers in the economy enjoyed the direct benefits of union representation and collective bargaining. As the level of unionization rose, it meant that non-union employers were impelled to raise their wages for two essential reasons. One, to prevent workers from unionizing. And two, to attract and retain workers who would go to a unionized company if they didn’t unionize. What happened in the 70s is that the level of unionization began to level off, employers began to resist workers’ efforts to organize. And as the level of unionization began to decline, workers wages began to stagnate. Since the time of this strike, working Americans have essentially had a flat line when it came to their standard of living. The thing to keep in mind is in the 1930s, the right to organize was delivered to workers only in the private sector. It wasn’t until the 1960s when public sector workers won the right to organize. And what we’ve experienced from the 1960s, 70s to today is a significant rise in the level of public sector unions—about 30%-35% of public sector workers are unionized—but a continuing decline of unionization in the private sector—it’s below 7% today. There’s no way to really understand what’s happened in Madison, what’s happening across the country without considering the development of private sector versus public sector unionism. It’s really interesting that this strike takes place at a critical moment in the transition in the U.S. labor movement.

Kopple: I’m very curious about what the future of unionism is. I know for a long time people weren’t thinking about it in the passionate ways that people were in the 70s. I’m wondering if now that people are being attacked, that people are rising up, waking up and we’re going to have a really strong union movement again.

Grabelsky: A prominent academic, who was addressing a group of economists, and addressing this very question of what’s the future of the U.S. labor movement. He said, “The past ten years have seen changes of amazing magnitude in the organization of American economic society. One change to which I refer is the lessening importance of trade unionism. No one who carefully follows the fortunes of unions can doubt the relative decline of the power of American trade unionism. Many writers have counseled the leaders of American trade union movement to abandon their present forms of organization. There are no indications that anything of this kind will happen in the near future. It is hazardous to prophesy, but I see no reason to believe that American trade unionism will so revolutionize itself within a short period of time as to become in the next decade a more potent social influence than it has been in the past decade.”

These words were uttered in 1932 by a prominent economist shortly before tens of millions of workers were organized. I sort of have the same answer for you in terms of what is the future of the American labor movement. It’s always dangerous to predict. But I don’t think that anyone would have predicted the enormous response on the part of working people in Wisconsin. The response brings to mind this irrepressible spirit that you see in this film of workers who at some core level that there are fundamental rights worth fighting for. I’m an optimist by nature, but I think the response in Wisconsin indicates that workers on some fundamental level understand that they’re getting the raw end of the deal and the only way, as [United Mine Workers President] John Lewis says in this film, without organization, you have no power. Working people in this country increasingly believe and recognize that they’re living with more insecurity and less justice, and the only way to rectify that problem is through organization.

Kopple: Do you think it’s something greater than just breaking the union? Is it something the Republicans are doing to undercut the power of the Democratic party, because unions usually support the Democrats?

Grabelsky: There’s clearly a political element to the attack on the public sector unions. Today there are more workers unionized in the public sector than in the private sector. There are five times as many jobs in the private sector as in the public sector. American capital has been extremely effective in limiting the power and reach of unions in the private sector. The only remaining source of strength in the labor movement is public sector unions. Very clearly, going back maybe 10 years, public sector unions have been in the crosshairs. The only countervailing force to corporate power that has any meaningful resources or capacity is the labor movement, and the core strength there is public sector unions. It’s clear that if [Wisconsin Governor] Scott Walker and other Republicans can be successful in crushing public sector unions, than there’s no longer any countervailing force to corporate power. I don’t think it’s just about that. It’s also about the financial benefit that’s derived by companies when they don’t have a countervailing force at the bargaining table. This is both about money and power.

Kopple: As I look back on this film, and I haven’t seen it in a long time, I just thought about how this shaped me as a person. I was so lucky and so honored and fortunate to live through this period of time and be trusted and brought into this community by these workers. It was phenomenal, and also to see that these workers were willing to give up their lives for what they believed in. That, at a young age for me, just stayed with me and made me realize that I was going to take risks and do things in my life. If I needed to look back I’d look back at this film and see who my mentors were. It was a very important moment for me in my life. Since then I’ve done a lot of other union films as well as other films, but that core and passion, and those people willing to speak out for what they believed in are thing things that carried me through my life.

STF: Barbara what was it that drew you to the subject matter in the first place?

Kopple: I was listening on the radio, I think NPR or WBAI, and I was a wild one, wanting to go out and do something and change lives if I could. I heard that [United Mine Workers Union leader Joseph] Yablonski and his wife and daughter had been killed and there was a whole upheaval within the United Mine Workers known as Mine Workers for Democracy. I borrowed $12,000 and off I went. I came back and forth just to raise money. I hit off everyone I knew for birthday presents, Christmas presents, just to keep going.

Audience: A couple questions. Were you scared during the shooting? And also, when did you actually start filming? Some of the footage looked like press conferences.

Kopple: I started filming in 1972-73, and I ended in 1976. I got all of the Yablonski material from going through the coal fields and looking through archives and basements. I went off with boxes and boxes of material that I was able to use to tell the Yablonski story. Was I scared? Sometimes I was scared. Sometimes I was very feisty. When everybody had the guns that day I was very scared. I could feel juices in my mouth knowing these organizers that I looked up to were scared too, that made it a little more terrifying. What made it beautiful was the women, and their strength and how they just cut through everything by singing “We Shall Not Be Moved.” They had no fear whatsoever. There were times I was scared, but most of the time I wasn’t. I learned how to shoot guns, .357 Magnums. We lived with miners and were in their homes at night. We put mattresses on the floor because they’d shoot up the homes.

Audience: What do you envision your next passion project to be?

Kopple: I don’t know about passion and love, but Friday I’m leaving for southern Sudan and filming with Ellen Ratner—her brothers are Bruce and Michael Ratner. We’re going to be camped out. The astounding part of all this is that this women is freeing slaves, she is teaching people with polio how to breathe, she is bringing wealthy people there to build schools and basketball courts. We’re also doing quite a few other films as well.

STF: For people who are interested in staying on top of what’s going on, what are sources you would point them to?

Grabelsky: There are a few places in alternative media that cover labor struggles, like The Nation and In These Times. I think the problem is that we don’t have enough of an opportunity to follow really closely what is actually happening on the ground. Looking at some of that alternative media is helpful, but what we really need are some more films, and other cultural workers who can help construct a different narrative. Part of the problem is that you look at what’s going on in this film and think, yeah those miners really needed unions but things have changed and we don’t really need them anymore. That’s kind of the narrative, but there’s still lots and lots of workers who don’t enjoy the benefits of union representation. When we see workers who are trying to organize, provide whatever support you can. I think its important for people to both be well-informed about these struggles and provide whatever support you can.

[Q&A has been edited for length and clarity]

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