heterochromia

Last week a coworker loaned me a DVD of a documentary called Harlan County, USA. I was just a kid when it came out in 1976. I'd heard of it but didn't know much about it.

It floored me.

I grew up in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania and I come from a long line of coal miners, steel mill workers, foundry workers and factory workers - hard-working, tough people. I learned about the history of the labor movement in elementary school. (Yes, they taught us about mineworkers' strikes and the struggles of mining families in public school. Imagine that happening in schools today!) But nothing brought it all home for me like this film did. The bituminous coal miners of Harlan County, Kentucky, voted to join the United Mine Workers in 1972 but Duke Power and its subsidiaries refused to negotiate a contract so the miners went on strike. These people were so poor they didn't have indoor plumbing, yet they toughed it out for thirteen long months. When the coal company brought an injunction against the strikers, allowing them to have only six picketers at the entrance to the mine, their wives got involved in a big way. These women laid down in the road to stop scabs from crossing the picket line. They stood up to machine-gun wielding company thugs. They went to jail. They persevered.

I want my fellow union officers to see this film, and I want my entire chapter membership to see it, too. We recently spent eight months negotiating a new contract. Periodically I had members come to me, worried that we'd have to go on strike. "I can't afford to miss a day of work!" "I can't leave my job for a day; the work will pile up!" These people, who I respect for their dedication and devotion to their jobs and their clients, were worried about losing a single day's pay. I honestly don't know what they would've done if the union had called a strike.

When we ratified our new contract, I wanted to tell them about the blood that was shed and the lives that were lost in the past. People were willing to give up their lives in order to win the rights and benefits we take for granted today. It's something our field rep knows but doesn't talk about. She's concerned with the next step, the next election, the next rally at the state capitol. Yes, that's important, but how can our members understand all this if they don't know how we got here in the first place? Harlan County, USA puts it all in perspective: you have to be willing to put everything on the line and fight for what's important.

Tonight I invited another shop steward to come to my place and watch the film with me. He was moved by it and agrees that our entire union board needs to see it. I hope I can convince them to have a potluck and movie night at someone's house. (I'd volunteer my house but I have a tiny 13" TV!)

If you're a union member, find a copy of Harlan County, USA and see what your fellow union members did on your behalf thirty years ago. If you're not a union member (and sadly, 89% of American workers aren't) watch it and see how hard your fellow Americans fought for the rights we all now enjoy as routine. We can never, ever, EVER take those rights for granted.

And like Hazel Dickens sang as the closing credits rolled, you'll never shoot the union out of me.