Documentary | Union (2023)
Hosted by Amsterdam Film Group
Details
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Directed by: Stephen Maing, Brett Story
Starring: Chris Smalls, Natalie Monarrez, Madeline Wesley
Runtime: 1 hour and 40 minutes
A group of current and former Amazon workers in New York City's Staten Island challenges one of the world's largest companies in a unionization battle. Released in early January in 2024 on the Sundance Festival in the United States and in The Netherlands both on IDFA 2024 and Movies That Matter Festival 2025, a must-see to everyone who has ever signed a work contract.
Unionized workers can stand up to their employers, as Amazon is well aware, so the company does everything it can to keep unions out. Documentary makers Brett Story and Stephen Maing follow the attempt by workers at a huge Amazon distribution center in New York City to set up a labor union there. This David-and-Goliath battle begins in the spring of 2021, when an employee who was fired by Amazon after he complained about unsafe Covid working conditions decides to set up the Amazon Labor Union (ALU). With a few other like-minded people, he tries to convince workers at the distribution center of the value of unionization.
Union, which often feels like a thriller, follows the activists for a year in fly-on-the-wall style. We see their enthusiasm, as well as the heated discussions about strategy and internal decision-making. Undercover footage shows how Amazon resorts to disinformation and litigation in its attempts to block the establishment of the union. Sharply illustrating the unequal relationship between labor and capital in the United States, the struggle remains suspenseful to the end.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/BLgm71L9MTY
Academy Conversation at the Oscars: https://youtu.be/xCJDkd58gS0
Review on NYT (free access): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/17/movies/union-review.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QU8.rEJp.W_qq-_i2PqG8&smid=url-share
Info & Tickets: https://www.idfa.nl/en/cinema/3ffdd58f-8cef-4d25-917b-e51fd2929f9a/union/
When: Sunday 22/06/25 at 17:30. Film starts: 18:00.
Theater: De Spiegel
Meet me inside the IDFA Pavilion!
Where: Het Documentaire Paviljoen
Vondelpark 3
1071 AA Amsterdam
I hope to see you there!