'A reminder of why we have unions': Matewan writer and director on the film’s lessons for the labor movement
John Sayles’s 1987 film, which dramatizes a 1920 labor conflict, shows how class solidarity can overcome prejudice
TL;DR
- John Sayles's 1987 film 'Matewan' dramatizes a 1920 labor conflict involving coal miners in West Virginia.
- The film shows how Black and Italian-immigrant miners overcame racial and ethnic prejudices to unite against the coal company.
- A violent clash on May 19, 1920, resulted in significant casualties on both sides.
- Sayles made the film to remind people of the importance of unions and collective action.
- Despite initial failures, union organizing was eventually strengthened by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
- Modern challenges to unionizing include employers moving workplaces abroad and restrictive laws like the Taft Hartley Act.
- Sayles emphasizes that collective action and overcoming divisions are crucial for achieving change.