Series: AFL-CIO General Union Films

1968: Labor's Year of Challenge
Note: An AFL-CIO COPE film.

1970: The Big One
Note: A film produced for the Committee on Political Education (COPE) stressing the importance of voting in Congressional elections. Film features Al Barkan and George Meany. Meany talks about what it takes to have a successful election; he mentions the COPE voter registration drives, encourages members to donate to COPE, and to vote on election day.

AFL-CIO Endorses Mondale, circa 1983
Note: Footage of the AFL-CIO convention where Walter Mondale is endorsed. Also includes footage of Mondale talking to people and answering their questions about the economy, the need for more jobs, housing concerns, and concerns of union-busting.

A Conversation at the White House, 1968
Note: AFL-CIO leader George Meany and President Lyndon Johnson in a 1967 discussion at the White House. Topics include: labor issues, educational programs, health care, urban renewal, and foreign policy towards Vietnam.

A Personal Commitment, 1970
Note: Film details the step-by-step procedure for conducting an effective voter registration campaign.

A Political Message, 1971
Note: An AFL-CIO COPE film produced by Maurer, Fleisher, Zon & Associates. Film critiques Nixon for not keeping his promises and failing working people; discusses how unemployment rates and violent crime rates increased during his administration. Film encourages viewers to vote against Nixon in the 1972 election.

A Time of Challenge, 1981
Note: This film was made for the centennial of the AFL-CIO in 1981. It contained a history of the unions, including many early events and leaders.

Controlling Interest

COPE: Good Work for Democracy
Note: An AFL-CIO COPE film; created and directed by James D. Rogers; narrated by Ned Beatty; and produced by Maurer, Fleisher, Zon & Associates. Film discusses who COPE is, how it came to be, how it operates, and what it hopes to accomplish.

Deadline for Action

Democracy on Display, 1960
Note: This film documents the Union Industry Show, held in Cleveland, Ohio in 1960. The Show includes manufacturers of food, appliances for the home and industry as well as the products of tradesmen and craftsmen.

Each for All, 1959

Farm Workers Demonstration
Note: Shots of picketers in front of the Biltmore Hotel.

Fight for My Union? Damn Right I Would!, 1978
Note: The intensified campaign of corporate and right-wing forces to break unions and elect anti-labor candidates is described in this film. The rise of corporate political action committees and the implications of the Supreme Court decision permitting the use of corporate treasury funds for political purposes are spelled out. The film outlines ways that union members can organize to fight against these destructive forces.

George McGovern biography

History of IATSE, circa 1956

How to Get a Job, Parts 1-2, 1979
Note: From WNET New York, Ford Foundation, Bill Moyers introduction, Series: Bill Moyers Journal. A group of people in a class learn how to get a job.

Hubert H. Humphrey, 1977
Note: Labor film with excerpts of Hubert Humphrey's last speech before a union audience at the Minnesota AFL-CIO Convention on September 19, 1977. The Humphrey-Hawkins Bill is featured in the speech.

Ill Winds
Note: From the UFCW Department of Education. A Report by the Committee on Public Works, the United States Senate, 89th Congress 2nd? Session (1965-1967); congressional committee meeting about air pollution.

Jimmy Carter Speaks to Labor, 1976
Note: Labor film of speeches by George Meany and Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter addressing workers' issues before the AFL-CIO General Board meeting in Washington D.C. on August 31, 1976 to plan strategy for Carter's election.

John F. Kennedy's Last Words to Labor, 1963

Meany Statement on Repeal of Section 14(b), 1966 January
Note: Statement by AFL-CIO President George Meany on the repeal of Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act. Meany expresses strong opposition to Section 14(b) and believes it should be repealed. Two versions spliced together: one version is about 1 minute; the other version is about 3 minutes.

Milestone in Unity: 30th Convention of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, 1966

Nixon: Broken Promises, 1972
Note: COPE film discussing Nixon's failure to keep his campaign promises.

First copy

Second copy

People and Politics, 1962
Note: President George Meany as narrator; film discusses early labor efforts; the Depression; 1932; FDR; Social Security; Taft-Hartley Act; Truman election; right to work laws; Landrum-Griffin; The People's Lobby; registration and voting (old methods, before computers); COPE activities; phone bank; and President Kennedy. Film stresses the importance of voting.

Politics of, by and for the People, circa 1960
Note: Film covers several subjects including: politics and rigged tax returns; legal loopholes; capital gains; depreciation allowances; stock option gimmicks; and concludes that individuals must turn to political action to elect legislators to change tax laws.

Poverty in the Land of Plenty
Note: Dramatization of a strike at the DiGiorgio Farms in the San Joaquin Valley of California. AFL produced film is an exposé of unfair farm labor practices. Farm laborers have no rights to unemployment compensation, old age, and health benefits. Film shows dramatization of workers beginning to organize.

Precincts, People and Power: The Arithmetic of Politics 1966, 1966
Note: Film stresses the importance of voting in Congressional elections. It discusses the progress made after the 1964 election but cautions against voter apathy in non-presidential elections. It also cautions about extremist groups like the KKK and John Birch Society. Film encourages viewers to be politically involved in activities such as voter registration/get out the vote drives; to volunteer in political campaigns; to donate to COPE; and to vote on election day.

Presidential Elections 1913-1940s, circa 1948
Note: Film discusses the policies of presidents who served between 1913 and 1940. The film portrays the successes of Democratic administrations and the hardships the nation faced under Herbert Hoover. Film includes election speeches and inaugural footage of Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Governor Thomas Dewey.

Right Wing Machine, 1978
Note: Labor film informing union members of the threat from right wing organization and their mouthpieces in Congress. Richard Viguerie, Joseph Coors, Ronald Reagan, and others are singled out for their roles.

So You Work in New York, 1950
Note: Explanation of the law in New York for workmen's compensation and disability compensation.

Support Stronger Social Security, 1966
Note: Speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson urging people to support recommended legislation increasing and broadening social security benefits. George Meany introduces and concludes film.

The Advocates: “Philadelphia Plan,” circa 1970s
Note: An episode from The Advocates, a television show which presented debates on social issues. In this episode the Philadelphia Plan is discussed; the plan was intended to increase the number of minorities employed in construction jobs. This episode is moderated by Michael Dukakis. Leonard Davies, guest advocate, argues in favor of expanding the Philadelphia Plan to all federal and federally-assisted construction projects. Davies is joined by James Jones (UW Law Professor) and Herbert Hill (from the NAACP). Howard Miller argues against expanding the plan; he is joined by Donald Clement, Director of the Office of Civil Rights (AFL-CIO), and Bayard Rustin, civil rights leader and Director of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute.

The Awesome Servant, 1961
Note: A film aired on ABC as part of an unidentified series about the impact of automation on meatpacking and automobile industries. Shows Cudahy plant in Omaha, unemployment problems in Detroit, IBM plant and CEO Watson, and members of International Office Workers. Arthur Goldberg and Walter Reuther are interviewed.

The Best Is Yet to Be

The Endless Harvest

The Inheritance (long version), 1964
Note: Describes the history of the labor and civil rights movements in the first half of the twentieth century. Topics addressed include: immigration from Europe, working conditions for children, labor strikes in the 1910s, World War I, the rise of the KKK and the anti-communist Palmer Raid, social reforms of the 1920s, the Great Depression, veterans' protests in Washington, D.C., the rise of the CIO, the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, World War II, and the civil rights protests.

The Phony Issue, the Real Issue, and You, 1976
Note: Labor film discussing the phony issue of big government, the real issues facing working Americans, and the role of local committees on political education in mobilizing voters.

The Willmar Eight

This Union Cause

Victims of Veto, 1974
Note: Labor film demonstrating how President Nixon has hurt the American people by using the executive veto and the need to elect a veto proof Congress. George Meany asks union members to work hard and contribute to COPE toward this goal.

We Come to Bat, circa 1970
Note: An AFL-CIO COPE film. Film discusses the state of the economy and job markets in the United States, and encourages viewers to elect politicians that AFL-CIO, Committee on Political Education (COPE) supports.

We Didn't Want It to Happen This Way

We're On Our Way, 1982
Note: The film discusses different sources of energy including coal, nuclear, oil, and natural gas, and increased energy demands. A family is seen using different types of energy at home and at work; and the parents take their daughter to a museum to learn about different energy sources and talk about electrical cars in the future.

We the People, 196?
Note: Labor film affirming the unions' position opposing right to work laws and guarding the workers' right to unite.

When Wallace Got the Vote, circa 1972
Note

An AFL-CIO COPE film.

Discusses the impact of George Wallace's candidacy on the 1968 presidential election, and urges voters not to support Wallace's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. States that Wallace's policies are not favorable to organized labor, and that voting for Wallace will result in Richard Nixon's re-election.

With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade, 1978
Note: Film combines archival footage and interviews with participants to trace the role of women in the formation of the United Auto Workers and their involvement in the General Motors Sit-Down strike in 1936-1937.