Summary
A promotional video aimed at garnering support for the amalgamation of a collection of individual unions into one large union called the CFMEU. These individual unions include the FEDFA, the BWIU, the OPPWFA, the UMFA, and the ATAIU.
The film opens with historical footage and stills of various workers doing their jobs, with the voice over underscoring the importance of unions in winning decent wages and conditions. A cavalcade of strikes and struggles dating back to the 1890s is then presented in which the endless cycle of economic boom and bust is paid for by workers while the employers enrich themselves. Some more recent and notable examples presented are the junk bond takeover exploits in the 1980s and the Robe River dispute in which 400 workers lost their jobs. The film outlines the structure and autonomous nature of the proposed amalgamated union and how a large unified union can better protect members, offer them better support and exert more pressure on government. The film highlights the importance of strength and unity and illustrates how the fractured nature of unions in the UK, US, Japan and New Zealand has seen them crushed.
The film consists of a voice over and a large amount of archive borrowed from the Waterside Workers Film Unit.
Special Notes/Achievements
Individual credits not listed, only group production team consisting of 16 people.
Author: J Bird, 2023