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DCLFF Opening Night: Steal This Story, Please!
The 2026 DC Labor FilmFest kicks off on May 1 with Steal This Story, Please!, a powerful new documentary about journalist Amy Goodman and her decades-long commitment to independent, fearless reporting. Directed by Oscar®-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, the film takes viewers from global conflict zones to the daily production of Democracy Now!, highlighting the voices and stories too often ignored by corporate media. Urgent, provocative, and at times unexpectedly funny, it asks a vital question: what happens to democracy when the press surrenders to power? Steal This Story, Please! opens this year’s FilmFest – tickets available now – with the full schedule to be released soon.
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THIS WEEK'S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR RADIO SHOW
The Hidden Labor Story Behind the Oscars
This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour: we announce this year’s Labor Oscar winner and take a look at the little-known backstory at how union organizing prompted Hollywood bosses to create the Academy Awards. Plus, the IWW relaunches a grassroots labor film series in Bellingham, Washington; and musician Tom Kastle brings Joe Hill’s story to life in a NYC performance this Saturday.
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LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS
AFL-CIO Responds to Chavez Abuse Allegations: The AFL-CIO is calling for a full investigation into newly reported allegations of abuse involving labor leader Cesar Chavez, first reported by The New York Times. Read more
WGA East Members Working At CBS 24/7 Hold Bicoastal Walkout: Writers Guild of America East members at CBS News 24/7 held a 24-hour bicoastal walkout in New York and San Francisco on March 17th after management failed to reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. Read more
Fort Worth Report Staff Win Election to Form Union
Staff at the Fort Worth Report announced they have overwhelmingly voted in favor of forming a union with Media Guild of the West, The NewsGuild-CWA (TNG-CWA) Local 39213. Read more
Union Effort at New York Transit Museum Heads to a Vote: Workers at the New York Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn will vote on whether to unionize on March 27after the museum refused to voluntarily recognize the effort. Read more
WHAT WE’RE READING: Cesar Falls; Harold Meyerson on “Cesar Chavez, author of the UFW's rise and fall, and his effect on Latino and California politics.”
Cesar Chavez talks to striking Salinas Valley, California, farmworkers during a rally in March 1979. Credit: Paul Sakuma/AP Photo
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LABOR LANDMARK OF THE WEEK: El Pasaje (The Passage)
Phoenix, Arizona: Authorized by the Arizona Legislature in 1994 and dedicated in 1999, El Pasaje honors the state’s workers who were injured or killed on the job. The monument features three figures representing working people and the promise of renewal through future generations; it was designed by artist Clarke Reidy. Details on the LHF Labor Landmarks Map.
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LABOR VIDEO OF THE WEEK: The Ballad of Min Matheson
Words & music by Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou, video by Saul Schniderman. Min Matheson (1909-1992) was the popular and charismatic organizer and leader of the ILGWU in northeast Pennsylvania. From Videos to celebrate Women's History Month in Friday's Labor Folklore, Saul Schniderman, editor.
Got labor video? email us at info@laborheritage.org
| | Forward the LHF newsletter to friends, family, colleagues and help us reach our goal of 10,000 readers! 👉 Subscribe free | | PICKET SIGN OF THE WEEK
Posted on St Patrick's Day by New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO: “The NYC Labor Movement stands with the workers at CBS News 24/7 participating in a 24-hour walkout to demand fair pay, respect, work/life balance, & commuter benefits from CBS/Paramount management. Fair contract now!”
Got picket sign? email us at info@laborheritage.org | | |
LABOR SONG Of The Week: Ballad of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Bev Grant, from “We Were There! Songs of Women's Labor History”
146 workers – almost all young immigrant women — were killed in a fire at New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on March 25, 1911, a disaster that would launch a national movement for safer working conditions.
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The Bread and Roses Strike and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
This week on Labor History Today: From the fiery tragedy that shocked the nation—the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire—to the powerful solidarity of the 1912 Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. We’ll also hear how a rebellious group of DJs turned a Bay Area radio station into a labor battleground in 1968, proving that the counterculture wasn’t just about rebellion—it was also about dignity, creativity, and fair pay on the job. And we visit Idaho’s Sunshine Mine Disaster Memorial, where a towering miner stands watch over 91 tombstones honoring workers lost in one of the deadliest hard-rock mining disasters in U.S. history. Reports from UUP’s The Voice podcast, Madison Labor Radio, and Labor History in 2:00.
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LABOR ART OF THE WEEK: JBS Strike Cartoon
Posted by @greenpeace.org: lawsuits, federal investigations and a strike vote. According to the EEOC, U.S. DOL findings and reporting by The Colorado Sun, JBS’s Greeley plant has faced serious allegations in recent years ‼️ #StopBigAg
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LABOR QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Mark Twain
“When all the bricklayers, and all the machinists, and all the miners, and blacksmiths, and printers, and hod-carriers, and stevedores, and house-painters, and brakemen, and engineers, and conductors, and factory hands, and horse-car drivers, and all the shop-girls, and all the sewing-women, and all the telegraph operators; in a word all the myriads of toilers in whom is slumbering the reality of that thing which you call Power...when these rise, call the vast spectacle by any deluding name that will please your ear, but the fact remains a Nation has risen.”
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TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY
1865: Michigan authorizes formation of workers’ cooperatives
1956: UE members reach agreement with Westinghouse Electric Corp., ending a 156-day strike
2020: Over 40,000 University of California employees strike for 24 hours to protest the university’s unacceptable “last, best and final offer”
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| What did the Supreme Court rule in 1991 about women and certain jobs? | | | | LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: Henry Ford on March 14, 1914 announced the new continuous motion method to assemble cars. The process decreased the time to make a car from 12½ hours to 93 minutes. Goodbye, craftsmanship. Hello, drudgery. | | |
SUPPORT LABOR ARTS!
Please CLICK HERE NOW to pledge your financial support to our 2026 program, which includes our annual Solidarity Forever Award, the Great Labor Arts Exchange, the DC Labor FilmFest and much more (check out our website for details!).
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