Director: Julia Reichert

American Factory

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

8:46

From Dave: Normally I wouldn't show you something so unrefined, I hope you understand.

Union Maids

Three women labor activists in America tell their stories of organizing in the 1930s.

The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant

The inside story of the last days of a General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, as lived by the people who worked the line.

9to5: The Story of a Movement

In the early 1970s, a group of secretaries in Boston decided that they had suffered in silence long enough. They started fighting back, creating a movement to force changes in their workplaces. This movement became national, and is a largely forgotten story of U.S. twentieth century history. It encapsulates a unique intersection of the women’s movement with the labor movement. The awareness these secretaries brought to bear on women’s work reverberates even today. Clericals were the low-wage workers of their era. America now confronts the growing reality of deep income inequality. The stories and strategies of these bold, creative women resonates in contemporary America.