When workers at the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota are asked to take a substantial pay cut in a highly profitable year, the local labor union decides to go on strike and fight for a wage they believe is fair. But as the work stoppage drags on and the strikers face losing everything, friends become enemies, families are divided and the very future of this typical mid American town is threatened.
Direction
Kopple embedded for years — every scream is earned.
Editing
Chaos cut with surgical precision, no narrator needed.
Director
Barbara Kopple
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kopple's crew was physically attacked during filming; their footage of the assault became evidence in court.
This remains the definitive document of Reagan-era union-busting, released months before the Soviet collapse made 'workers' rights' feel almost quaint.
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