While the ongoing writers’ strike is undeniably a source of concern for a variety of reasons (absence and delays of our favorite shows; overworked overworked people), it’s ultimately a hopeful look at something that works — unions.
The WGA rightly feels that film and television studios will adopt predictive AI technology that generates words in order to compose or edit scripts, leaving many writers stranded. Fortunately, rather than wait intimidatingly for the inevitable collapse of their human profession, the writers had a union to turn to, and staged a debilitating strike that created negotiating leverage with well-paid executives and producers.
This is the power of teamwork, literally ‘unified’ into a union. Without it, corporations and government can legitimately do whatever they like with the working class. If it were not for the unions, there would be no weekends; child labor will still exist; There will be no safety measures or breaks; There will be no minimum wage. Unions are the powerhouse of the working class, which is why many companies, like Starbucks, spend millions upon millions of dollars to keep them from coming up.
Upcoming documentary amriconed is a passionate, damning, but educational look at workers’ struggles to resist union busting and income inequality. The film specifically focuses on Chris Smalls, a former associate manager at Amazon who protested the dangerous conditions of Amazon during COVID-19 and was promptly fired. It’s a very relevant reflection on what true citizenship looks like, and the film will inspire more people like it to rise up and fight for their worth. You can check summary amriconed Below with an exclusive clip showing Smalls’ efforts.
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summary for amriconed (which opens theatrically in major cities on June 9 with a VOD release on June 13). It spreads as follows:
Although productivity has increased in recent decades, the American worker’s compensation has remained stagnant. Additionally, 47% of American jobs are at significant risk of being lost to automation and artificial intelligence by the mid-2030s.
In the US, there has been an upward redistribution of more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the top 1% over the past 40 years. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have created a protection racket for the rich, and corporations are deliberately crushing unions.
In this David vs. Goliath story, Chris Smalls leads a movement to unite Amazon’s unionized workers for the first time, after the company fires Smalls for speaking up for workers’ rights. They inspire legions of workers across America, as the late Congressman John Lewis put it, to get into “good trouble.”
Amazon has been accused of intimidation, surveillance, coercion, threats, and a range of legal and illegal activities to prevent unions from organizing, according to the Economic Policy Institute and practically any journalist covering the situation, and you can learn more about it (and what workers are doing to combat it) in the new documentary.
From the award-winning Shine the Light Films amriconed It will open theatrically in New York (Cinema Village), Los Angeles (Laemmle Monica Film Center) and major cities on June 9, with a VOD release in the US and Canada to follow on major platforms on June 13. You can check out the trailer below.
