American Standoff

Barbara Kopple, the woman behind the incomparable Harlan County U.S.A., produced this equally impressive documentary about the American labour movement. Focusing on the struggle between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the corporate bean counters at Overnite Transportation (and their parent company, Union Pacific), the film also features the battle between the overly slick James P. Hoffa and the reforming forces of Ron Carey as a backdrop. It'll be a stony hearted viewer who doesn't come away from American Standoff without a slightly revised opinion of Hoffa and his father, who are presented in a somewhat favourable but not entirely uncritical light, but the real heroes are of course the stalwart employees who, to this day, are manning the picket lines in front of Overnite terminals across the country. This is a tremendously moving film that should make all shipping managers check to make sure they're only dealing with union freight lines.

This documentary deals with the Overnite trucking strike, it's very well put together, although a bit lopsided in time given to the Teamsters (this is probably more because of access than any idealogical bias IMHO.) What it doesn't do, like so many other "documentaries", is steer the viewer into any one direction, it shows the good, the bad, and the ugly on all sides of the issue. It's particularly interesting to see the self serving side of the Teamsters representation, they'll promise anything to the rank and file, but will only come through if it's politically advantageous to them. If you can view this documentary without any pre-conceived notions, it's an excellent window into the politics of strikes and unions. The conclusion I came to, is that the workers are used as pawns by both management and the Teamsters, and in the end, the workers are the ones who pay the harshest price. It's a very good documentary, which presents footage of the events as they're unfolding, and leaves the conclusions up to the viewer and open to discussion.