Watch the movie’s trailer here.

Did you learn much about the Labor Movement in the United States when you were in school? In public school, you learn very little.  Working class people – real working class, like farm laborers, hospitality cleaning crews, dollar store and fast food workers, etc – didn’t always have rights to safe working conditions, largely because there were no unions.  The 1960s saw the rise of the labor movement among a vastly different demographic than the initial movement in the 1920s and 1940s that brought unionization and protections to many trades but not all.  

So for example, nurses and teachers were unionized early, but these professions did not gain real recognition and the right to strike until the 1960s and 70s.  Teachers were able to get better working conditions in the early 1910s, but the people who worked in janitorial positions and others did not become unionized until the 1990s.  This history is very convoluted and was not straightforward, but it built the society we have today.  The resurging labor movement of the 1960s was also different from but also very similar to the one taking place today.  Amazon workers, Dollar General employees – companies that haven’t traditionally ‘allowed’ unionization due in part to illegal union busting activities – are finally catching up to the understanding of the value that unions bring.  Ask any police officer or ambulance worker why unions are important, and they can give you many good reasons.  Protection if injured and doing everything possible to protect against injuries that are preventable are just a couple of reasons why unions have transformed the modern workplace.  Better pay, the ability to bargain with the employer on an equal footing, and pushing for safety in working conditions are all reasons why unions are so important. 

As many Staten Islanders who work for the City of New York already understand, unions make a better work environment.  From fair pay and paid sick time to health insurance for themselves and their families, unions bring a lot of good to employees that have them.  But unions don’t just make work better for their members.  It gives private companies something to strive for, since they can easily lose their most qualified employees to union jobs if there is a big incentive that is not matched at the small business level.   

Gone – and unfortunately nearly forgotten – are the days when factory workers were booted out of their jobs if they lost a hand or other limb, with no legal recourse against their employer for the loss or even to ensure it is prevented in the future.  Those changes were brought about in the 1920s, and later included Disney and other animation studios, where safety wasn’t as much an issue, in them as well.  The Disney saga continues to this day, with the first union contract, with production managers and other positions that were named as managerial but had no independent autonomy or authority, signed in 2025 after a 2023 decision by the National Labor Relations Board to allow them.  The legacy at Disney has been to be anti-union, though they have reluctancy been forced to accept that many of their employees belong to larger outside unions such as the Animators Guild.  These unions fight for them to get paid better wages that match their contributions to the multi-billion dollar empire for which they are the backbone more closely.  It makes sure that they are not being worked excessively hard and that if they do have overtime, they are compensated fairly for it.  

There was a time not so long ago when children whose parents were poor or who had died or abandoned them were essentially taken in by factory owners, sometimes with their parents.  They were given lodging and food but little or no wages ($2 per week maximum with many employers taking even these meager wages for ‘room and board’), and were put to work in the factories. This was legal at the time, but constituted another form of slavery.  When a child thus employed became injured or dismembered, which often happened while operating their very dangerous machines after fourteen hours of constant work where they fell asleep while working at a very dangerous machine, they had no recourse. There were no safety laws or regulations, no hour and break requirements for kids or adults.  They would often work twelve hour days, being treated like machines.  

This film focuses on the modern labor movement; following the life of one of the major organizers of the 1960s: Fred Ross. He basically created what we see today as modern organizing.  One of the keys to his success that is stressed again and again was his ability to talk one on one to the members of whatever community he was assisting.  Maybe it would be Mexican and migrant farm workers, who finally obtained safer working conditions and wages through the grape strike and boycott. 

Again and again we see examples of the bosses taking advantage of the workers, making them labor in dangerous conditions or for excessive hours at a stretch.  The workers would then organize to make change in their communities.  This was also done in a semi official capacity.  Fred Ross worked for the federal government, and he was assigned to certain places to make sure the conditions were acceptable for the workers. Many times they would organize to vote for a candidate that was sympathetic to the cause of the working person.  At the time, many believed that Nancy Pelosi would represent their interests, and were able to oust a long-standing politician in favor of Pelosi, who later became the House Speaker and was a long-time congressperson.  

He was a true social justice crusader, but an extremely effective and reasonable one.  He always fought for the rights that people already have, there was nothing made up, nothing new or inaccurate.  Workers, regardless of the stigmas that they face, have the right to be safe on their jobs.  This is a simple human right, which for some reason was neglected in the original Constitution – probably because when indentured servants and slaves arrived, they had no right to safety.  They, in particular, possibly because of the colonies’ origin with British people as part of the British Crown, had no rights whatsoever and were completely expendable.  There was no “Bill of Rights” in England until 1688, after the colonies had been established but before the Revolution, however there was no freedom of speech or expression except for Parliament members.  And the subjects who were Protestant could bear arms, but no one else, and only as allowed by other laws.   Everything else was at the pleasure of the King or Queen, and people had no rights to land or property, even as they still do not in many states across the country.

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There are states, like Georgia, where a person who has not paid their rent for five days past the first of the month will be notified and taken to court, then after the court order, they will come home to the sheriff waiting for them.  They are given a few minutes to collect their belongings and are escorted out.  They have been evicted.  Similar things happen in New Jersey for those tenants whose landlord has not paid the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to have their property inspected and insured and able to be rented.  If this is not the case and a neighbor reports that there are tenants living in a house, the fire department will come and inspect the property.  If it is determined that people are renting there, they are all summarily evicted immediately, and can sometimes but not always collect their belongings later.

For those of us in New York, such a reality is horrifying, and does not belong to us.  Certainly because someone organized for it, the state of New York is very tenant-friendly.  In some instances, such as with the thirty day residency eviction legal process requirement (which was just changed thanks to the Senate and Assembly), a person who had broken into someone’s home and lived there for more than thirty days, without ever paying rent, became legally a tenant.  That meant the landlord had to pay for a lawyer and go through the three to twelve month legal process of eviction, at great personal cost.  However, the law still protects those who can prove that they have paid rent on time, and if they have and the landlord wants to evict them, they must go through the legal process.  A tenant can even avail themselves of a lawyer free of charge if they qualify based on their income.  The big downfall of the process, though, is that it is publicly findable, and it may follow someone who continues to be a renter, making it more challenging to find a new apartment.  They become known as a problem tenant by future landlords who use services to pre-screen applicants.

This movie follows a critical moment in American history that none of us really know much about, especially if you were educated in public school.  We didn’t really learn about what labor and work conditions were like before the labor movement.  Many people lost their livelihoods and even their lives in the struggle for workers’ rights.  Factories were places where many didn’t survive, and that was neither fair nor acceptable.  The factory owners often made huge profits by trampling on the rights of their employees, especially children.  When someone finally came along and inspired the people to fight for themselves, it was due to happen.  Finally, people were inspired to fight against forces that had loomed so large but could now be seen to be surmountable.

This film also describes yet another dark moment in history: the wholesale internment of any and all Japanese Americans.  The conditions in these tent cities were atrocious, and most people who underwent such internment do not speak of it today.  Hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans, including citizens and immigrants, people who were born in America as well as those who were not, were told to leave everything behind except what they could carry and report to their imprisonment.  They complied, but this was wrong.  It was based on an executive order, and was pushed along by racism and bigotry.  It was based completely on race and already existing anti-Asian bias in the American populace.   The conditions were not good, and Fred Ross, Sr. fought to have them released as well.

Finally the war ended and the internment camps were closed with the people sent home.  But how much suffering happened because of this event?  American citizens who had never even visited Japan were swept up in this, quite unfairly.  But again, this is mentioned as a sentence in history class.  And an even better question would by: why the Japanese?  Yes, they bombed Pearl Harbor and brought the US into the war, but the Germans were also at war with us.  Not only that, but quite unlike the Japanese, the Germans actively tried to encourage and recruit Nazis in the US.  A  very interesting book, Gangsters vs. Nazis, explores this moment in history.  Considering that, why were the Germans not sent to internment camps as being suspected of plotting against the US?  There was far more evidence that they were doing so than that the Japanese were.  Not a little evidence, either, but clubs all across the United States, in literally every city including New York City and Chicago.  Americans seemed to be going for it, building a little Nazi empire here, too.

The film weaves together the past struggle for workers rights and the continuing struggle.  This includes the Fight For $15 minimum wage campaign, where New York City is well ahead of the game on that one, too.  Unionization of companies that have never been pushed to unionize before, such as Starbucks and Amazon, is also covered in this film.  Inspiring the next generation of activists and agitators, people who can think bigger, and who can empathize with the plight of someone other than themselves, is really carried through in the stories and the lives of those who continue to fight.

It was all reminescent of some quotes I can share, from several movies:

“Never Give Up, Never Surrender!” Captain in Galaxy Quest played by Tim Allen

“Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.  The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.” the Princess Diaries, advice from her dad

“Have courage, and be kind.” Cinderella 2015 

This film is highly recommended as a must-see movie, and I would give it five stars:

About the movie:

**CineQuest Film Festival | Best Documentary Winner**

**Poppy Jasper International Film Festival | Best Documentary Winner**

**32^nd LatinoFilm Official Selection**

Directed & Produced by Raymond Telles

Executive Produced by John Heffernan & Margo Feinberg

Narrated by Luis Valdez

Featuring Fred Ross Jr., Nancy Pelosi, Robert F. Kennedy, Jessica Govea, Mario Yedidia, Keshia Brown, Tara Thompson, Gustavo Aguirre Jr., Cesar Aguirre, Francisco Gonzalez, Anabel Marquez, Kampala Taiz Rancifer, Catherine Cortez Masto, D. Taylor, and Taiwanna Denise Milligan

American Agitators shows how pioneering organizer Fred Ross Sr. spent decades mobilizing communities to challenge segregation, fight for voting rights, and empower labor movements. Over the course of his career, he mentored generations of organizers, including Dolores Huerta, a key figure who helped build the United Farm Workers of America. His early organizing efforts also helped lay the groundwork for the landmark desegregation case Mendez v. Westminster, which preceded the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.

Bridging past and present, the film follows organizers across the country who continue Ross’s work, from the Fight for $15 movement in Atlanta to education justice campaigns in Oakland. As communities confront deepening division and inequality, American Agitators illustrates how collective action can combat racism, bigotry, and injustice, offering a roadmap to inspire a new generation to organize for lasting change

During Japanese internment. Image Credit – American Agitators

In addition to being a film, the intention is to inspire organizers across the countryto organize their own communities and fight for what they believe in.  What are people in the local community interested in?  Here on Staten Island, Amazon workers are fighting for a union election, New York midwives want a birth center that works for their local residents who want a midwife-led birth center and the legal use of midwives who are certified under apprenticeship instead of master’s level education, dollar store employees fight for safer working conditions, and still others are requesting legislation aimed at lowering car insurance rates by cutting off the criminal rings making fake accidents and raising rates for everyone.  These are just a few of the issues facing New York’s local neighborhoods.  Other states and localities will have different issues that they are tackling, like the fight for the rights of the homeless in states persecuting and regulating churches that want to feed or clothe the homeless.  Learning how to organize and being inspired to do so are super critical to actual success in getting the people’s demands met.   From the Resources section of the website for the film:

AMERICAN AGITATORS is more than a documentary, it is a movement to inspire any and everyone to be an organizer in their community.

Key to the organizing lessons in the film is Axioms for Organizers, a concise and inspired treasure trove of tips for people committed to building organizations and movements for social justice.

The pocket-size book offers a portrait of Ross, Sr. and Jr, both influential grassroots organizers, and spells out their philosophy and guiding principles for organizers.

The essential Axioms for Organizers has been updated with Lessons from Fred Ross Jr. and are available for you and your organization along with a recommended donation of $4 per booklet to the American Agitators impact campaign with a 5 booklet mininum per order. You can make a donation HERE.  The ebook can also be purchased on Amazon

From the Amazon listing for the Axioms book:

 In Fred Ross Sr. style, axioms are succinct and compelling.

The duty of the organizer is to provide people with the opportunity to work for what they believe in.

If you think you can do it for people, you’ve stopped understanding what it means to be an organizer.

To inspire hope, you must have hope.

To win the hearts and minds of people, forget the dry facts and statistics; tell them the stories that won you to the cause.

Image Credit- American Agitators

Banner Image: Film poster.  Image Credit – American Agitators