Film-maker decries recent efforts to demonise organised labour

TRADE UNIONISM may not be a cure for all social and economic ills but its value in improving the lives of working people should not be underestimated, according to acclaimed American independent film-maker, John Sayles.

According to Sayles, as traditional US industries shut down or moved overseas and the US moved to a service economy, fewer workers belonged to trade unions and the disparity in income and power began to revert to early 1900s levels.

“This is a bad thing for democracy, and the unions that are left have been greatly weakened by court decisions made under the supervision of both the Republican and Democratic parties and by a concerted effort to demonise the very idea of organised labour.”

Sayles was speaking prior to a visit to Waterford for a screening tonight of Matewan, his 1987 classic tale of trade union struggle in the coalmines of West Virginia, as part of the centenary celebrations of the Waterford Council of Trade Unions. “The conditions in West Virginia in 1920 were extreme – state and local governments mostly run by absentee mine owners; schools, churches and housing often built and monitored by the same owners and a polyglot relatively uneducated workforce,” he explained.

“The owners also exploited this idea of a judicious mixture – they had a tactic of hiring differing nationalities and ethnic groups to undercut the likelihood that they’d be able to get together and organise.”

Sayles, who shot his 1994 film The Secret of Roan Inish in Donegal, said he was delighted to accept the invite to speak about Matewan prior to its screening at the Garter Lane Arts Centre at 7pm.

Tickets are €15 (€10 concession) available at 051-855038 or from boxoffice@garterlane.ie