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union

A FILM BY STEPHEN MAING AND BRETT STORY

Up against one of the most powerful companies on the planet, a group of Amazon workers embark on an unprecedented campaign to unionize their warehouse in Staten Island, New York.

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“Astounding, rebellious… brilliant.”

The New York Times

SYNOPSIS

Through intimate cinema vérité, UNION chronicles the extraordinary efforts of an unlikely group of warehouse workers as they launch a grassroots union campaign at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York. Led by the charismatic but underestimated Chris Smalls, the diverse band of workers start the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and embark on a journey against one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world. The odds are stacked against them, as the group finds itself up against a tech industry giant with unlimited resources, without major support from national unions or politicians, and while navigating internal divisions within their own ranks. Filmmakers Brett Story and Stephen Maing document the struggle from day one, offering a gripping human drama about the fight for power and dignity in today's globalized economic landscape.

Creative Team

Stephen Maing

(
Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor
)

Brett Story

(
Director, Producer
)

Mars Verrone

(
Producer, p.g.a.
)

Samantha Curley

(
Producer, p.g.a.
)

Martin DiCicco

(
Cinematographer, Producer
)

Blair McClendon

(
Editor
)

Malika Zouhali-Worrall

(
Editor
)

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe

(
Composer
)

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

Executive Producers
Jenny Raskin
Lauren Haber
Geralyn White Dreyfous
The Villa Family
David Levine
Jessica Grimshaw
Nick Shumaker
Dawn Olmstead
Adam McKay
Todd Schulman
Co-Executive Producers
Kelsey Koenig
Barbara & Eric Dobkin
Paula Froehle & Steve Cohen
Natasha & David Dolby
Meryl Metni
Pierre Hauser
Peter Palandjian
Chelsea Halligan
Ryan Parker
Alexander Carpenter
Andrew Neel

Press

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Robert Abele

"A complex, essential documentary… sober and heartfelt."

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THE NEW YORKER

Doreen St. Félix

"UNION is a document of solidarity, in which the scandal of the gig-economy model registers on a human scale."

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THE GUARDIAN

Peter Bradshaw

"The kind of rights that the ALU secured – however reasonable and modest – are still precarious, have never been freely given and need to be fought for."

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VULTURE

Alison Willmore

"A rare thing - a documentary that is undeniably political in its focus while being artful and observational in its approach... Simmers like a present-day techno-thriller."

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The Guardian

Benjamin Lee

“The never-ending growth of Amazon’s empire has led to expansion beyond comprehension and predictably problems beyond control as workers have started to push back against a litany of unfair practices. The documentary UNION pulls together the stories and journeys of those fighting against them, centering Chris Smalls, the famed organiser of the company’s first-ever union.”

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The Hollywood Reporter

Daniel Fienberg

“Using unobtrusive direct cinema techniques, the documentary takes us inside the fledgling union, capturing the frustration and elation of trying to do the right thing in an impossible historical moment. It’s a nuanced portrait of the challenges of leadership and a revealing celebration of the values of persistence, solidarity and free weed.”

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The Moveable Fest

Stephen Saito

“A sober look at the internal guessing games and debate that ensue within a movement because of an impervious adversary … Individually, the imagery Maing and Story capture may not call attention to itself, but fittingly, it holds tremendous power collectively.”

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Indiewire

David Ehrlich

“Tough and gripping … because — of how eagerly this film throws us into the frontlines and stays true to its on-the-ground perspective, a compelling David vs. Goliath story naturally emerges from watching the ALU race to become real.”

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The Film Stage

Edward Frumkin

“A key addition to the canon of workers’ cinema … Traces the intimate, intense vérité approach of being in precarious situations ... to observe how an institution not only affects public officials, but citizens and people across every sector of life … Maing and Story show that the outcome is the beginning of a generational fight for companies to properly value the labor that keeps them running.”

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The Playlist

Benjamin Lee

“A raw examination of labor organization at its most powerful, pure, and fragile … Maing and Story’s honesty and remove from the filmmaking process has produced an unvarnished, raw document that offers up a slice of history: warts and all.”

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The Los Angeles Times

Jen Yamato

“UNION is a powerful reminder of what’s at stake when companies reduce workers to numbers on a balance sheet, with an uneasy resolution that underscores how far from over the struggle for change really is.”

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Take Action

With 1.5 million employees globally, Amazon is actively setting the standard for a future of work defined by automation, surveillance, lack of safety, and employee turnover rates as high as 150%. In the United States, despite an uptick in worker stoppages, boycotts and strikes last year, union density is at an all-time low. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that just 10% of hourly and salaried workers were members of unions, or around 14.4 million people. More recently, Amazon joined Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Trader Joe’s in a legal fight to declare the National Labor Relations Board as unconstitutional.

Amazon is aggressively setting the anti-union standard for the future of labor in the United States and globally.

Worker organizing at Amazon is critical for redefining our economic and political futures – this single corporation controls much of the Internet’s infrastructure, it dictates terms of online retail globally, it sells cloud services to militaries around the globe, and has hollowed out the mainstreets of towns and cities across the country. Warehouse workers are joined by tech workers, activists, and the public to challenge these corporate bosses and force change.

Inspired by the ALU’s “for the people by the people” union campaign, we’re distributing UNION ourselves and couldn’t be more excited to bring it directly to audiences nationwide. This is where you come in. We need your help to bring UNION to the people. We see this as an invaluable opportunity to show support for the labor movement. If you’d like to partner with us on the release of UNION, please contact team@unionthefilm.com.

UNION is proud to partner with a number of organizations working at the frontlines of the global labor movement.

Learn more about their efforts HERE: