Union

Opens Friday, October 18, 2024

Please note that there are additional showtimes of UNION at screen with open captions (on-screen display of dialogue and sounds). For those showtimes, click here.

On April 1, 2022 a group of ordinary workers made history when they did what everyone thought was impossible: they successfully won their election to become the very first unionized Amazon workplace in America. This feat would be extraordinary for any union, let alone the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), who did it with no prior organizing experience, no institutional backing, and a total budget of $120,000 raised on GoFundMe. Heralded as the most important win for labor since the 1930s, our documentary captures the ALU’s historic grassroots campaign to unionize thousands of their co-workers from day one of organizing.

Described by ALU President Christian Smalls as the “N.W.A. of the organizing world,” the group’s persona and strategies are highly unconventional: from wearing Money Heist costumes at press conferences to distributing free marijuana to workers. A core emotional arc arises out of the journey of our worker-turned-organizers through a series of political battles, pivotal strategic events, and interpersonal tensions that test their commitments and their solidarity. Up against a corporate superpower and with legal protections at a drastic low for workers, all odds are against the ALU. Yet our protagonists remain unswayed in their beliefs in collective action and the dignity and power of the working-class.

Winner: U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award, Sundance
Official Selection: NYFF

  • Country USA
  • Running Time 100 minutes
  • Format DCP
  • Director Stephen Maing, Brett Story
  • Accessibility Assistive Listening, T-Coil, Closed Captioning, Descriptive Audio

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.