(snow falling) (gusting wind).

(footsteps) TODD: Well, everything here has a, everything here has a story.

Grandpap Louis.

That's a steelworker fist, I could tell.

I got an upgraded lock, the ‘90s.

It's the evolution of me.

I keep everything.

So, yeah, I aged.

(laughs).

Yeah, my name's Todd Barbiaux.

I, I work for ATI, which, uh, was the old Allegheny Ludlum.

Been there 33 and a half years.

Started out as a 25 year old kid looking for a job.

Every generation in this area did.

I have uncles that worked there, my dad worked there, my brother worked there.

It's just what you did.

It was generation after generation.

When I went in I found myself on a production line and six, seven years later I found myself operating a hot ladle crane.

342,000 pounds of molten steel.

Been on the Executive Board for the Union, six terms.

Started out as a Trustee, worked my way up to a Recording Secretary, Financial Secretary, Vice President, current President.

It's a good place to work, you knew you had a lot of security.

You'd always welcome your children to work there as well, ‘cause you knew you'd make a good living for yourself.

Buy a home, buy, buy a garage.

Send you kids off to school, go on vacation.

But, uh, things have changed.

I go there, I sell labor, I get paid for it.

They know me as 12432, they don't know who I am, they don't know what I'm about.

They don't know my wife, they don't know my children, my grandchildren.

None of that means anything.

They want to take away everything we worked hard for, as Union members.

Trying to take away our health care.

Take away our, our overtime pay.

And now they're at the point, they're even trying to take some of our, our actual work away from us.

It's all about breaking the Union.

There's nothing more, there's nothing more to it.

They just wanna, they wanna break a Union.

Sometimes you take on a Union, you, you, you, uh, you picked the wrong fight.

(train horn wailing).

(train horn wailing).

(rattling).

(train horn wailing).

(gavel knocking).

TODD: All right, let's call this meeting to order.

Anybody want a dinner mint?

(laughter).

TODD: Hey, uh, first of all, listen, there's a lot of energy in this room.

Some positive, some negative.

I want to share some information with you.

I want you guys to be open minded.

Stay away from the mill rumors 'cause all's it's going to do is upset you.

Here we are again, and in four years we're gonna be, here we are again.

It's, it's not going away, these people aren't going away, and now they're trying to play us against each other and it's, it, it worked.

I want you guys to recognize something; Bill's leaving, Walt's leaving, I'm leaving.

There's nothing in this contract for us.

But your future, I'm telling you guys, I, I see people that only have two months left and they say, "You know what, I just wanted four more paychecks.

If we hurry up and ratify something I'll get that $4,000 bonus."

This isn't about you, this is about a Union.

But the thing that bothers me the most is right here.

Out of all the things that's still on here... MAN: Two.

TODD: Number two.

Nothing for 1196-1.

They're gonna knock ‘em off, off the map.

And if you think it's not important, ask her, ask Derrick, ask Robbie Bear.

They're dash one's and we're not, we're not leaving the port without them this time, we can't.

I, I hope you guys understand that they're trying to play us against each other.

WALT: 6:30, 7:00 I got an email from Dave McCall, our chairman, and he said, “ATI wants to talk, uh.

We're gonna meet at 10:00.” At 9:02, they put the proposal on their website before we even saw it.

I'm on the phone with a guy screaming on the other side, “Why aren't we voting on this?” “You got to trust and negotiate with me.

We're not voting on that ‘cause there's nothing there.” I mean, that's, that's what we're trying to explain to you.

MAN: For all these things, if the company says, “All right, checkmark, checkmark, checkmark.” And then, you know, what's the next move?

WALT: These people don't like to be talked back to, especially by you.

They didn't believe that you would walk, ‘cause they don't think you guys support us.

They think they own you.

TODD: So, here we are, picket duty again.

It's very difficult for all of us, I, I get it.

Financially, emotionally, mentally.

But at the end of the day we can't, we can't let this company break this Union.

MAN: Thank you!

(applause).

♪ ♪ TODD: Never easy.

But most importantly, if you stand together, no matter how long it takes, you will succeed.

WALT: I'm telling you, if we stick together, we'll beat them.

♪ ♪ MAN: What's that big blue building behind us?

LANCE: That is ATI, um.

Used to be called Allegheny Ludlum before that it was Allegheny Steel.

And if you ever read history books it's, was a foundry even there before that.

Supposedly made cannonballs for the Revolutionary War.

That's how long there's been a mill there.

MAN: The new program calls for the replacement of this continuous hot strip mill.

Oh, it was good enough in its day but progress is passing it by.

So, it's being taken out to make way for a big new modern mill.

Almost twice as wide, easily three times as powerful.

The new mill is to be installed at Brackenridge.

WALT: Under one roof in the Brackenridge facility we can; melt scrap into steel, dump it in the caster, cast slabs, take those slabs down to the hot rolling facility.

It used to take us two to three weeks, lead time, to do a coil from scrap to finish.

We can do it in two, three days.

MAN: Imagine liquid steel pouring into a mold... And moments later, as if by some touch of magic, emerging a solid, continuous slab, ready for the finishing mills.

WALT: It's the most powerful mill in the western hemisphere.

LANCE: It's what grew these times with, uh, why the people here came to work.

Came from different countries to work and, and actually created the original population.

DAVID: Each town had their own little steel mills in western, western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and Ohio.

WALT: A lot of guys still spoke broken English.

A lot of Polish, a lot of Italian.

So, there was a lot of heritage.

There was a, a tight-knit community built around that.

GREG: Everybody in this area that lived here, worked there.

WALT: Both of my grandfathers worked here, my father worked here, two of my brothers, uh, both of my wives, uh, grandparents worked here.

DAVID: Back then, you either went to college, or you went in the steel mills, or the local foundries, or the coal mines.

MARK: My grandfather told me that on payday there would be a line of people from the bank all the way down to the mill.

That's how many employees they had.

GREG: Standard of living was raised.

The health care that you had, the money you were gonna get paid for the skills you had.

SCOTT: You could leave a job and, and go across the street to another big industry like Alcoa and get, and get a job the same day.

MARK: These were all Union workers, Union workers who supported this town.

That's why we had all these banks.

MAN: It supports the doctors, it supports the grocery stores, the pizza places.

MARK: We had a Five and Dime store, we had a candy store.

We had a real shoe store.

I remember the smell of leather in that shop.

MAN: You'd pay your taxes.

So, it's important, all your local cities, your boroughs.

MARK: That mill, it fed the community.

MAN: And that too is the American way.

For only in America could this story be told.

It's our birthright and our future.

(horn honking).

MAN: Corporate greed is what it is.

It's corporate greed.

MAN 2: We have to standup for ourselves.

MARK: It feels good to be out here with my Union brothers and sisters.

(horns honking).

MAN: We support you brother.

MAN 2: They don't want to negotiate.

They want it all.

MAN 3: Yeah, exactly, right?

MAN 4: Exactly right, yeah.

(horns honking).

MAN 5: At the top, they're making millions and millions and millions of dollars.

MAN 6: What'd you get in your profit share?

MAN 7: Nothing.

MAN 8: Yeah.

MAN 6: Me neither.

MAN 9: And then they cut the little guy that does all the work.

MAN 10: Yeah.

MAN 9: You know, pretty soon there'll be none of us.

WALT: We're not in this to try to do anything other than get what we're entitled to.

MAN: Sure.

MAN 2: No, it's been too long.

MAN 3: And we didn't have a raise for I think it was seven years, now.

MAN 4: You know, anybody who hasn't gotten a raise in seven years... (laughs).

MAN 5: You went without raises ‘cause you had good health care and benefits.

And now they want to do, you know, they want to take everything.

The sun's right in my face.

SCOTT: They actually asked for, uh, 12 hour work days with no overtime.

MAN: Trying to screw over the retirees that were promised health care.

MARK: Company wants us to give up jobs.

SCOTT: 60 or so jobs they wanted, those people would be out of work.

MAN: That raise was contingent on us giving up our brothers jobs.

MAN 2: They want a contract out our jobs and if they get that, there would be no Union in this mill.

MAN: I can get through it.

I only need a couple more years.

But there's guys coming up behind me.

And I want them to have the same opportunities I had all these years.

MARK: We want to make sure that we can protect future Union workers that will come to this company.

We gonna make sure that those guys are protected.

(overlapping chatter).

MAN: Nobody wants to be out here.

But at, at some point you have to take a stand and you have to do, you know, what's right and what's fair and, and that's what we're doing.

(horn honking).

MARK: I, I feel like we're the last line of defense.

Not just for the Union workers but for workers outside of the Unions as well.

(horn honking).

MAN: I hope this doesn't last very long, I really do.

(laughter).

WOMAN: Half of our business is from the mill.

They love our Strombolis, pizzas, everything.

Besides, they need to eat.

It would hurt us and everybody if the mill went out.

It would turn it like into a ghost town.

And our business would drop too.

I have family that worked at the mill.

What's that tell you?

(laughs).

(horns honking).

MAN: All right.

It looks like, uh, some of the community is still behind us.

So, that's a good thing.

MAN 2: Hey, hey, hey.

(overlapping chatter) MAN 2: Oh, oh, oh.

MAN: I was here in '94 when we did this and a lot of guys, you know, I've seen grown men cry.

Like I said, this is my third time, so.

I'm beginning to be a pro at this.

(laughs).

(horn honks).

They keep, uh, upgrading, you know?

MAN 2: Automation.

MAN: Automation and boy, I don't know what the future's going to be like for some of these kids.

They don't need manpower anymore.

So, all these little towns around here are gonna be ghost towns, you know?

So... MAN 2: The town is boarded up because of the malls.

The mall, malls are boarding up because of the internet.

(laughs).

MAN 2: You know, what's next?

MAN: Yeah.

TODD: Well, I got hired there in 1988, uh... We had a little over 2200 Union members.

(overlapping shouting).

TODD: Fast forward today, here we are 2021, we're down to 450 members.

(power tool whirring).

MAN: Those cuts are happening because of automation.

MAN 2: Modern technology.

Everything was back-breaking work.

Now, machine does all the work for you.

MAN 3: The automation, there's new plants are getting built in other countries, and also the cheap labor.

MAN 4: You got workers in Indonesia making $1 an hour, living in company housing.

You know, that stuff happened here before we had Unions.

MAN 2: The one time Allegheny Ludlum was the third largest producer.

A couple years ago, they were number 46 in the world.

You can't get stuff made in this country anymore.

WALT: Well, in 1994 we had a 69 day strike.

We struck over pensions.

We struck them.

They paid our health care.

MAN: During the strike?

WALT: During the strike.

That's they kind of company we had.

We struck them, and they continued our health care ‘cause they were concerned about our health.

But that all changed in 2015, and it was all new management.

They went from Allegheny Ludlum to ATI.

And at that point, their whole attitude towards the Union changed.

They come in on the first day of the two, 2015, uh, negotiations, they had 143 concessionary items, uh, that they put on the table, on day one, uh, that basically got into contract.

And in August of 2015, they locked us out.

WOMAN (over TV): Get out of our plant!

REPORTER (over TV): They've been locked out since August 15th and now the Christmas season is upon them.

But their thoughts aren't filled with cheer, just bitterness.

WALT: We were out for seven and a half months.

Very bitter, very long.

And I gotta watch 'cause I don't want to swear, but these...

They couldn't wait to tell us that they were gonna cut our health care.

That they were gonna, you know, cut our insurance.

That they were gonna do this.

They, they, they, they kind of took pride in the way they, they were trying to let, let, let us know that they were boss and it was going to be their way or no way.

(overlapping chatter).

MAN: All right, fellas.

(overlapping chatter).

WALT: Unfortunately, when that agreement ended, we negotiated roughly another month and then on March 30th, uh, the USW called the strike.

The old American dream just seems to be gone and, you know, it's a shame.

I think that this fight in ATI should show America that, at least here, we're fighting back.

(horn honking).

WOMAN (over megaphone): Thank you!

Thank you!

(horns honking).

WOMAN: There's some support.

There's support.

(horn honking).

WOMAN (over megaphone): Thank you!

WOMAN 2: It used to be when you had a strike like this, all the other companies and the other Unions stayed back and stayed away and let you resolve it.

And that was part of the power of Union is that we helped each other and now... (horn honks).

Everybody helps themselves.

WOMAN 3: Scabs!

WOMAN (over megaphone): Scabby, scabby.

Scab!

MAN: I think there's more coming.

I think so.

MAN 2: Yeah, we don't want these guys going in there, taking our job.

They shouldn't be there.

We should be there.

MAN 3: More Scabs coming Wednesday.

Boat load.

CHRIS: Everybody feels, you know, “Yeah, I'm, I'm crossing the line because I got a family to feed.” So do all the people that are outside.

They have a family to feed too.

There's always another way and if we don't stick together, the people that are, um, that we call Scabs, that are feeding their families, everything will diminish for them too.

MARK: We're gonna wake up one day and there won't be a Union, there won't be anybody to protect our rights, as workers.

You have them, you have us.

When enough of us has sat back and said, “Enough.

That's enough.” Then the machines will stop.

(train horn blaring).

(horn honks).

RYAN: No, I would say that we're, we're starting to get on edge because we thought that we were gonna get unemployment and, uh, we haven't gotten unemployment yet.

So, you know, people are starting to get nervous, bills need to be paid.

Life goes on and banks don't care if we're on strike or not.

And they don't have a problem with taking our homes.

Not too long I'm gonna have to go back to Door Dashing and doing side jobs for, for something to do to make money.

MARK: Yeah.

You can't wait until, uh, it's too late, you know, start looking for work.

You gotta feed your family.

RYAN: I have a 13 year old son.

I'm doing whatever I can not to break him from what's normal to him.

You know, even if I would explain it to him... (horn honking).

Or I would try to explain it to him, he probably wouldn't listen to me right now.

He will listen to me though if something happens where I don't make enough money and I gotta pull him out of karate.

MARK: Do what you gotta do to survive... RYAN: Yeah.

MARK: You know?

(horn honks).

MAN: Bust their ass!

MARK: Hey, all right.

(laughter).

WOMAN: Do you think the company's gonna tell us the truth?

They can't, they don't give you, it's a straight damn answer.

Now, if I had anything, what's the chance that they're gonna tell us the truth of what their health care costs are?

I mean, come on.

WALT: Stainless steel is the highest price it's been in 45 years.

WOMAN: We all know that Boeing said they will not buy Scab steel.

When are we set to start producing this order for Boeing?

Do we have an answer to that?

WALT: I... WOMAN: Because you know what, I personally think we stay out there and they gonna start producing this order, perhaps we might get somewhere.

WALT: Look, I, I, I hear ‘ya.

I'm on strike too.

This is my second go-around with these bastards.

There's more issues than just the health care.

They're painting it out to be the health care, that's not the main issue.

KEITH: Someone should be telling us something every day, even if it's nothing.

We come off the picket lines, “Did you hear anything today?

Did you?

I didn't hear anything.” Go to the Union hall, “Did you hear anything.” And we got a Union hall that's closed on Sundays.

WOMAN: Saturdays.

KEITH: Saturdays and Sundays.

If I'm, if I'm out there on a picket lines, this place should be open!

LANCE: We did keep it open.

And guys that are here 24 hours a week, are coming here, another 16 on the weekend and nobody's showing up... KEITH: That's his job, to come here and have... LANCE: It's the job to fill that picket line!

It's the job to fill that picket line!

WOMAN: How many people we all have now compared to what we had.

KEITH: I'll come in and, and, and sit here and do it.

MAN 3: We're signing you up.

KEITH: I'll come in and do it!

MAN 3: You're signed up.

You got, you got Sunday.

(overlapping chatter).

MAN 3: You got Sunday!

(phone ringing).

RYAN: Wow.

Oh, crap.

It's $18.50 for two orders.

So, even though I'll probably be sitting and I'm not exaggerating, probably for at least 25 minutes, for these two orders.

I can't turn down $18.50 so, I'm gonna except that.

Send me to BFE, my first order.

WOMAN: Here you go, sir.

RYAN: Okay, this is, uh, Meier's order, right?

WOMAN: Yes, sir.

RYAN: Thank you.

You know, you have your good days, your bad days with Door Dashing.

When I do this job, I usually do it between four and eight hours a day.

It all depends on if I have something else to do like, if I'm picketing or having to do something with my son.

WOMAN: Come here.

RYAN: It all depends on my schedule right now.

But I try to do it as much as possible because I need the money.

When I was working in the mill, my job was furnace operator.

So, it was my job to line up the slabs of steel to go into the furnace, so that they would get heated up and they could be rolled into coils.

I had to change the temperatures, sometimes there were certain temperature drops where I had to shut off some of the blowers, or shut off the flames.

It took a long time to learn that computer.

It's a lot of things on the computer that you needed to know on there.

CHRIS: And I think the broader trend away from full-time employment and to, you know, this sort of like contractor role is really dangerous for a lot of reasons.

No benefits, no long-term worker protections, having to pay for your own health care, or not.

It normalizes the idea of forcing a lot of the sort of safety nets that have traditionally fallen within the realm of employers, on to individual workers.

(humming the "Final Jeopardy" theme).

WOMAN (over speaker): We don't have, um, the chicken sandwich.

We don't have the chicken sandwich for that order.

GREG: With my wife, um, two chemos left.

Our health care ends Thursday.

That would be, today is Tuesday, so in two more days.

It may cost me 3,000 or 4,000 out of my pocket, where if I was working and this company wasn't acting the way they are, um, it would have costed me, uh, $300 for her.

CHILD: This is one of the activist streets because there's like a lot of kids on it and we're always riding bikes and scooters and outside, stuff like that.

(sighs).

MAN: You have to pay for our own insurance, out of pocket.

You have to get on a, some kind of a plan.

WOMAN: I'm having some issues with herniated discs and stenosis.

It truthfully, there are times that I can't walk like, I go to walk and it, it just isn't working.

It worries me because the cost of health care is outrageous, you know, when you have to pay for it by yourself.

GREG: She has her third chemo on Friday, the day after our health care ends.

I'll pay it, come hell, come high water.

We've been married, uh, 40 years this summer and, uh, she's my gal.

And, uh, it's gonna be tough but we're gonna get through it.

We will, uh, one way or another.

Three people can't do this.

I sit here on Saturday morning from 6:00 till 10:00, every Saturday morning.

I don't see anybody, nobody.

WOMAN: Some Unions haven't been on this picket line at all.

And if you're working there's surely a time that you can come in the evening, or maybe early in the morning at 6:00, something.

You're doing everything but showing the public that we're on strike.

I mean, there's people that don't even realize we're on strike yet, you know?

WALT: They know there's no one there.

Believe me, they know it.

They know it.

They throw that in our face all the time, “Your guys don't even picket.” There's trying to break the Union and we're helping them.

TODD: The day I got hired here, I was coming for an interview, I actually went and got fitted for a, uh, a three-piece suit ‘cause it was so important for me to get a job here.

Believe it or not.

I got hired April 17th 1988.

Never forgot the date and I was so proud, so excited.

And, uh, now here we are 33 years later.

The company is not what it once was.

(horn honking).

I miss the way it used to be.

(train horn blaring).

I'm probably four years away from where I should be, as far as retiring.

This is a company that chased an employee off, as far as I'm concerned.

They didn't win, they didn't, they didn't, they didn't beat me, they didn't.

This isn't a win for them, it's a win for me ‘cause I don't have to be exposed to them anymore, you know, um.

I guess they all forget that we're all human beings.

The backhoe that's gonna take my hole when I die, it's gonna be the same backhoe's that's gonna dig their hole when they die.

They were the best four inches of my life.

LANCE: Yeah.

That means you got her twice.

(overlapping chatter).

TODD: And you wanted to go home.

LANCE: Yeah.

TODD: Probably too young to retire but it's just time to go.

Yeah, for me, you know, nobody likes to give up the torch.

But it's a lot easier to hand the torch over to somebody you trust and you know they'll do a good job.

And, uh, with the way this company treats this Union, there's not a whole lot of people want to buy a boat with a hole in it.

LANCE: I get it.

I think it's my time.

I feel it's my time to step up.

And every, and everybody's asking me, “What do, uh, well, what do we do now?

What do we do now?

What do we do now?” TODD: Hey, you gotta make the best of it, you know.

As stressful as this all could be... (horn honking).

You're surrounded by people that are, that are experiencing the same feelings that you have.

MAN: Here's what really pisses me off of all of it, really pisses me off.

When you got basketball players, the NBA, handling that dirty Goddamn ball, sweating all over, over each other and spitting and then they go... MAN 2: Go sit and put a mask on.

MAN: They go sit on the bench and put a Goddamn mask on.

MAN 2: It, it's hilarious.

MAN: I mean, you'd have to be a...

Idiot to think, "Oh, that's proper protocol."

And now you got this cancel-culture, they won't be able... Nobody gonna be able to talk anymore, you know?

I mean, it's just like everything pisses everybody off.

And I'm just gonna go about my business and when it's time to vote again, I'll do my vote and that's it.

I don't even get involved.

I turned off the news and then I might scroll through something I don't like, just keep on scrolling.

Oh, the kids back when I was growing up, they were going and serving their country, they were dying.

They weren't worried about who's offending who.

GEORGE (over TV): Hello, I'm George Becker.

The single most important factor in the prosperity of our country is the Labor Movement.

I've always believed that.

It's hard to imagine that everything we have worked so hard to achieve could be at risk.

But the fact is, with the Republican control of congress, that possibility is all too real.

The results could be devastating.

Many business and political leaders are taking advantage of their new found power and making a concentrated effort to undermine worker's rights.

The collective bargaining process, the right of workers to organize, and to destroy all the rights Unions have struggled for years to win.

It is more clear than ever that our opponents have one objective and that's the destruction of Unions or to make the as impotent as they possibly can.

RYAN: I was a Democrat for 40 years.

MAN: I was a Democrat, like a lot of young people.

JOE: I was a Democrat since the first time I was able to vote.

MAN 3: I was a Democrat for a long time.

JOE: It was the blue-collar party.

MAN 3: But, it isn't that way now.

RYAN: They say they was for the workers and they weren't for the worker.

JOE: These people just slowly, you know, they're pecking away at you and taking every little bit they can from you.

MAN 2: And I feel that it's a switch that Republicans are more so for the Unions.

MAN: Who do you think the Democrats represent at this point?

MAN 2: Power.

JOE: Every time it seemed to be, uh, Republican president or a Republican majority, I worked good.

MAN 4: We were on the street under Obama and now we're under, we're on the street under Biden.

MAN 5: Yup.

MAN 4: You can't put you on the street under Bush and you couldn't put us on the street under Trump because we were too busy.

MAN 6: And they say, “Oh, you know, just got get a green job.” Where's the, where's the green job at?

It's not here.

MARK: You feel like you've been lied to.

You know, you vote for somebody and you're expecting all these things to happen and nothing happens.

Maybe it gets worse.

MAN: The people you would look to, to help you are the ones saying, “Get a green job.” Do you think they don't realize?

MAN 2: Sure they do, they realize.

MAN 3: Yeah, the know, course they know.

MAN 2: They just don't care.

MAN 3: Yeah, they don't care.

FETTERMAN: I would completely understand if they felt like they've been left out of the equation because, in some respects, they were.

You know, these are thousands and thousands of family sustaining Union jobs.

And as a Democrat, I mean, you, you, you have to be for the Union way of life.

And if we can do it better, and cleaner, and more Union friendly than anyone else in the world, why wouldn't we want to do it here?

We moved heaven and Earth for Amazon and anyone knew that was just some like, suckers hunger game.

"Okay, how much can you give us?"

And then we're gonna ring our hands and be like... (sighs).

"I wonder why the vote for the, the angry man in the red hat?"

I wouldn't vote for somebody that just said, "Oh, hey, you need to get with the times, John."

Our party needs to get with the times too.

We still need to make (bleep) in this country.

(horn honks).

MAN: Where's the moderate Democrats?

Where's the moderate Republicans?

Those are the people that used to make the country run.

MARK: That's one of the problems that, that we have.

We allow ourselves to be divided along these lines that make no sense to the working class, as a whole.

Red states, blue states, all of that, that doesn't benefit the working class in this country.

WOMAN: Do you think we could take one of your signs?

MAN: Absolutely.

MAN 2: Yes, yes.

Help yourself.

WOMAN: These days you don't hear too much about the, about Unions.

GREG: No.

WOMAN: You really don't.

MAN: We're Walmart workers and, um, we're from the Washington, DC area.

And the reason that we're here is to show solidarity with the strike.

And we want to bring back the lessons of the strike to the workers at Walmart.

GREG: I don't know what you guys call it down where you're at but we call it the working poor around here.

It's a shame when you gotta have a job and you can still draw unemployment to, to live.

WOMAN: Food stamps.

GREG: It's reality too, man.

MAN: When you start going up against something like Amazon, you know, they haven't become some benign thing.

They're no better than the railroad bosses that, you know, that... (laughs).

WOMAN: I know at Walmart, if you have a beef, you try to work things out through different supervisors or management and it's like individual negotiations.

Collective action is much stronger.

GREG: I did some stuff with some Canadians up in, uh, Quebec, um.

They have labor friendly laws.

WOMAN: Mm-hmm.

GREG: Where actually, if you strike, they can't hire replacement workers, the companies.

They have it on the books.

WOMAN: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

GREG: You know?

Try and get something like that done, you know, in this country, oh my.

MAN: We need a labor party.

We need something that speaks in the name of working people.

GREG: Yeah, we need a labor party and, and when I talked to a lot of people about that, I said all working people.

WOMAN: Mm-hmm.

GREG: And I'm gonna tell you what, that peaks a lot of people's interests when you sit and talking, when you say, “Everybody.” MAN: How's your wife doing?

GREG: Uh, she's doing very well.

She does her last chemo, uh, this Friday.

So, we're, uh, anticipating a, uh, you know, pretty good day, uh... She'll be sick, uh, probably till Monday and even through Tuesday.

They progressively have gotten worse as, uh, after the chemo.

The health care situation was sort of resolved, um.

But to a heavy expense to me and the wife, um.

You know, with the health care we had, I had a $300 deductible.

Now, I have a $2,000 deductible and, uh, I think about, uh, $400 a month.

So, uh, actually if we were to put myself on, uh, it would've been probably close to $700.

So, right now, I don't have health care.

So, I just have to be careful, uh, with what I'm doing, uh.

I'm healthy, at least, uh, I think so and, um, I just have to play it out, yeah.

See what happens, you know?

It's too much money.

My wife doesn't make a lot.

You know, she'd be coming home with 200 bucks a pay, you know, and that's every two weeks.

So, uh, there's the tough issue.

It just wasn't economically feasible for me to be on it, you can't.

But, uh, I got a good feeling.

I'll be okay with it, uh, feeling lucky.

(laughs).

And that's about what it is, luck.

RYAN: Hmm.

Well.

(sighs).

Waiting for things to get better at work there.

JOSH: Mm-hmm.

RYAN: But, I haven't gotten a paycheck in almost two and a half months.

JOSH: Yeah?

(Ryan sighs).

RYAN: You know, since I'm on strike, I'm not even collecting unemployment.

The thing about strikes is nothing's certain.

JOSH: Mm-hmm.

RYAN: So.

JOSH: Well, aren't you doing Door Dash to get money?

RYAN: I'm doing a lot of things to make extra money but it's not the same amount of money that I made when I was working full-time at, at the steel mill.

If we don't make sacrifices now, you know, we could lose big stuff like the house.

And there's a lot of things that we just have to stop and your karate is probably gonna be one of them.

(sighs).

I'm gonna have to cut things out so that we still, so that I can still pay the mortgage on the house.

Would be less stressful.

JOSH: Mm-hmm.

MAN: When the presidents all voted to go on strike, we knew it wasn't going to be easy.

But it will continually get worse and worse and worse, if we don't draw a line.

(overlapping chatter).

MAN: They've got cash to half a billion dollars and don't want to give up any of it.

You haven't had a wage increase in seven years.

And now they say they'll give you 3% per year and the second, third, and fourth year, if you give up profit sharing and if you pay health care costs.

JOE: That's no reason for me to be out on strike, for the profit sharing because it has never paid us and I've been here a long time and it's, it's futile.

MAN 2: And it, and it doesn't pay, you're right, Joe.

If you work a ten hour day, in your last two hours, it don't pay you... JOE: And they are manipulating how you process the material so that you don't get profit sharing.

MAN 3: I mean, are we basically just neutered though, as a Union?

Is nothing we do meaningful in any fashion?

JOE: Do we need to take a trip to state capital?

To the Governor?

KEITH: That's ridiculous thinking.

It's ridiculous thinking.

You got people that can't even, can't even picket in their hometown, can't... People can't even picket here.

MAN 5: It's a huge increase... MAN 6: So, is, do... Is the answer is you just accept it?

Or do you fight for something?

JOE: The answer is gonna have to be, that the international is gonna have to take more responsibility for their workers.

That's the only way it can stand.

You're not gonna have enough to continue to watch technology reduce our jobs.

Watch them through attrition, reduce our jobs and be able to have the fighting power to say, “Oh, we need this money to fund this.” If they have the money to sit us out for as long as they want.

Our only option now is to press this state.

That puts the pressure ‘cause the state says to them, “Hey, we gave you all these breaks.

You didn't pay taxes to this community for ten years.

You gotta start contributing.” That's the only pressure and leverage you have on this company.

And they can continue to keep it that way and starve us out.

GIRL: Ah.

Ready.

CHRIS: Okay, safety off.

Fire at will.

(thuds).

Okay.

Where do you think you hit?

GIRL: In the middle, maybe.

CHRIS: In the middle, maybe?

You know, at one time, I think before I worked here I thought, you know, everybody's just a, uh, a dumb steel monk.

You know, steel mill hunky, you know, and anybody can work there.

Well, you find out that people know little tricks and, and have deep insights in different things and you can learn things from every single person that you ever come in contact with.

And that's the same as the people around the steel mill and, uh, a lot of big hearts.

WOMAN: No, of course not.

CHRIS: Really?

(overlapping chatter).

CHILD: Where'd it go?

(overlapping chatter).

ALL: Oh!

CHRIS: Where you going?

(screaming).

(crying).

WOMAN: Under the couch.

CHILD: Yeah.

Hey, look, see it?

WOMAN: No.

Yeah.

CHILD: Yeah.

CHRIS: Are you okay, Lydia?

GIRL: Oh, yeah, I found... (overlapping chatter).

WOMAN: So, these are pictures, uh, this is Nathaniel.

He, um, was diagnosed with CDH.

We went, at our 18 week ultrasound.

At first, we were just taken aback because it was almost as if they had given up before he started.

CHRIS: I went back to work for the week before we went to Providence, Rhode Island.

But, I was working all the overtime I could so we'd have enough money to be able to, um, handle these trips.

And my fellow Union members, you know, all the brothers and sisters and...

They didn't understand what congenital diaphragmatic hernia is.

They just knew that one of their brothers was having a baby that might not survive and that there was gonna be a lot of medical needs for.

The guys gave over four grand.

That they collected amongst themselves.

And I just couldn't believe it.

(overlapping chatter).

CHRIS: The total cost for treatment for Nathaniel was over $2 million.

Without the health care that we had, there is no way we would've been able to take on that burden ourselves, to provide our son a chance at life.

While we only got to enjoy 24 days with him.

That 24 days was forever in my head and forever a memory.

And without that opportunity, we would've never had that forever memory.

(overlapping chatter).

MARK: You see, the Union is not just, it's not just an organization.

It's a spirit.

It's something within all of us that says, “I'm not gonna stand here and let my brother or my sister be put down and mistreated.” It's, it's something that's within all of us.

TODD: And I can't believe how much different it is from when I was a 26 year old kid hired, 33 years later.

You know, when I was gonna retire out of here, I was hoping, you know, you'd leave as a good employee and people would tell you what a good job you did.

Now, it's more important to me they, uh... (yelling).

Godzilla!

Jesus Christ!

(laughter).

Whoa.

Jesus Christ.

Why'd you do that to me?

MARK: I'm sorry man.

You had me all emotional.

(laughter).

WALT: I got a call late Friday, uh, and I was able to finally talk.

He said, "How you doing?"

I said, "How do you think I'm doing?"

And he said, "Oh," and he goes, "I guess that's a dumb question."

I said, "Well, go onto dumb question number two 'cause I'm sure you got..." (laughter).

WALT: “I'm sure you got some more.” And he says, “Well, you know, we got this return to work language.” Yeah, and, “We'd like to expedite the return to work language.” Someone, finally, at ATI said, “Stop distracting.” MAN: Yeah.

MAN 2: Yeah.

Right.

MAN 3: Whether we like it or not, it's do we think we can get more?

Because I don't think anyone's gonna sit down and say, “You know what, this is perfect.

I love it.” WOMAN: Yeah.

MAN 3: But the big question is, do you think you can get, you can do better?

And I don't think that you guys brought something back to the membership, if there was more on the table.

WALT: I think there's too much and we fought too hard to get to this point and I think the members need to decide what to do.

MAN: They're not gonna stand orderly, in a single-file line and want us to vote.

It, it'll get unruly I'm sure, at some point.

People will be upset one way or another.

Look, it's gonna be a long day.

(birds chirping).

(train horn blaring).

KEITH: As far as the brotherhood and sisterhood of steel workers, we will always be strong because we, we have a strong work ethic.

It's like a marriage, right?

You take, you go through your ups and downs.

A marriage doesn't, doesn't show it's true colors until it goes to a, you know, a, a, a little valley.

But guess what, you love each other and, and you put that aside and you say, “Hey, man, we still love each other, man.

We'll get through this.

That's how it is.

That's why you have a Union.

Where the company will say, “Well, well, well, Keith, there's nothing wrong with your hand.

You can go back and do the same thing you did before.” Look at this!

The company actually said I'm 100%!

They would, they could fire me because I can't do the job like they said.

That's why we have a Union.

(train horn blaring).

(overlapping chatter).

(gavel knocking).

LANCE: Call the meeting to order.

(overlapping chatter).

LANCE: I know you guys got a lot of questions.

(overlapping chatter).

LANCE: First of all, I want to thank everybody for, uh, doing the picket lines, hanging together through this whole strike.

Bringing back this offer from the company and I'm gonna cut right to the chase and see what kind of questions everybody has.

MAN: The way I heard it, I don't know if it's true, they called the international and said, “Let's talk.

Boom, here's you contract.” What?

MAN 2: They have been sending contracts that they gave us in March.

LANCE: No.

MAN 2: No?

LANCE: No.

MAN 3: By what difference?

MAN 4: 1500 that they're gonna reach around and take from us.

WOMAN: You'll never see... LANCE: Premiums.

They had, they had set premiums at first, right?

Um, they had the two tier, two tier health care system.

ALL: Yeah.

Yeah.

LANCE: We don't have profit sharing anymore.

I think the company manipulated that anyways.

We're not gonna have the cost of living adjustment.

They, uh, took that out.

MAN: What does that mean?

LANCE: That's a great question.

JOE: Since we're not getting profit sharing and no quarterly bonus, how did we lose both?

We no longer have the profit sharing or a quarterly bonus.

WALT: We lost that last contract.

JOE: That wasn't that we lost it, we opted to take the profit sharing other than the quarterly bonus.

Now, we have neither, right?

WALT: Right.

JOE: This is still a concessionary contract.

MAN: Yes!

JOE: When you add up what they gave you as a raise, and then deduct what they took away, I don't know if we make any money.

MAN: I understand you're under pressure and all the presidents are under pressure to bring something back.

But the worst thing you could do is bring back a concessionary contract.

I'm telling you the truth... MAN 2: Listen... MAN: The worst thing you can do is that.

MAN 2: Everybody's saying, “We're not seeing a contract.

Nobody is showing us anything.” Well, this is what people wanted.

They wanted to see something.

It's up to everyone here to either say yes or no.

If you say you can do better and you think you can do better, vote no.

But there are ramifications for that.

WOMAN: Does the international sitting up front right now, do you honestly believe that we are gaining anything from this contract?

Or do you believe it's a concessionary contract?

MAN: I believe there's concessionary items in this contract.

I feel there's a few items in here that we've increased, that helps certain people.

WOMAN: Yes.

MAN: Um, but I do, I do feel there's issues in here that's concessionary.

JOE: I feel it's kind of a shame that a company that we are helping to do so well, an important company, and they're just taking advantage of us as workers.

LANCE: You know, it's a lot like, like any sports team.

You want to trade your bad players for good players but you're usually, here we're giving up something to get something.

MAN: Well, what did we really gain, being out this long, to sign this contract?

We're trusting the people, every year I've been here, on health care costs when the time for the premiums come around.

LANCE: I don't love the contract.

I'm not sure that it's, it's a great contract but I feel pretty positive that it's not worth being on strike over, um.

Go for it... MAN: I wanna know, is there any provision to the contract for like cost of living adjustments, this link to inflation like, we're actually gonna be going backwards in terms of what we're actually earning.

WOMAN: While we're cutting to the chase, let's talk about health care ‘cause I don't think most of the people in this room realize this, but I do.

That little $1,500 you guys are supposed to get in year three and four, you can kiss that goodbye because what they do is if we are over that cap, they will take away all of our money from the 1500.

Say if we still haven't met their cap, well, they got to get their money somehow ‘cause a company's not gonna absorb it, that comes out of each and every one of our pocket.

That means we start paying a premium.

What the hell have I've been on that picket line for 106 days if we're gonna end up paying a premium?

We gave up our cost of living, we're giving up our, our profit sharing.

What in the name of God did we gain by this, folks?

And I'm, I'm here to tell you not a damn thing.

(overlapping chatter) LANCE: Anything else?

(overlapping chatter).

LANCE: You sure?

MAN: Yup.

LANCE: Going once...

Going twice.

All right, guys, it's vote time.

♪ ♪ (gavel knocking).

LANCE: Sold!

WALT: I knew going in, no matter what we did, someone's gonna have an opinion.

I get upset about that when, when they just attack the Union like, you know, we're the ones that brought this on.

I faced the company in negotiations I, they don't get that chance.

So, you know, they don't see what really goes on behind closed doors, you know, the animosity and the bitterness.

So, you know, this is their chance to try to be heard.

Oh, crap.

TODD: Yeah, buddy.

CARTER: Look.

TODD: I guess this is the lifestyle that everyone looks forward to, you know?

Set the alarm clock and shut it off 'cause you really don't have to get up if you don't want to but... (sighs).

My schedule.

(laughs).

I've become a babysitter.

Well, he's not really a baby he's a young boy now but, you know, when we're kids the first thing you want to be is 13 'cause you want to be a teenager.

When you're 13 you want to be 16 because you want to drive.

When you're 16 you want to be 21 so you can drink.

When you're 21 you wish you were 25 'cause your car insurance drops.

(laughs).

That's just the whole cycle of life.

So for us, with us having pension language, uh, you want to hit that marker of 30 years.

And then you find out once you hit 30 years you don't want to leave, nobody wants to leave.

Carter graduated from kindergarten on Friday the 29th, May 29th and I graduated from work the same day.

So, we went out to dinner.

I say he's my number one man so.

CARTER: Still play baseball.

TODD: And he still plays baseball.

We've been going to his t-ball games.

CARTER: No my games.

TODD: Yeah, your baseball games.

And I, I go like this to him, what's that mean?

CARTER: To the moon.

TODD: Put that baby to the moon, so.

CARTER: But did you see, I ripped that ball last time?

TODD: You ripped it.

CARTER: I was like... (laughs).

TODD: Yeah.

CARTER: I smashed that and killed that.

TODD: Yeah, you did a good job.

You did a good job.

I guess that's what it's all about.

(music plays through credits) ♪ ♪