Week of December 18th-22nd, 2017

New this week: The War on Labor

Greetings from Montague TV in the darkest days of the year. We hope that you find warmth and solace this Winter Solstice.

A new video worth checking out this week is a presentation of story and song by Charlie King and Candace Cassin, giving us a history of the U.S. labor movement. Their hope in sharing this is to challenge the notion that labor movements have simply run out of steam, and remind us of the violent history of movement repression by corporations that still continues today. This event was put on by Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution and commemorates events from 1917--100 years ago--to remind us of their relevance and legacy today.

Specifically, they tell us the stories of copper strikes in Butte, Montana; which were subject to anti-union hysteria, leading to the blacklisting of several union activists. This preceded the Granite Mountain Fire of 1917, where countless miners died, some trying to survive by waiting out the fire under bulkheads while their air supply diminished. A journal was kept under those bulkheads by which we can better understand the disaster, but the writer perished. The unions saw renewed activity following this event.

Charlie and Candace also tell us of the deportation of Bisbee, Arizona. In 1917, after miners attempted to organize for better working conditions, the Phelps Dodge corporation transported over a thousand workers at gunpoint out of town to New Mexico to prevent unionization.

We hope you will check out this video and many others all in the line-up on our Channel 17 TV schedule. You can browse the TV schedule at /p/55/TV-Schedule. Our videos are also available on our website at /p/76/Latest-Videos.

Something going on you think others would like to see? Get in touch to learn how easy it is to use a camera and capture the moment. (413) 863-9200, infomontaguetv@gmail.com, or stop by 34 2nd Street in Turners between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. We'd love to work with you!