In 2021, worker’s rights activist Chris Smalls created the Amazon Labor Union to fight for the unfair working conditions for Amazon workers. ‘Union,’ the debut feature documentary by filmmakers Brett Story and Stephen Maing provides a look inside ALU and Smalls’ journey towards better workers rights for Amazon employees.
Union world premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for the Art of Change. The documentary is set to screen as a Spotlight selection of the 62nd New York Film Festival.
Release Date
Directed by Brett Story and Stephen Maing, ‘Union’ opens in US theaters on October 18, 2024.
Synopsis
In 2022, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, sick and tired of the lack of job stability from a company notorious for constant worker turnover, made national headlines after the newly formed Amazon Labor Union voted to unionize.
For their absorbing documentary, Brett Story (The Hottest August) and Stephen Maing (Crime + Punishment) follow the day-to-day struggles of the ALU, made up of current and former employees, including charismatic and indefatigable leader Chris Smalls, and capture the events that led to this remarkable—but by no means conclusive—historical moment. The result is an immersive portrait that celebrates solidarity while acknowledging the difficult decisions and internal conflicts that make any collective action possible—especially when up against a corporate goliath in a post-Reagan era when worker organizations have become political anathema.
Reviews
David Ehrlich in an IndieWire review gave the film a positive score of ‘B’, writing, “In part because of the empire-sized dauntingness of the ALU’s opposition, “Union” perseveres as a vital and urgent portrait of labor organizing and its enduring possibility at a time when the fight for workers’ rights has never seemed more one-sided.”
Guy Lodge in a Variety review also praised the documentary, writing, “It would be easy to build a halo-lit documentary portrait around this handsome, rabble-rousing father of three, but Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s excellent “Union” is something more finely shaded and community-minded than that.”
Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for ‘Union’.