Release New Short Documenting December Strike At Amazon, As Their Award-Winning Feature Film Goes Oscar Nomination

[Omaha Steve]

Amazon workers on strike in 'Local One'
Level Ground Productions/photo by Luigi Morris

https://deadline.com/2025/01/union-directors-release-new-amazon-strike-documentary-1236255157/

By Matthew Carey January 13, 2025 10:15am

EXCLUSIVE: The directors of Union are releasing what might be called a mini-sequel to their Oscar-shortlisted documentary feature. The companion short, titled Local One, can be watched below or on the Field of Vision website.

In their 10-minute short, directors Stephen Maing and Brett Story document in verité style the largest strike in the history of Amazon, the $2.3 trillion retail behemoth founded by Jeff Bezos. The labor action sprang up almost a month ago at the height of the Christmas package delivery season, with workers at Amazon facilities dotted across the country picketing for better wages, benefits, and working conditions, and a demand that Amazon negotiate with them on a contract.

It’s impossible to imagine the strike happening without the events shown in Union, a film that made the Oscar shortlist despite having no U.S. distribution. The documentary explores how ex-Amazon worker Chris Smalls and allies launched the first successful unionization drive at an Amazon “sortation center,” a warehouse located in Staten Island, New York, overcoming intense opposition from Amazon management.

The successful vote for the Amazon Labor Union took place in April 2022. Two years later, the ALU affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union (the Teamsters, as the documentary illustrates, initially displayed reluctance to back the longshot unionizing bid by Smalls and allies).

The December strike at Amazon sorting facilities
Level Ground Productions/photo by Luigi Morris

FULL story at link above.