Bread and Roses | |
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Directed by | Ken Loach |
Written by | Paul Laverty |
Produced by | Rebecca O'Brien |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Barry Ackroyd |
Edited by | Jonathan Morris |
Music by | George Fenton |
Production company | see production |
Distributed by | FilmFour Distributors (United Kingdom) Alta Films (Spain) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
Countries |
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Languages |
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Box office | $533,479 |
Bread and Roses is a 2000 film directed by Ken Loach, starring Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody and Elpidia Carrillo. The plot deals with the struggle of poorly paid janitorial workers in Los Angeles and their fight for better working conditions and the right to unionize. It is based on the "Justice for Janitors" campaign of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), [1] and the lead union organizer, Sam Shapiro, is based on SEIU organizer Jono Shaffer. [2]
The film is critical of inequalities in the United States. Health insurance in particular is highlighted and it is also stated in the film that the pay of cleaners and other low paying jobs has declined in recent years.
The film's name, "Bread and Roses", derives from the 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Though the phrase comes from a 1911 poem by James Oppenheim (which was, in turn, based on a speech given by Rose Schneiderman), it is commonly associated with the Lawrence strike, which united dozens of immigrant communities, led to a large extent by women, under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Maya, a recently arrived illegal immigrant in Los Angeles, is eager to build a new life away from her old one, where she briefly worked in a bar. She desires to work in a high-rise building as a janitor alongside her sister Rosa. Once employed, Maya discovers the stark disparity in wages and working conditions that the janitors, many of them immigrants, face daily.
Soon after starting her job, Maya encounters Sam, a janitor's union organizer. Sam's mission is to sign up workers in the building for the union, hoping to address their grievances. Maya is receptive to Sam's cause, seeing an opportunity for better wages and conditions. However, her sister Rosa is skeptical, fearful of losing their jobs amidst the push for unionization. They stage a protest at a house-warming party for a prominent Hollywood agency located in the same building they clean. The janitors' plight becomes a point of contention within the building and draws attention to the exploitation many of them face.
The following companies produced the film: [3]
The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival [4] and won the Jury Award at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival in 2000.
In 2001, it was nominated for the Artios award of the Casting Society of America, for the British Independent Film Awards for Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay, and won the Phoenix Prize at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
In 2002, it was nominated for four ALMA Awards, of which it won the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Elpidia Carrillo) and also won the Imagen Award for Best Theatrical Feature Film of the Imagen Foundation Awards.
Adrien Nicholas Brody is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's war drama The Pianist (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at age 29, becoming the youngest actor to win in that category. He also became the second American male actor to win the César Award for Best Actor for the same film.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare, including hospital, home care and nursing home workers; public services ; and property services.
Elpidia Carrillo is a Mexican actress and director. Her career includes roles in both film and television. Internationally she is best known for supporting roles in the Predator, Bread and Roses,Nine Lives and Blue Beetle.
Justice for Janitors (JfJ) is a social movement organization that fights for the rights of janitors across the US and Canada. It was started on June 15, 1990, in response to the low wages and minimal health-care coverage that janitors received. Justice for Janitors includes more than 225,000 janitors in at least 29 cities in the United States and at least four cities in Canada. Members fight for better wages, better conditions, improved healthcare, and full-time opportunities.
The Federation of Hospital And University Employees is a coalition of labor unions in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, which represents thousands of workers at Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital. The federation currently includes recognized unions UNITE HERE Locals 34 and 35, which represent university food service, maintenance, and custodial workers, and clerical and technical workers, respectively. UNITE HERE has also, for the last fifteen years, supported the organizing efforts of graduate student teachers and researchers in the Graduate Employees and Students Organization. Finally, the Federation also includes the 150 dietary workers at Yale New Haven Hospital who are members of Local 1199NE of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Since 1998, this union has conducted an organizing campaign of about 1,800 other blue-collar service workers at the hospital. On March 22, 2006, the union and hospital agreed to an agreement governing the conduct of both parties in a neutral election process by which hospital employees will be able to vote on whether to unionize.
The Great Steel Strike of 1919 was an attempt by the American Federation of Labor to organize the leading company, United States Steel, in the American steel industry. The AFL formed a coalition of 24 unions, all of which had grown rapidly during World War I. In the lead role would be the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers (AA) with a five-member steering committee. The strike began on September 22, 1919, and finally collapsed on January 8, 1920. The opposition led by Elbert H. Gary, president of U.S. Steel had triumphed.
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AA) was an American labor union formed in 1876 to represent iron and steel workers. It partnered with the Steel Workers Organizing Committee of the CIO, in November 1935. Both organizations disbanded May 22, 1942, to form a new organization, the United Steelworkers.
Paul Laverty is a screenwriter and lawyer best known for his screenplays for films directed by Ken Loach.
Eliseo Vasquez Medina is a Mexican-American labor union activist and leader, and advocate for immigration reform in the United States. From 1973 to 1978, he was a board member of the United Farm Workers. He is currently secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union. He was previously an international executive vice president, the first Mexican American to serve on the union's executive board. Medina announced his resignation as an SEIU executive vice president effective October 1, 2013.
A union organizer is a specific type of trade union member or an appointed union official.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, corrections officers, sanitation workers, police officers, firefighters, and childcare providers. Founded in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1932, AFSCME is part of the AFL–CIO, one of the two main labor federations in the United States. AFSCME has had four presidents since its founding.
George Hardy was a Canadian-American labour leader who was president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) from 1971 to 1980. At the time of his death, SEIU had grown to become the fifth-largest affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Hardy was a vice president of the AFL-CIO from 1972 to 1980, and a member of its executive council. He was a former member of the Democratic National Committee and the California Democratic State Central Committee.
Labor unions in the United States, since their early beginnings, have held various viewpoints on immigration. There were differences among the labor unions and occasionally opposition to contemporary majority opinions and public policies.
Mary Kay Henry is an American labor union activist who was International President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) from May 8, 2010 until her retirement on May 20, 2024. She was the first woman to lead the union. While serving with the union in California, she helped pioneer SEIU's use of card check agreements, non-traditional collective bargaining agreements, comprehensive campaigns, and system-wide health care organizing strategies. Henry was included on Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
The University of Miami Justice for Janitors campaign was a nine-week strike by custodial workers at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, which lasted from February 28, 2006 to May 3, 2006.
A master contract or master agreement is a collective bargaining agreement which covers all unionized worksites in an industry, market or company, and which establishes the terms and conditions of employment common to all workers in the industry, market or company.
The Bread and Roses Heritage Festival is an annual, open-air festival in Lawrence, Massachusetts that celebrates labor history, cultural diversity, and social justice. It is a free, day-long event featuring live music and dance, children’s activities, theater and spoken word performances, walking and trolley tours, ethnic food, Lawrence History Live! and information from local organizations involved in social justice issues. The Bread And Roses Heritage Committee produces the event. The festival has occurred every year on Labor Day since its inception in 1986. Bread and Roses is the only broadly multicultural festival in Lawrence, the Immigrant City. The festival's name refers to the "Bread and Roses strike" of 1912, when over 20,000 immigrant workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts protested wage cuts for over two months, led by the Industrial Workers of the World. The strike was notable for its short-term success, despite ethnic divisions among the workers and the preponderance of women among the protesters.
Nagi Daifullah was a Yemeni migrant to the United States and union organizer with the United Farm Workers. He was a strike captain during the 1973 grape farmers' strike organized by Cesar Chavez. Daifullah spoke Arabic, English, and Spanish, and was integral in not only organizing the Yemeni community but also transcending ethnic and linguistic barriers between workers. One report by the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee comments on Daifullah's importance as a strike leader:
Nagi Daifullah came to this country from his native Yemen, looking for a better life. Yemenese farm workers are the latest group to come to California and be exploited by state growers. Most of them, like Nagi, are young men in their early twenties, shy and slight of frame. Moslem, they speak no english and live in barren labor camps. They come because Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 1977, average annual income was $94. Nagi was 5 ft. tall and weighed 100 lbs. Unlike many of his fellow workers, he had learned English. Many times he served as an interpreter for union organizers. An active UFW member, he provided important leadership for workers on strike at Farms near Arvin and Lamont, California.
The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees or CODE-CWA is a project launched by the Communications Workers of America to unionize tech and video game workers in January 2020. It sprung out of conversations with Game Workers Unite (GWU) and employed at least two full time staff, including GWU co-founder Emma Kinema and veteran SEIU organizer Wes McEnany. In 2022, Jessica Gonzalez joined, a former Activision Blizzard QA tester.
Madres is a 2021 American horror film written by Mario Miscione and Marcella Ochoa directed by Ryan Zaragoza. It stars Ariana Guerra, Tenoch Huerta, Elpidia Carrillo, Kerry Cahill, Jennifer Patino, Britton Webb, and Evelyn Gonzalez. The film is the seventh installment in the anthological Welcome to the Blumhouse film series.