How shall I begin my story
that has no beginning?
In these brooks, my great grandfather raised cattle
before the English ever came.
Our roots go deep in this place,
deeper than the pain,
deeper than the mine shafts.
This is my village.
When I was a child, it was called San Marcos.
The Anglos changed the name to Zinc Town.
Zinc Town, New Mexico,
USA.
This is our home.
The house is not ours
but the flowers, the flowers are ours.
My name is Esperanza, Esperanza Quintero.
I am a miner's wife.
18 years my husband has given to that mine,
living half his life with dynamite and darkness.
The land where the mine stands
that was owned by my husband's own grandfather.
Now it belongs to the company.
Who can say when it began?
My story.
I do not know.
But this day I remember is the beginning of an end.
It was my Saint's Day.
I was 35 years old,
a day of celebration.
And I was 7 months gone
with my 3rd child.
And on that day, I remember
I had a wish.
It felt so sinful.
It felt so evil
that I prayed to the Virgin
to forgive me for it.
I wished
I wished that my child would never be born
No, not into this world.
Are you sick, mama?
No, Estilita.
Are you sad?
Are we going to church for a confession?
Fighting again,
with Anglo kids.
Oh, they think they're tough.
But you promised me you wouldn't.
Papa says if an Anglo makes funny, to let him have it.
Never mind what your papa... Hold still!
- Does it hurt? - No.
- How come the cake? - Never mind the cake.
Go get your father when he comes off shift.
Tell him to come straight home.
He had a little trouble, defective fuse.
You're all in one piece, so what's the beef?
You know, this new rule of yours that we work alone.
We're taking it up with the Super.
Super's busy with your Negotiating Committee.
- So much the better. - Now wait a minute.
Super's the one who made the rule.
He ain't going to give you no help.
He will if he wants us to go on blasting!
Read your contract,
or somebody to read it for you.
It don't say nothing about no helper.
Listen Mr Burton, you're blunting that mine.
The blood of my friends, all because they had to work alone.
That's how you get flooded with all the rocks,
when there's nobody to help check the fuse.
And nobody to warn the other men to stay clear.
Warning's the shift foreman's job.
Foreman wants to get the ore out.
Miner wants to get his brothers out, in one piece.
You work alone, savvy?
You can't handle the job, I'll find someone who can.
Who? A scab?
An American.
- Mama. - Shhh!
Not a word about the cake, you hear?
Papa, is there going to be a strike?
Ramon, I don't like to bother you, but
the store lady said that
if we don't make another payment on the radio this month,
they'll come and take it away.
We're only one payment behind.
I argued with her.
It isn't right.
It isn't right, you say.
Was it right that we bought this instrument?
But you had to have it, didn't you?
It was nice to listen to.
I listen to it every night
when you are out at the beer parlour.
"No money down. Easy term payment. "
I tell you something:
This instalment plan. It's a curse on the working man.
- Where are you going? - Got to talk to the brothers.
This water's cold again.
- I'm sorry, the fire's gone out. - Forget it.
Forget it?
I chop wood for the stove 5 times a day,
every time I remember.
I remember that they cause a crack.
The Anglo miners have hot water in pipes
and bathrooms inside.
Do you think I like living this way?
What do you want?
But if your union...
if you're asking for better conditions,
why can't you ask for decent plumbing, too?
We did, got lost in the shuffle.
- What? - We can't get everything at once.
Right now we have more important demands.
What's most important than sanitation?
Safety of the men; that's more important.
Five accidents this week,
all because of speedup.
You're a woman. You don't know what it's like up there.
First we got to get equality on the job.
Then we'll work on these other things.
- Leave it to the men. - I see.
The men ...
your strike may be for your demands,
but what wife wants, that comes later, always later.
Now don't you start talking against the union again.
What has it got me, your union?
Esperanza, have you forgotten what it was like
before the union came?
when Estela was a baby and we couldn't even afford a doctor when she was sick?
It was for our families we met in graveyard
to build that union.
Alright. Have your strike.
I'll have my baby.
But no hospital will take me because I'm a striker's wife.
So they'll cut off our credit and the kids will go hungry.
We'll get behind on the payments again
and they'll come and take away the radio.
Is that all you care about? That radio?
Can't you think of anything except yourself?
If I think of myself,
it's because you never think of me.
Never.
- Never. - Stop it.
The children are watching. Stop it!
It's a problem that has to be taken care of.
The company will always [inaudible].
They know it's not safe for miners to work alone.
But they don't work alone in other mines.
Anglos always work in pairs.
Oh why should I risk my life?
Because I'm a Mexican?
- That's in the demands. - We're negotiating.
3 months of negotiations.
Nothing happened.
Even with brother Barnes here, from the International.
What have we got?
No raise, no seniority, no safety codes, nothing!
Take a drink. Calm down.
I say we got to take action, now.
Do the rest of the men feel the way you do?
He talks for all of us.
Do you ever stop to think
maybe they WANT us to strike?
Not with a war boom on.
Then why is the company hanging tough?
They signed contracts with the other locals.
Why not this one?
Because most of us here are Mexicans Americans.
Because we want equality with Anglo miners.
The same pay, same conditions.
Exactly.
And equality's the one thing the bosses can't afford.
The biggest club they have over the Anglo locals is:
"Well, at least you get more than the Mexicans ".
OK. So discrimination hurts the Anglo, too.
but it hurts me more.
And I've had enough of it.
But you don't pull a strike when the bosses want it,
so they can smash your union.
You wait till you're ready so you can win.
Do the bosses wait?
No sanitation, so my kids get sick.
Does the company doctor wait?
Twenty bucks.
So I miss one payment on the radio I bought for my wife.
The company store wait? "Pay or we take it away."
Why is the boss' store in such a hurry?
Trying to scare us, that's why.
To make us afraid to move.
To hang on to what we got and like it.
Well I don't like it, and I'm not scared.
And I'm fed up, to here.
Hey, Ramon, see who's looking for you.
What are you doing here?
- Something wrong with mama? - I thought maybe you forgot.
Forgot what?
It's mama's Saints Day.
What a kid! He can't wait.
That's my wife's Saints Day.
I was going to ask you brothers,
- how about a Mañanita, huh? - What time?
For Mañanita, the later the better.
Why are they singing?
They're singing for me.
Can we light the candles?
Now we can light the candles.
Happy Birthday!
I will not need to weep again.
Why should I weep for joy?
I'm a fool.
No, you aren't.
Was it expensive, the beer?
Antonio paid for it.
Forgive me for saying you never thought of me.
I did forget.
Luis told me.
All the next week, I kept thinking about my Mañanita.
I had never had so nice a party.
It was like a sun burning through my mind.
One, two three.
A day dream.
to lighten the long day's work.
We all forgot our problems at the Mañanita,
even Ramón.
I couldn't dance that night,
not in my condition.
but I wasn't really jealous when he danced with the others,
because it was good, just to see him smile again.
And then one morning, I was hanging out my wash.
and while were talking, the ladies came.
They were a kind of delegation.
It was about the sanitation, they said.
The Anglo miners had bathrooms
and hot running water.
Why shouldn't we?
I know, I spoke to Ramon about it,
only a week ago.
He said they dropped it from the union demands.
We've got to make them understand,
make the men face up to it.
Show her the sign.
We'll make a lot of signs like this.
Then we'll get all the wives together and go right up to the mine.
- To the mines? - Sure!
With our negotiating, and the company offers will go up,
then picket the place.
Then both sides will see we mean business.
- A picket line of ladies? - Sure, why not?
- You can count me in! - Ruth!
Listen, we ought to be in a wood choppers' union.
Chop wood for breakfast, chop wood - wash his clothes,
chop wood - heat the iron, chop wood - scrub floors,
chop wood - cook his dinner,
and do you know what he will say when he comes home?
"What have you been doing all day? Reading funny papers?
Come on, Esperanza. How about it? We got to.
No, no. I can't.
If Ramon ever found me in a picket line,
He'd what? Beat you?
No, no.
Accident.
It's Kalinski.
Here we go.
Let me see. Let me see!
- Let me see him! - Now Mrs Kalinski, he's all right.
He'll be all right. You stay here.
How did this happen?
He wandered into a drift when that fellow was blasting.
I told you it would happen.
Its bound to happen when a man works alone.
- Why didn't you give the men a warning signal?
Your foreman says that's the foreman's job.
I checked the pit just before he blasted,
it was all clear.
The man must have been asleep, or something.
You weren't even there. You were back at the station.
Kalinski old me.
You're a liar, Pancho.
- A no good, dirty... - Shut it.
Get a hold on yourself.
A man's been hurt.
I'm as sorry about it as you are, savvy?
Accidents are costly to everyone,
To the company, most of all.
Now I see no reason to treat the occasion like a paid holiday
Suppose you all get back to work.
Come on fellows. The excitement's over. Let's get to it.
[men speaking in Spanish]
What are they saying?
No savvy.
Now Barnes, what about it?
Tell the men to get back to work.
They don't work for me. I work for them.
Luis.
It's up to you, brothers.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.....
"We want sanitation. Not discrimination. "
That night, the men held a union meeting
just to make the walkout official.
Didn't take them long.
They voted to strike 93 to 5.
And Teresa said, now was the time for us to go in.
I didn't want to.
I have never been to a union meeting.
But the others said: "One go, all go."
The meeting was nearly over when we came in.
Charlie Vidal was making a speech.
He said there was only one issue in this plight -
equality.
But the mine owners
would stop at nothing.
to keep them from getting equality.
He said the bosses would try to split the Anglo workers
and the Mexican-American workers,
and offer work to one man
if he would sell out his brother.
Yes. You ladies have an announcement?
We don't have an announcement,
- only the ladies wanted me to... - Louder!
Consuela. Will you speak from over here?
The ladies have been talking about sanitation.
And we were thinking if the issue is equality,
like you say it is,
then maybe we ought to have equality
in planning too.
I mean, maybe we could make it a strike event.
Some of the ladies thought
it might be a good idea to have a ladies auxiliary.
Well, we'd like to help out if we can.
I think I can speak for all the brothers
in saying we appreciate
the ladies offering to help.
But, it's getting late
and I suggest that we table it.
The chair will entertain a motion to adjourn.
- I so move. - Second.
- All those in favour? - Aye.
Opposed? So ordered!
It's just a question of when.
Why didn't you support her? You're the worst of the lot.
But Teresa, you can't push these things too fast.
You were pushing, all right,
pushing us right back in our place
Why didn't you check this thing with me? It's embarrassing!
At least you didn't make a fool of yourself, like Consuelo.
It's not a bad idea
to make sanitation one of our demands.
- But honey. - Oh why don't you just put a sign outside?
"No dogs, no women allowed."
And so it began,
much like any other strike.
There would be no settlement, the company said,
till the men returned to their jobs.
But their back-to-work movement didn't work.
And so the company recruited
a few strike-breakers from out of town.
But they usually lost their nerve
when they saw the size of the picket line.
The sheriff's men were always there.
They stood around, showing off their weapons.
But the men only marched.
Day after day, week after week.
At first it was an unwritten rule
that women stay at home.
The Union gave us rations,
and we had to figure out
how to feed our families on them.
But then one morning, Mrs Salazar went to the picket line
Her husband had been killed in a strike
many years before
and she wanted to be there.
Nobody remembers just how it happened
but one day,
Mrs Salazar started marching with them,
and she kept on marching with them.
After a while,
some of the other women
began to bring coffee for their husbands
and maybe a couple of tacos,
because a man gets tired
and hungry on picket duty.
It was about that time the Union decided
maybe they'd better set up
he Ladies' Auxiliary, after all.
I didn't come to the lines at first.
My time was near.
And besides, Ramón didn't approve.
But Ramón is a man who loves good coffee
and he swore the other ladies
made it taste like zinc sludge.
So one day, I made the coffee.
[SIGNS] "WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED"
"HELPERS FOR MINERS"
Prieto, Sebastián Prieto?
Haven't seen him for three days now.
Hey, Ramón, listen to this.
Chief foreman come to me last night
said he'd make a shift foreman out of me,
if I start the back-to-work movement.
"Jenkins, why string along with them tamale-eaters?"
I just said I'd come to like tamales fine.
Two scabs got through on the other side of the hill.
We chased the rest back.
- Recognise them? - Anglos from out of town.
But they're not miners, I could tell that.
They don't know zinc from shinola.
OK, take five. Get yourself a cup of coffee.
Hey, Ramón, here comes the Super.
- Morning. - How's it going?
Well, those new fellows you hired from out of town,
we brought them up here by truck this morning.
They took one look at that picket line, turned tail.
They don't look so rough to me.
Well, Mr Hartwell,
they've got some pretty tough hombres there,
especially that picket captain.
What's his name? Ray?
Raymond, something or other.
Oh, yes, I know that one.
That's their main picket line.
They have another post on the back road
and roving patrols all over the place.
On company property?
Why don't you have them thrown off?
It's all company property, Mr Hartwell.
The store, the housing area, everything.
Where are you going to throw them?
And who does the throwing?
Well, are they going to let us pass?
Eventually.
This is just a little ritual to impress us with their power.
Now, why don't you let these gentlemen pass?
Don't you know who's in that car?
It's the paymaster from Moscow, with our gold.
No, no! It's the president of the company himself.
Come all the way out here to make Jenkins general manager.
So why are you acting so mean?
Childish!
Well, they're like children in many ways.
Sometimes you have to humour them, and sometimes
you have to take their food away.
Oh, here comes the one we were talking about.
It is quite a character.
Claims his grandfather once owned the land
where the mine is now.
Want to go up to your office, Mr Alexander?
Naturally.
You think I parked here for a cup of coffee?
- You're welcome to one. - No thanks.
The men would like to know who this gentleman is.
That's none of their affair.
It's all right. It's no secret.
My name's Hartwell.
I'm from the company's eastern office.
- You mean Delaware? - No, New York. - New York?
You're not the company president, by any chance?
- No. - Too bad.
The men have always wanted to take a look at the president.
Did you come out here to settle the strike?
Well, if that's possible.
t's possible. Just negotiate.
Are we talking to a Union spokesman?
Not exactly.
But I wish he were one.
He knows more about mining
than those pie-cards we've had to deal with.
I mean it. I know your work record.
You were in line for foreman when this trouble started.
Did you know that?
Yes, sir, you had a real future with this company.
But you let those Reds stir you up
and now they'll sell you down the river.
- Why don't you wake up, Ray? - Huh?
That's your name, isn't it? Ray?
My name is Quintero.
Mr Quintero.
Are you going to let us pass,
or do I have to call the sheriff?
There's nothing stopping you.
I was wrong.
They don't want Jenkins for general manager.
They want me!
You should have heard that fellow. What a line.
I was up for a foreman, he says. Imagine!
- What's the matter? - It's nothing.
Just a little catch.
Papa! Papa! Over here!
Is that Luis?
What is he doing, playing hooky again?
Luis, come back here!
Papa, we've seen the two scabs over there!
They're hiding over there in the gully!
Hold it, brothers!
You, Antonio, Alfredo, Cente, come with me.
The rest of you stay on the line.
Luis! Ramón!
- That's them. - Where? - There they go!
Prieto!
Sebastián.
- Prieto. - Ramón, listen to me.
- For the love of God! - You? You?!
I'd expect it of an Anglo but you!
Ramon, I'm in a jam. I had to get a job!
You, Judas!
Bloodsucker!
Ramón, my kids.
My kids don't have enough to eat.
You think my kids have enough to eat, you rat?
I know it's wrong. Just let me go.
I'll leave town. Just let me go!
You think I was going to work you over?
I wouldn't dirty my hands on you.
Papa!
Luis!
The baby! Get the women, quick!
Why do you stop?
Want to have a little talk with you,
why you slugged that fellow back there.
But that's a lie. I didn't.
Now, you know that's no way to talk to a white man.
Oh, no, no!
Go back and get a blanket, you idiots, so we can carry her!
Hey, Vance, I thought you said this bullfighter was full of pepper.
Don't look so peppery now.
Oh, but he is. He is full of chilli, this one.
He likes it hot.
His Chiquita makes it good and hot for him, don't she, Pancho?
Sheriff, we need a doctor quick.
There's a woman going to have a baby.
What do you take me for, an ambulance driver?
There's a company doctor.
We don't have a car. If you'll just get him.
Are you kidding?
Company doctor won't come to no picket line.
We can't get her home. There isn't time. Take her inside.
Hold your head up, Pancho. That's no way to sit.
I'll outlive you all, you lice.
How's that? What's that spic talk?
Oh God!
Forgive me for wishing this child would never be born.
Oh! Mother of God! Have mercy. Ooh!
Have mercy on this child.
Let this child live.
Ay! Oh my God, Esperanza!
Ramón! Aah!
Ramon was in the hospital for a week
and then in the county jail for 30 days,
charged with assault and resisting arrest.
But I made up my mind
to postpone the christening
till he got out of jail.
We christened him Juan.
That night we had a double celebration.
Juanito's christening, Ramón's homecoming.
And we put all the children
to sleep in the bedroom, as usual.
And the men took over the parlour, as usual.
- Five thousand dollars. - That beats.
- Raise you $10,000. - You dog.
- All right, let's see them. - Aces, wired.
Come to papa!
Hear those deputies slugged Cente.
Yeah. Been lots of provocation lately.
They figure if they can lock up the leadership,
on some phoney charge,
maybe they can bust the strike.
Are we going to let them play poker all night?
- I want to dance. - With whose husband?
With any of them, even my own.
If you dance with my husband, you'll have to put up with this.
And another thing, your attitude towards Anglos.
- If you're going to be a leader.. - What attitude?
You lump them all together.
Anglo workers and Anglo bosses.
He's a guest in my house, isn't he?
You're even suspicious of him.
Maybe.
I think he's got a few things to learn about our people.
Go on. Spill it.
Well, you're the organiser.
You work out strike strategy,
and most of the time you're dead right.
But when you figure everything the rank-and-file's to do, down to the last detail,
you don't give us anything to think about.
Are you afraid we're too lazy to take initiative?
You know I don't think that.
Maybe not, but there's another thing.
Like when you came in tonight.
I heard you ask your wife,
"Who's that, his grandfather?"
That's Juárez, the father of México.
If I wouldn't know a picture of George Washington,
you would say I was an awful dumb Mexican.
I've never seen it fail.
Try to give Ramón a friendly criticism
and he kicks it right back in your face.
No, he's right. I got a lot to learn.
Makes you feel any better,
he's got even less use for women.
What are they talking about in there?
Discussing each other's weaknesses.
I didn't know they had any.
Right now Ramón's on the receiving end.
If we shut out the women from the life of the Union...
Come on, bet!
Let's break up that game.
We can't think of them just as housewives, but as partners.
And we have to treat them as such.
Well, look who's talking.
A new world's champion of women's rights.
Oh, cut it out, Ruth.
Me? I'm a camp follower,
following this organiser from one mining camp to another.
Montana, Colorado, Idaho.
But does he ever think to organise the women? No.
Wives don't count in the Anglo locals, either.
Not that I like the way you treat your wife, Ramón.
I think you're all wrong.
But when Dr Barnes here gives you his
cure-all for female problems,
just ask him if he's tried it at home.
Hey, Esperanza.
Esperanza's nursing the baby.
There goes the game.
Good.
Consuelo, turn up the radio.
Come on, Papa. On your feet.
Look at him!
A fighter, huh?
He was born fighting,
and born hungry.
Drink. Drink Juanito.
You'll never have it so good.
He'll have it good,
someday.
What were they saying about you in there?
They say I'm no good to you.
You are no good to me in jail.
I'd lie in my cell in my cot and I couldn't sleep,
with the bugs and the stink and the heat,
and I'd say to myself,
think of something nice,
something beautiful,
and then I'd think of you,
and my heart would pound against the cot for love of you.
Not just Juanito.
You'll have it good too, Esperanza.
We're going to win this strike.
What makes you so sure?
Because if we lose, we lose more than a strike.
We lose the Union, and the men know it.
And if we win, we win more than a few demands.
We win something bigger. Hope.
Hope for our kids.
Juanito can't grow strong on milk alone.
- Is this the Quintero place? - What do you want?
We've got a court order.
You can't come in here without a warrant.
We got the warrant, too.
We don't want no trouble. All we want's this radio here.
We hate to break in on you folks like this but
but this here fellow owns the radio store
and he got himself a repossession order.
Don't touch it.
We don't want no trouble, Mr Quintero.
We got orders to repossess this machine.
I said, don't touch it.
- Let them take it. - Over my dead body.
I don't want your dead body!
I don't want you back in jail, either.
But, it's yours. I won't let them!
Can't you see they want to start a fight so they can lock you all up at one time?
What are you so sad about? Let's have some real music.
The strike did not end.
It went on into the fourth month,
the fifth, the sixth.
The company still refused to negotiate.
They printed lies about us in their newspapers.
They said that all the Mexicans
ought to be sent back where they came from.
How can I go back where I come from?
The shack that I was born in is buried under company property!
Why don't nobody ever tell the bosses to go back to where they came from?
There wouldn't be any bosses in the state of New Mexico if they did.
Brother, live to see the day.
Jenkins ain't no boss.
You mean we're going to let people like Jenkins stay here?
You can't send him back to Oklahoma.
It would be inhuman!
But I was born in Texas.
- Oh, no! - That's even worse!
And the seventh month came.
We couldn't buy food at the company store.
By now, the strike fund was nearly gone.
A few families couldn't take it any longer.
And where they went, we do not know.
And so it was decided by the Union
that hardship cases should seek work in other mines.
The strikers who found jobs
divided their pay with the Union
so the rest of us might eat.
Ramón was not a hardship case,
only three children to feed.
Even so, the mine owners might have starved us out
were it not for the help
we got from our International in Denver,
and from the other locals.
And we preferred no-one outside our county
knew of our troubles.
or cared if they didn't know.
We found we were wrong.
Letters came from our own people of the south west.
From far away
Butte, Chicago, Birmingham, New York,
messages of solidarity
and the crumpled dollar bills of working men.
The women were helping,
and not just as cooks and coffee makers.
A few of the men made jokes about it,
but the work had to be done
so they let us stay.
No-one knew how great a change it was
till the day of the crisis.
The sheriff was smiling
so we knew he brought bad news.
The company had got a court injunction
ordering the strikers to stop picketing.
The Taft-Hartley Injunction, they called it.
It meant heavy fines and jail sentences
for the strikers if they disobeyed.
A decision had to be made at once
whether to obey the order
or not.
If we obey the Court,
the strike will be lost.
The scabs will move in as soon as our picket line is gone.
If we defy the Court,
our pickets will be arrested
and the strike will be lost anyway.
So there it is, brothers.
The bosses have us coming and going.
I want to say this.
No matter how you decide,
the International will back you up
as its always backed you up.
This is a democratic union.
The decision is up to you.
Brother Sherman.
If we give up now,
if we obey this rotten Taft-Hartley,
we are fools and cowards.
There is only one way - fight them!
Fight them all.
Come. We don't gain nothing.
They'll arrest us.
The men ... they made brave speeches.
But it seemed Brother Barnes was right.
The company had them coming and going.
It seemed the strike was lost.
Brother Chairman.
If you read the court injunction carefully,
you will see that it only prohibits striking miners from picketing.
We women are not striking miners.
We will take over your picket lines.
Don't laugh.
We have a solution; you have none.
Brother Quintero was right when he said
we'll lose 50 years of gains
if we lose this fight.
Your wives and children too.
But this we promise,
if women take your places on the picket line,
the strike will not be broken
and no scabs will take your jobs.
To pass a motion, only union members can make a motion.
- I so move. - Second.
You have heard the motion.
The floor is open for debate.
Luis asked: which was worse?
To hide behind a woman's skirt,
or go down on his knees before the boss?
Brothers, we don't count enough on our women.
The bosses don't tell us all that we lost.
And what the bosses win now,
because there is no unity between the men,
their wives and their sisters?
Carlotta Sanchez said
she didn't think picketing was proper for ladies.
It wasn't nice,
maybe even a sin.
I say let's give the sisters a chance.
And what will happen when the cops come
and beat our women up?
Are we going to stand there and watch them? No.
We'll take over anyway and we'll be right back where we started.
Only worse, even more humiliated.
Brothers. Brothers.
I beg you, don't allow this.
Call a question.
The questions have been called.
You brothers know what you are voting on.
That the sisters of the auxilliary take over the picket line.
All those in favour will so signify.
Brother Chairman, point of order.
I don't know anything about these questions of parliament.
You men are voting on something the women
are to do or not to do,
so I think it's only fair
if the women be allowed to vote,
especially if they have to do the job.
Brothers and sisters, it would be unconstitutional
to permit women to vote at a union meeting.
If there's no objection, we could adjourn this meeting.
[Women] No, no. no!
No, no, no. Wait, wait.
... and re-convene this meeting at a community mass meeting
with every adult entitled to a vote.
I so move.
Alright. On the motion to adjourn, all those in favour,
- will raise their hand. - Aye. Aye.
All those opposed?
The ayes have it.
Now every adult is entitled to a vote.
Who won the original question?
All those in favour that the sisters take over the picket line,
will so signify by raising their hands.
All those opposed?
The motion has carried, 103 to 85.
And so they came, the women.
They came from Zinctown, and the hills beyond,
from other mining towns,
women we had never seen before,
women who had nothing to do with the strike.
Somehow they heard about
the women's picket line and they came.
And the men came too.
I think they were afraid;
afraid the women wouldn't stand fast.
Or maybe afraid they would.
But not all the women went to the picket post;
some were forbidden by their husbands.
"It's not fair, I should be there with them."
After all, I'm the one who got the women the vote.
The union don't run my house.
Those Anglo dames stirred you up to make fools of yourselves.
but you don't see any of them down there.
Yes I do. There is Ruth Barnes.
She's the organiser's wife. She's got to be there!
No. She wants to be there.
And there is Mrs Kalinski.
Where's Jenkins wife? You don't see her on no picket line.
Anglo husbands can also be backward.
- Can be what? - Backward.
Can't I even put in an appearance?
- With a baby in your arms? - The baby likes to be walked.
It helps him burp.
Hey girls. Wait a minute. Don't you want to see my pistol?
Shut up!
What's so amusing? It's only a court order.
I'm not so sure about that, Mr Alexander.
Letter of the law, you know.
All that injunction stated is no picketing by miners.
Whose side are you on, anyway?
Don't get excited, they'll scatter like quails.
Well, let's get at it, before another 100 dames show up.
Alright boys.
- What about these? - Forget it; they'll scatter like quails.
He run over my wife!
They'll start shooting. They'll throw you in jail. Get back!
Why are you standing there? Do something!
Relax.
The women are getting hurt. We got to take over!
They're doing alright.
Anyway, it looks like you got your hands full.
♪ The union is our leader We shall not be moved ♪
♪ Just like a tree Standing by the water ♪
♪ We shall not be moved ♪
- Papa, I'm hungry. - So am I.
- Where's your mama? - [indecipherable].
Boy! Did you see the way mama whopped that deputy?
- Knocked the gun right out of... - I don't want you hanging around there, hear?
- You all right? - Sure.
- Must have been some experience for you, huh? - Yes.
I guess you had enough today to last you a lifetime.
- I go back tomorrow. Listen. You might get hurt. - I might.
If you think I'm going to play nursemaid from now on, you're crazy.
I've had these kids all day.
I've had them since the day they were born.
- I'm telling you. I don't stay home with these kids tomorrow. - OK.
Then tomorrow, I take the kids with me to the picket line.
And so I came back the next day
and every day for the next month.
I kept Juanito in the coffee shack.
And when the weather was good
and there was peace on the line,
I brought his crib outside.
Estela played with the little one
and Luis,
Luis was at school.
Ramon came every day, just watching.
The ladies,
well, they criticised Ramón for not keeping the kids.
For a while, the sheriff's men left us alone.
But then, they cursed us,
insulted us,
called us horrid names.
It started again.
They used tear-gas again.
And I took the baby away from the danger.
But we got burnt.
We spread out, as we had planned,
but they couldn't break our line.
They couldn't break it.
- Well? - I tried everything but shooting them down.
You haven't tried locking them up.
You want them all arrested?
No, just the ring leaders,
fire-eaters, the ones with big families.
Barton.
Where's that boy?
Hey you! Come here.
Alright, girls. Going to give you a choice.
Go home or go to jail.
No ifs and buts.
Get off the picket line or you get arrested.
OK. Point them out.
That one; Teresa Grant.
She's the leader.
You're under arrest. Home or the ?
What will it be?
Keep marching, sisters. Let's show some discipline.
- But Teresa! - They'll charge us with resisting arrest.
Keep marching, sisters. Keep marching!
Mrs Salazar, the old one.
Chana Diaz, that one, in the blue dress.
Luz Morales, that one.
Mrs Kalinski, the Anglo. Luz Morales, that one.
Mrs Kalinski, the Anglo.
Ruth Barnes, she's the Organiser's wife.
And Ana Alvarez, the pretty one.
And that one.
- With the baby? - She's Ramon Quintero's wife.
He doesn't like her being here.
Take care of the baby, Esperanda.
Don't worry about Juanito. He can take care of Estella, too.
No, the baby stays with me.
♪ The union is our leader We shall not be moved ♪
♪ Just like a tree That's standing by the water ♪
♪ We shall not be moved ♪
♪ ... shall not be moved ♪
♪ We shall not We shall not be moved ♪
♪ Just like a tree That's standing by the water ♪
♪ We shall not be moved ♪
Be quiet!
I told you ten times.
We have no food.
We have no beds.
We have no baths.
So, would you please, please
shut up!!
He can't drink this milk, it will make him sick.
It isn't formula.
I was a fool....
Do you not worry. We'll get some action.
The baby can't drink this store milk, we want his formula.
- What do you want? - The formula. The formula.
We want the formula.
Well, you can get the JP to swear our peace bonds
or you can hike the bail high enough to keep them in jail.
Keep them. What am I supposed to do?
Feed them out of my own pocket?
What I want to know, Mr Hartwell, is
when are you going to settle this thing?
- They won't negotiate with us. - What do you want, anyway?
The company has other mines.
Got to see the larger picture.
Once these people get out of hand,
What are you doing here? Ain't you seen enough of me?
I come for my kids. They're in your jail.
But you've played every trump in your hand.
They're not dead yet.
- Not every trump. - Such as what?
I can't shut them dames up.
They keep yelling about a formula.
- What? - A formula for the baby, or something.
His kid.
Hush, hush, hush!
Now, lookee here. I got you some milk for the baby.
So what's all the bellyaching about?
That milk is no good.
We want the formula.
If Juanito gets sick, you'll be responsible.
I am not running a drug store.
You girls got only yourselves to blame for this.
You could be back with your families in an hour.
All you got to do is to sign a pledge not to go back on the picket line.
Don't sign nothing for this stinker!
No, no, no!
We want the formula! We want the formula!
Where did that guy go?
Come here, Pancho. Come here.
Alright. Where's this baby?
And a little girl?
Will you kids get out of those baskets!
Three hours just to heat enough water to wash this stuff.
I'm telling you something.
If this strike is ever settled, which I doubt,
I'll never go back to that company unless they install hot running water for us.
Should have been a union demand from the beginning.
You're telling me?
It's like Charlie Vidal says, there's two kinds of slavery:
wage slavery and domestic slavery.
A woman's question, he calls it.
Woman question?
Yeah. The problem's what to do about it.
So, What does he want to do about them?
He says give them equality; equality in jobs,
equality at home and also sex equality.
What do you mean "sex equality"?
You know, [continues in Spanish].
He's some organiser, that Charlie.
He can truly organise a wife right out of your home.
Papa, can I leave now? There's a meeting of the junior shop stewart.
- The what? The junior shop stewart.
There's lots of ways we can help.
Don't I have enough troubles without them keeping you after reform school?
But you need all the help you can get.
You've got to help around the house.
You've got me doing everything! Mama never made me dry the dishes.
You should have helped her without being asked.
- How do you feel? - I'm OK. Four nights. How did you sleep?
We raised so much fuss they finally brought us seats.
I nearly lost my voice from yelling so much.
- And the baby? - They're asleep.
Did you have to sign a paper not to go back to the picket line?
No, no. We wouldn't do it.
But if you go back, they'll lock you up again.
No, the feds had enough of us.
We drove them crazy.
- Well? - It's all set.
Consuelo's squad can take the day off tomorrow.
- We're taking over. - Alright. We'll work it out.
We got to have a talk. You and me.
Alright, but later. We have got a meeting now.
A meeting?
Yes, to plan for the picket line tomorrow.
You can sit in, if you want.
Now. Let us see. Who's available?
Chana's husband is out of town on that delegation to see the governor.
And there are a whole lot of men going on a hunting expedition tomorrow.
30 or 40 of them, so their wives are out too.
But we can ask them to keep our kids while the rest....
What are we going to do about him Esperanza?
- Think about it. ...was heart-broken.
Maybe if a delegation of us talked to him.
I have to work it out with him myself.
I got a friend. He's got a friend in the Bureau of Mines.
You know what he said?
They aint never going to open that mine up again.
How come?
He says the ore's run out.
- Bull! - Lot of bull.
That's a rich mine, I know.
What the difference? He'll never settle with us. Never.
Hey! What do you know?
It's him! It's him, El Presidente.
- The president of the company. - Let me see this.
Listen to this.
"Man of distinction, J Hamilton Miller"
"financier, business executive, board chairman of Continental Texas"
"and president of Delaware Zinc Inc."
- Let me see. - Wait a minute now, some more.
"An enthusiastic sportsman and expert marksman,"
"Mr Miller manages to find time every year "
"for an African safari."
"He leaves this month for Kenya"
"where he hopes to bag his thirteenth lion. "
I'm going to frame this, look Ramón.
Got to look at the larger picture.
So the guy's a lion hunter.
What do you expect him to hunt? Rabbits?
Boy, oh boy, would I like to get me some venison.
I ain't tasted meat in four weeks.
How about it Ramón? Let's take off for a couple of days, huh?
Why ask me? Am I running this strike?
If you want permission to go over the hill,
go ask the Ladies Auxilliary.
I waited up till midnight.
You weren't waiting for me.
That meeting only lasted 10 minutes.
My first night I am home,
you're off to the beer parlour.
What is it?
Can't you bear the sight of me?
Be still!
But you wanted to talk.
Tell me.
We can't go on this way.
I just can't go on living with you, not this way
No, we can't go on this way
we can't go back to the old way either.
The old way? What's your new way?
What's it mean? You're right to neglect your kids?
- Where are you going? - Hunting.
- When? - Sun-up. - Alone? - No.
Ramon, you can't.
Why not? I'm not needed here.
But you are needed,
especially now, with most of the other men away.
You're the captain of the Stand-By squad.
Sure, the Stand-By Squad. Stand by for the funeral.
Whose funeral? We are doing all right.
There hasn't been a scab near the picket line for three days.
And you know why?
Because the company knows they can starve us out.
Even if it takes them another two or three months.
What's it to them if the mine's shut down a little longer?
It's a lot to them. They'd do anything to open that mine.
They got other mines.
You don't see the larger picture.
They got millions, millions.
They can outlast us and they know it.
You mean you're ready to give up?
Who said anything about giving up?
I'll never go back to that company on my knees, never.
But you want to go down fighting. Is that it?
I don't want to go down fighting.
I want to win.
Ramon. We are not getting weaker.
We are stronger than ever before.
They are getting weaker.
They thought they could break our picket line and they failed.
Now they can't win unless they pull out something big, and pull it out fast!
Like what?
I do not know.
But I can feel it coming.
It's like a lull before a storm.
Charlie Vidal says...
Charlie Vidal says...!!
Don't throw Charlie Vidal at me.
Charlie is my friend.
A new friend.
Why are you so afraid to accept me as your friend?
I do not know what you're talking about.
No, you don't care.
Have you learned nothing from this strike?
Why are you afraid to have me at your side?
Do you still think you can have dignity, only if I have none?
You speak of dignity after what you've done?
Yes, I talk of dignity.
The Anglo bosses look down on you and you hate them for it.
"Stay in your place, you dirty Mexican. "
But why must you say to me: "Stay in your place"?
Do you feel better having someone lower than you?
Shut up! You're talking crazy.
Whose neck shall I stand on to make me feel superior?
And what will I get out of this?
I don't want anything lower than what I am.
I am low enough already.
I want to rise and to push everything upwards as I go.
Will you be still?
And if you can't understand this, you are a fool
because you can't win this strike without me.
You can't win anything without me!
That would be the old way.
Never try it on me again. Never.
I'm going to bed now.
Sleep where you please, but not with me.
So they had a little taste of what it's like to be a woman,
and they ran away.
Ramon is right.
I spoke out of the bitterness in me
and he was hurt.
These changes come with pain,
for other husbands too,
not just Ramon.
You mean you're ready to give up?
I don't want to go down fighting.
I want to win.
Have you learnt nothing from this strike?
Ramon, we are not getting weaker.
We are stronger than ever before.
They are getting weaker.
I can feel it coming.
It's like the lull before the storm.
You know they can't win unless they pull out
something big and pull it out fast.
Brothers! We got to go back.
- Esperanza. Where's Ramon? - Did he go hunting with the others? Where?
- Where can we find him, do you know? - No.
Deer hunters. Deserters, that's what they are.
Something's wrong.
- Charlie, tell us. - Company has an eviction order.
Eviction! Eviction!
- Where? - At the Quintero's house.
Eviction!
- Where? - At the Quintero's house.
Eviction! Eviction!
Eviction!
Don't worry, Quintero's gone hunting with the others.
Evict him first; the rest will be easy.
Let the neighbours watch. It'll scare some sense into them.
Can't we do something?
Alright girls. Get back. Get back.
What's up? They are evicting Quintero.
Come on. Let's go.
Hey, hey, hey.
Hey. Leave them brats alone.
Come on. Let's get our work done.
Don't pay attention to them. Go back and get the rest of the stuff.
This is what we've been waiting for.
What are you saing?
This means they have given up trying to break our picket line.
Now we can all fight together.
All of us. Go get the women to pick up the stuff.
Now see here, Quintero. These women are obstructing justice.
You make them behave. Savvy?
I can't do nothing Sheriff. You know how it is.
They won't listen to a man anymore.
You want me to lock them up again?
You want them in your lock-up again?
Keep them out of the yard!
Hey. The guys from the open pit.
Yeah, and the guys from the mill.
Got any more ideas?
I don't make policy.
I'll talk to New York.
I think maybe we'd better
settle this thing,
for the present.
We did not know then we had won the strike.
Our hearts were full.
And when Ramon said: Thanks, sisters and brothers.
Esperanza, thank you.
You were right.
Together we can push everything up with us
as we go.
Then I knew we had won something they could never take away.
Something I could leave my children.
And they, the salt of the earth would inherit it.
Subtitles by DB