About the Film

Labor, deindustrialization, and working-class politics in the United States. “The old American dream just seems to be gone,” says Walt Hill, a longtime United Steelworkers Union member and the Contract Coordinator for Local 1196 in the decaying steel town of Brackenridge, Pennsylvania. In March of 2021, the steelworkers of USW 1196 struck, citing unfair labor practices. Over the next four months, “Local 1196” follows from late night conversations on the picket lines, to fiery debates at the union hall, to the living rooms of the members, themselves. Taken together, this film gives unique insight and access into the daily struggles of America’s blue-collar workers. The film embeds with leaders of a demographic widely stereotyped, sometimes taken for granted, sometimes ridiculed, but rarely given the chance to share their world, in their own words. As Walt puts it in the film, “I think that this fight shows that, at least here, we’re fighting back.”