Porto Maghera Strike and Its Impact in Employment Relationship Essay

Porto Maghera Strike and Its Impact in Employment Relationship - Essay Example Based on this research the labor condition of the United States of America today will never be the same if not for the various battles and protests our countrymen fought for. Indeed, the labor history of America is extensive and extended episodes of human drama which are deemed important and necessary towards the emancipation of American workers. The established labor laws and rules were somehow abusive and clear violations to human rights. The power was centralized within the organization leaders and the laborers were controlled at all cost to institute fear, thus ensure compliance. However, with the continuous fights that the American laborers went through and the unceasing cause that they all stood up for, slowly the labor condition in the history of the United States changed dramatically in favor of the common people. True that these changes and improvements caused difficulties, struggles, and even lives. As America learned to unite and formed unions to battle against discriminat ion and prejudice, gain the right to representation, and utilize the collective bargaining process as the heart of their actions, the American workforce eventually found success in building a strong labor movement that brought the labor industry as to what it is today. Labor movements are products of intense yearning for equality and balanced control between the management and the employees. The unequal power that exists within a workplace and the institution that dominate an organization often lead to oppressed and exploited workers. In time, these workers will break out from these abusive power relations and institutionally prescribed rules to instigate changes in their roles as workers, thus labor unions or strike. As labor historian Jeremy Brecher said: â€Å"In periods of mass strike, workers act outside of institutionally prescribed roles. They reinvent themselves as historical actors and as part of a group making history together. When workers strike and otherwise withdraw t heir cooperation from existing institutions, they reveal that those institutions are not the fixed things they appear – that in reality they depend on the living human beings whose activity makes them up. Win or lose, mass strikes reveal the truth about social relations hidden in an alienated society.† (Brecher 1997, p. 275) In this paper, the subject of strike or labor union will be explored in terms of how it changes and improves the course of labor conditions, specifically when it comes to employee relations and roles of taken on by the management and the employees. This discussion, however, will not focus on the American labor history, but rather on the general impact that labor union brings to the society and working conditions of people. In order to successfully present the topic, the case of Porto Marghera workers will be examined through the documentary film Porto Marghera: The Last Firebrands (2004) to find out how the workers of Porto Marghera struggled for be tter working conditions and eventually improved employee relations. Porto Marghera: The Last Firebrands (2004) Porto Marghera: The Last Firebrands (2004) is a documentary film detailing the historical encounter of independent workers’ union in the industrial region of Venice, Italy during the late 60s and early 70s. This film features the real life experiences of the worker-activists at Porto Maghera petrochemical works and outlines the intricate and often on edge relations between employees and political militants and shifting class organization through crucial instances of fights. This documentary shows how radical formation of political unions and ideologies towards their liberation from abusive working environment led the workers at the plant to challenge the conventional labor power structure and capital and change the course of labor condition in their favor. In the film, the featured petrochemical workers