Bitter 2021 ATI strike focus of documentary, Zoom discussion

Caustic picket line conversations and fiery union hall debates will take center stage in an upcoming documentary about the bitter 2021 ATI strike that impacted 450 workers in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

“Local 1196: A Steelworkers Strike” gives a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of union workers and their families while they adjust to sudden unemployment. The walkout lingered more than three months.

Filmmaker Samuel George, from the Washington, D.C. nonpartisan think tank Bertelsmann Foundation, captured the voices of more than 50 steelworkers he described as discordant but determined.

“I got to know them and really had a chance to see things through their eyes,” said George, who traveled to Brackenridge to conduct extensive interviews and film from the picket lines.

“We wanted to explain the economic and labor challenges they faced. I think they felt ignored, and it was rare to have a chance to speak for themselves with this kind of depth.”

George will discuss his film during a free online event from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. It is sponsored by the Battle of Homestead Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the vibrant industrial and labor history of Western Pennsylvania.

Register at eventbrite.com to receive a link to watch the documentary beforehand.

In all, more than 1,300 ATI union members in three states walked off the job in March 2021. Picket lines and antagonistic negotiations became the norm for the next three months until a deal was reached that July.

“This is a film that will be of great interest to Western Pennsylvania workers in any profession,” said John Haer, president of the foundation.

“Workplace organizing is on the increase in the U.S., and ‘Local 1196: A Steelworkers Strike’ depicts the core values of the union spirit.”

George grew up in Philadelphia but recalls stories from his father, who lived early on in Pittsburgh and worked during college at the steel mill in Homestead.

“I wanted (the film) to show the current state of blue-collar work in America, the state of the unions and how the disruptive economic challenges we’ve seen in urban areas are impacting small-town America,” he said.

George has produced 16 films on politics, economics and social issues around the world, including Mexico, Cuba, Argentina and Latvia.

“I wanted to show what people are facing in more rural areas,” George said.

“I got out there and found the men and women to be very receptive.”

The documentary lacks a narrator and instead uses only the voices of striking workers and their families.

It aims to raise national awareness about what the ATI workers endured and how the strife impacted life in the Alle-Kiski Valley, George said.

He has shown the documentary in New York to labor-friendly crowds who say they didn’t realize the ATI strike happened.

“It fills an important void,” George said.