San Francisco
27th Annual LaborFest
JULY 2020

Curated by Duckworth Artists were asked to address the nature and agency of work in a world rapidly transformed by pandemic and changing through political, societal and technological prerogatives. Several artists focus here on the interconnections between labor and technology, or the seemingly dissociated realms...

Workers World Media production director in South Africa, Martin Jansen, screens a video documentary on the effect of Covid-19 in South Africa and the systemic problems that worker face. Despite the promises of the Freedom Charter public health care for all is still not a...

ZOOM Recording This feature-length documentary focuses on the efforts by troops in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to oppose the war effort by peaceful demonstration and fragging their officers. The racism in the military and the use of the military by Trump to...

Can the revolution be social distanced? Find out this Summer with the San Francisco Mime Troupe as they present 4 series of original political comedy audio plays, broadcast bi-weekly, each written and performed by Mime Troupe veterans and newcomers, and each in a different style....

Poetry Word Performance by David Lee Morgan David Lee Morgan, a Play-writer and performer focuses the rise of racism and US capitalism. He has performed internationally and is a longstanding member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain. The video of this event will be...

The mass protest movement against the murder and lynching of George Floyd and many many others has led to a struggle in the labor movement about the role of the police whether they should be in the unions. The AFL-CIO as well as other unoins...

By Gifford Hartman Eighty-six years ago a great battle took place between striking workers and the police and National Guard along the waterfront besides the piers of San Francisco's Embarcadero. We will look at the causes of the 1934 General Strike and why it was...

Meet at 518 valencia, near 16th St., SF By Chris Carlsson (Sliding scale $15 - 50, benefiting Shaping San Francisco) From the pre-urban history of Indian Slavery to the earliest 8-hour day movement in the U.S., the ebb and flow of class war is traced....

ZOOM Recording With George Wright, Steve Zeltzer In the midst of the warfare between both the Democrats & Republicans the racist murder of George Floyd has led to the biggest mass protest in the post war period. At the same time, more than 44 million...

ZOOM Recording UBER, Lyft and other gig transportation platforms are spending over $120 million to overturn AB5 which required these companies to provide workers comp, social security and other protections. Will this law destroy the gig companies and what is the reality for gig workers...

This event was postponed until the later in the month. Federation of Retired Union Members (FORUM) is affiliated with the San Francisco Labor Council with the purpose of promoting and preserving the spirit of unionism and participating in the campaigns and activities of labor. Participants represent...

ZOOM Recording The US has a long history in the fight for labor parties. This forum will look at this history and the prospects for such a party today in the United States. First it will briefly look at the long history of the fight...

A Discussion between playwright Howard Pflanzer and Steve Zeltzer about the controversy over artistic expression swirling around the 1936 George Washington murals by Victor Arnautoff at the San Francisco high school named after Washington. The San Francisco school district voted 850,000 dollars to paint over...

We'll share a web link in the call where you can watch the film. Then stick around for our Zoom Q&A panel featuring filmmakers Jay Galione and special guests, Audrey Davis, Christopher Shaw and more. Jay Galione, son of a postal worker, investigates the dark corners...

ZOOM Recording The continued growth of charters, co-locations and privatization threaten the right to an equal education. The privatizers are using the pandemic to massively expand online education and also further eliminate public schools. The forum will examine the history of charters and privatization and...

ZOOM Recording How Workers Can Confront Automation & Legal Attacks On Our Unions Automation,  artificial intelligence AI, along with robotics in our economy threaten millions of workers and their ability to keep or get a job. This panel will look at how these technologies are...

ZOOM Recording By Harvey Smith   Despite the recent court decisions, the political battle over immigration has been reduced by some to a political dog whistle. Historically, the story of New Deal art, its initial advocates and its artists informs us with a deeper understanding...

Despite the coronavirus pandemic with Covid-19, Tesla owner Elon Musk has brazenly ignored shelter in place orders and continued to run the factory. Workers were then coerced to go to work despite serious health and safety fears from themselves and their families. Tesla workers will...

Group Yorum is a folk music group that has been banned by the government of Turkey.  They sing songs about freedom, of brotherhood and sisterhood of people, of workers dying on the job, nations, races and genders.  For this reason, the Turkish government has declared...

ZOOM Recording The explosion of Covid-19 cases in the United States and the inability of one of the richest countries in the world to handle the pandemic has exposed the serious systemic problems with the US. Speakers will discuss the reasons for the medical healthcare...

In the midst of a dangerous and deadly pandemic, why is OSHA and Cal-OSHA missing in action? Panelists in including former Cal-OSHA Medical director Larry Rose will look at the dismemberment of the programs and what it mean today for working people. The video of...

The rapid rise of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia has a long history in California and the US. The effort to rewrite history to censor and sanitize the discriminatory treatment of Asians in the US is also mirrored by the Japanese government which seeks to deny...

This PowerPoint presentation will explore the background for Berkeley’s New Deal legacy. Our tours, when in person, begin at the corner of the “New Deal nexus” that includes Berkeley High School and the Community Theater, art in the Post Office, the old Farm Credit Building...

The attack on US and Mexican woerkers will be the focus of this LaborFest event. Workers on both sides of the border face the Covid pandemic and attacks on their labor and human rights. These workers face multi-nationals who ignore and violate health and safety laws...

David Mills - The past is prologue: Black bodies: the bodies of evidence Mills will read poems, largely about the physical and psychological assault mostly by white males on the black body from this country's antebellum period to the murders of Breonna Taylor and George...

The San Francisco Unified School Board has voted to spend more than $800,000 to cover-up the Victor Arnautoff George Washington High murals. The panel will look at labor particularly the ILWU and the history of the Victor Arnautoff murals. This panel will look at the...

The underfunding and destruction of community colleges is escalating as the depression deepens. What is happening and what should our unions be doing about it. Speakers: Rick Baum, CCSF AFT 2121 Carol Lang, CUNY AFT PSC John Holmes, AFT PFT George Wright, Skyline College AFT...

The Moment Was Now takes place in post-civil war Baltimore in 1869, a turning point in U.S. history when “America almost did the right thing.” The contemporary themes of the search for racial and economic justice and women’s rights reverberate throughout the musical. The story...

Chile and US Healthcare Workers Under Covid & Capitalist Control Workers’ Rights are Human Rights: nowhere in the world has the global pandemic unmasked the crisis of capitalism more clearly than in Chile and the US. Both countries have the highest rates of infection of...

By Gifford Hartman This year is the 74th anniversary of the Oakland General Strike. This presentation will revisit the sites of Oakland’s “Work Holiday” that spontaneously began with rank-and-file solidarity with the striking, mostly women retail clerks at Kahn’s and Hastings department stores, where picket...

This forum will look at the plans by the UCSF management and Chancellor to destroy the historic Bernard Zakheim mural which tells the history of  Bridget “Biddy" Mason, an African American midwife who rose from slavery to become a midwife medical worker in California. Her life of...

Meet at ILWU sculpture at Mission & Steuart, SF Walk with Brad Wiedmaier, SEIU 2015 member & architectural historian. San Francisco has a rich political and labor history that is also connected to its buildings. In this history-by-the-buildings walk, Brad Wiedmaier will outline artifacts and...

Readers from the LaborFest Writers Group share memoir, storytelling, oral history, and poetry. The theme of this year's reading is LaborFest Writers' Reflections on Current Events. LaborFest Writers explore the issues that we face today within our families, communities, and government whether its health, housing, jobs,...

The Revolutionary Poetry Brigade will perform their work in the midst of the continuous lynchings of Blacks in the US. The voices of the oppressed will be heard through words and music. Poets: Karen Melander Magoon Agneta Falk Greg Pond Gary Hicks Barbara Paschke Lisbit...

By the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group People’s Park is at the center of fifteen other officially recognized city landmarks, which collectively are a de facto historic district. They represent the heritage of the 1960s and the context of the larger theme of a...

Screening and discussion with the story teller John McDonagh A comedic glimpse into 35 years behind the wheel of a New York City yellow taxi, Off The Meter is a pithy social commentary from New York’s most recognizable cab driver about life spent behind the wheel.  John...

Lois Scott San Francisco’s St. Francis Square Cooperative Walking Tour Organizer Work In Progress... Walking Tour and History of Union Sponsored Affordable Housing, St. Francis Square Cooperative   Virtual walking tour of San Francisco’s Saint Francis Square Cooperative established by the International Longshore and Warehouse...

Explore this unique history of Angel Island with park volunteer, maritime worker and activist James Dexter-Lee. Angel Island, the largest island in San Francisco Bay, today is a popular California State Park.  Located strategically inside the Golden Gate, at the nexus of San Pablo Bay...

Film - Fordham SDS (http://www.fordhamsds.org) 37:17  minutes  (2014) Discussion after the film. The SDS rebellion against racism and the education system is screened in this film by Bert Schultz. The film is an inside look at the struggle at Fordham college in New York and...