The documentary film for this month answers an enduring question: What does it take to change a toxic workplace? “9to5: The Story of a Movement” is about organizing office workers, a large and often invisible part of the workforce in the 1970s. People with the job description “secretary” had little recourse if they were treated terribly, which they were. (One office worker recalls being asked to mend her boss’ pants while he was wearing the pants.) “We are referred to as ‘girls’ until the day we retire without pensions,” read a newsletter put out by the 9to5 labor movement, which spread nationwide from Boston throughout the ‘70s. 9to5 made the invisible visible. As one voice in the film put it, it was as if the “wallpaper came alive.”
David Brancaccio on NPR's Marketplace Morning Report

Tuesday, February 9
9to5: THE STORY OF A MOVEMENT
7pm EST; Register here

They couldn’t kill their bosses, so they did the next best thing—they organized.

When Dolly Parton sang “9 to 5,” she was doing more than just shining a light on the fate of American working women. Parton was singing the true story of a movement that started with 9to5, a group of Boston secretaries in the early 1970s. Their goals were simple—better pay, more advancement opportunities, and an end to sexual harassment—but their unconventional approach attracted the press and shamed their bosses into change. Featuring interviews with 9to5’s founders, as well as actor and activist Jane Fonda, 9to5: The Story of a Movement is the previously untold story of the fight that inspired a hit and changed the American workplace.

Post-film Q&A with 9to5 co-founder Debbie Schneider and Angel Darcourt from Working America, moderated by Elise Bryant, CLUW president, Executive Director, Labor Heritage Foundation.

Presented by: DC Labor FilmFest; Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW); Labor Heritage Foundation, Rochester Labor Film Series.
The DC Labor FilmFest is sponsored by American Income Life

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Published by the Metropolitan Washington Council, an AFL-CIO "Union City" Central Labor Council whose 200 affiliated union locals represent 150,000 area union members. DYANA FORESTER, PRESIDENT.

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