How shall I begin my story
that has no beginning.
In these arroyos my great-grandfather raised cattle...
...before the Anglos ever came.
Our roots go deep in this place
...deeper than the pines...
...deeper than the mine shaft.
This is my village.
When I was a child it was called San Marcos.
The Anglos changed the name to Zinctown.
Zinctown, New Mexico,...
...U.S.A.
This is our home.
The house is not ours...
...but the flowers, the flowers are ours.
My name is Esperanza, Esperanza Quintero.
I am a miner's wife.
18 years my husband has given to that mine,
living half his life with dynamite and darkness.
The land where the mine now stands...
...that was owned by my husband's own grandfather.
Now it belongs to the Company.
Who can say when it began, my story?
I do not know.
But this day I remember as the beginning of an end.
It was my Saint's Day.
I was thirty-five years old.
...a day of celebration.
And I was seven months gone with my third child.
And on that day, I remember I had a wish...
a thought so sinful... a thought so evil,
that I prayed to the Virgin to forgive me for it.
I wished...
I wished that my child would never be born.
No. Not into this world.
Are you sick, mommy?
No, Estellita.
Are you sad?
Are we going to church for your confession?
Later, when I finish ironing...
Fighting again? With those Anglo kids?
- Aah, they think they're tough. - But you promised you wouldn't.
Papa says if an Anglo makes fun of you to let him have it.
Never mind what your papa... Hold still!
Does it hurt?
- How come the cake? - Never mind the cake.
Go get your father when he comes off shift.
Tell him to come straight home.
Hear you had a little trouble, Quintero. Defective fuse?
Well, you're all in one piece. So what's the beef?
You know the beef. This new rule of yours, that we work alone.
We're taking it up with the Super.
Super's busy... with your Negotiating Committee.
- So much the better. - Now wait a minute.
Super's the one made the rule. He ain't gonna give you no helper.
He will if he wants us to go on blasting.
With your contract? Get someone to read it for you.
He don't say nothing about no helpers.
Listen, Mr. Barton... there's blood in that mine.
The blood of my friends. All because they had to work alone...
That's how ya get splattered over the rocks, when there's nobody to help you check your fuses...
And nobody to warn the other men to stay clear.
Warning's the shift foreman's job.
Foreman wants to get the ore out.
Miner wants to get his brothers out. In one piece.
You work alone, savvy?
You can't handle the job, I'll find someone who can.
Who? A scab?
An American.
Hush... not a word about the cake, hear?
Papa... is there gonna be a strike?
Ramón... I don't like to bother you... but the store lady said
if we don't make another payment on the radio this month,...
they'll come and take it away.
We're only one payment behind.
I argued with her. It isn't right.
It isn't right, she says.
Was it right that we bought this... this instrument?
But you had to have it, didn't you?
It was so nice to listen
I listen to it. Every night.
...When you're out to the beer parlor.
"No money down. Easy term payments. "
I tell you something:
this installment plan, it's the curse of the working man.
- Where are you going? - Got to talk to the brothers.
This water is cold again.
- I'm sorry. The fire's gone out. - Forget it.
Forget it?
I chop wood for the stove five times a day. Every time I remember.
I remember that across the tracks the Anglo miners have hot water in pipes.
And bathrooms. Inside.
Do you think I like living this way?
What do you want of me?!
But if your union...
...if you're asking for better conditions...
...why can't you ask for decent plumbing, too?
We did. It got lost in the shuffle.
- What? - We can't get everything at once.
Right now we've got more important demands.
What's more important than sanitation?
The safety of the men... that's more important!
Five accidents this week...
...all because of speed-up.
You're a woman, you don't know what it's like up there.
First we got to get equality on the job.
Then we'll work on these other things.
- Leave it to the men. - I see.
The men. You'll strike, maybe, for your demands...
...but what the wives want, that comes later, always later.
Now don't start talking against the union again.
What has it got me, your union?
Esperanza, have you forgotten what it was like before the union came?
When Estella was a baby, and we couldn't even afford a doctor when she got sick?
It was for our families! We met in graveyards to build that union!
All right. Have your strike.
I'll have my baby.
But no hospital will take me, because I'll be a striker's wife.
The store will cut off our credit, and the kids will go hungry.
And we'll get behind on the payments again,
and then they'll come and take away the radio...
Is that all you care about? That radio?
Can't you think of anything except yourself?
If I think of myself...
...it's because you never think of me.
Never. Never. Never...
Stop it!
The children are watching. Stop it!
This problem has to be taken care of.
The company will always tell you things like that!
They know is not safe for miners to work alone.
But they don't work alone in other mines!
Anglos always work in pairs.
So why should I risk my life? Because I'm a Mexican?
- But that's in the demands. - We are negotiating.
Three months of negotiations! And nothing happens!
Even with Brother Barnes here from the International, what've we got?
No raise. No seniority.
No safety code. Nothing.
Take a drink. Calm down!
I say we gotta take action. Now.
Rest of the men feel like you too?
He talks for all of us.
Ever stop to think maybe they want us to strike?
They don't want no strike, not with their war boom on.
Then why's the company hanging tough?
They've signed contracts with the other locals, why not this one?
Because most of us here are Mexican-Americans!
Because we want equality with Anglo miners
The same pay, the same conditions.
Exactly. And equality's the one thing the bosses can't afford.
The biggest club they have over the Anglo locals is,
"Well, at least you get more than the Mexicans. "
Okay, so discrimination hurts the Anglos too,
but it hurts me more.
And I've had enough of it!
But you don't pull a strike when the bosses want it,
so they can smash your union.
You wait till you're ready, so you can win.
Do the bosses wait?
No sanitation. So my kids get sick.
Does the company doctor wait?
Twenty bucks.
So we miss one payment on the radio I bought for my wife.
Does the company store wait? "Pay, or we take it away. "
Why is the bosses' store in such a hurry?
They're trying to scare us, that's why.
To make us afraid to move. To hang on to what we got, and like it!
Well, I don't like it and I'm not scared!
and I'm fed up, to here!
Hey Ramón, they are looking for you...
What are you doing here?
- Is something wrong with mother? - I thought maybe you forgot...?
- Forget what? - It's Mama's Saint's Day.
What a kid. He can't wait.
It's my wife's Saint's Day.
I was gonna ask you, brothers, how about a mañanita, huh?
- What time? - A mañanita, the later the better.
Why are they singing?
They are singing for me.
Can we light the candles?
Yes. Now we can light the candles.
Happy Birthday!
I did not mean to weep again.
Why should I weep for joy?
I'm a fool.
No, no...
Was it expensive, the beer?
Antonio paid for it.
Forgive me... for saying you never thought of me.
I did forget.
Luis told me.
All the next week I kept thinking about my mañanita.
I had never had so nice a party...
It was like a song running through my mind,
a daydream to lighten the long days' work...
One, two three.
We forgot our troubles at the mañanita,
...even Ramón.
I couldn't dance that night,
not in my condition.
But I wasn't really jealous when he danced with the others.
because it was good just to see him smile again...
And then one morning I was hanging out my wash.
And while we were talking the ladies came.
They were a kind of delegation.
It was about the sanitation, they said...
The Anglo miners have bathrooms and hot running water,
why shouldn't we?
I know, I spoke to Ramón about it
only a week ago.
He said they dropped it from the union's demands.
It is the same as always.
We got to make them understand, make the men face up to it. It is the same as always.
We got to make them understand, make the men face up to it.
Show her the sign.
We'll make a lot of signs like this.
Then we'll get all the wives together and go right up to the mine.
To the mine?
Sure. Where they're negotiating in the company office.
We'll go up there and picket the place. Sure. Where they're negotiating in the company office.
We'll go up there and picket the place.
Then both sides will see we mean business.
- A picket line? Of ladies? - Sure. Why not?
You can count me in.
Luz!
Listen, we ought to be in the wood choppers' union.
Chop wood for breakfast. Chop wood to wash his clothes.
Chop wood, heat the iron. Chop wood, scrub the floor.
Chop wood, cook his dinner. And do you know what he will say when he comes home...
"What have you been doing all day? Reading the funny papers?"
Come on, Esperanza, how about it? We got to.
No. No. I can't.
If Ramón ever found me on a picket line...
He'd what? Beat you?
No... No...
An accident...
It is Mr. Kalinski
Hurry.
Easy now!
Let me see him!
- Let me see him! Let me see him! - He'll be fine, Mrs. Kalinski.!
I want to see him now!
How did this happen?
He wandered into a drift, when this fellow was blasting.
I told you it would happen. It's bound to happen when a man works alone!
- Why didn't you give a warning signal? - Your foreman says that's a foreman's job.
I checked the drift just before he blasted. It was all clear...
The man must have been asleep or something.
You weren't even there. You were back at the station. Kalinsky told me...
You're a liar, Pancho.
A no-good, dirty...
Enough!
You, there. Get a hold on yourself.
A man's been hurt.
I'm as sorry about it as you are. Savvy?
Accidents are costly to everyone,
and to the company most of all.
And now, I see no reason to treat the occasion like a paid holiday.
Suppose we all get back to work.
Barton?
All right, fellows, the excitement's over. Let's get to it.
...'hora. ... Si, yo creo que si.
What are they saying?
No savvy.
Well, Barnes? How about it? Tell the men to get back to work.
They don't work for me. I work for them.
Ruiz?
It's up to you, brothers.
That night the men held a union meeting,
just to make the walk-out official.
It didn't take them long.
They voted to strike, 93 to 5.
And Teresa said now was the time for us to go in.
I didn't want to.
I had never been to a union meeting.
But the others said, "One go, all go. "
The meeting was nearly over when we came in.
Charley Vidal was making a speech.
He said there was only one issue in this strike,
Equality.
But the mine owners
would stop at nothing to keep them from getting equality.
He said the bosses would try to split
the Anglo and Mexican-American workers
and offer rewards to one man if he would sell out his brother...
To this tactic, brothers, there is only one answer,
and that is solidarity, the unity of all working men!
Yes? You ladies have an announcement?
Well, it's not an announcement, I guess.
- Only, the ladies wanted me to... - Louder!
Consuelo, could you speak from over here?
The ladies have been talking about sanitation...
and we were thinking... if the issue is equality,
like you say it is,
then maybe we ought to have equality
in plumbing too...
I mean, maybe we could make it a strike demand
and some of the ladies thought
it might be a good idea to have a ladies auxiliary!
Well, we would like to help out... if we can...
I'm sure I can speak for all of the brothers.
We appreciate the ladies offering to help,
but it's getting late and I suggest we table it.
The chair will entertain a motion to adjourn.
- I presented it. - Second!
All those in favor?
Opposed?
So ordered.
...a question of plan...
Why didn't you support her? You're the worst of the lot.
But, Teresa, you can't push these things too fast.
You were pushing all right, pushing us right back in our place.
Why didn't you check with me? It's embarrassing!
At least you didn't make a fool of yourself, like Consuelo.
It's not a bad idea; to make sanitation one of our demands.
- But honey...! - Or why don't you just put a sign outside?
"No dogs, no women allowed!"
And so it began, much like any other strike.
There would be no settlement, the company said,
till the men returned to their jobs.
But their back-to-work movement didn't work.
And so the company recruited a few strike-breakers from out of town.
But they usually lost their nerve
when they saw the size of the picket line.
The Sheriff's men were always there.
They stood around, showing off their weapons.
But the men only marched,
...day after day...
...week after week.
At first it was a kind of unwritten rule that the women stay at home.
The union gave us rations
and we had to figure out how to feed our families on them...
But then one morning Mrs. Salazar went to the picket line.
Her husband had been killed in a strike many years before...
and she wanted to be there.
Nobody remembers how it happened.
but one day Mrs. Salazar started marching with them...
and she kept on marching with them.
After a while some of the women began to bring coffee for their husbands,
and maybe a couple of tacos
because a man gets tired and hungry on picket duty.
It was about that time that the union decided...
maybe they'd better set up a Ladies Auxiliary after all.
I didn't come to the lines at first.
My time was near...
and besides, Ramón didn't approve.
But Ramón is a man who loves good coffee.
And he swore that the other ladies made it taste
like zinc sludge...
So, one day I made the coffee.
Prieto. Sebastian Prieto? I haven't seen him for three days.
Ramón, listen to this.
The chief foreman come to me last night, said he'd make me shift foreman
if I'd start a back-to-work movement.
"Jenkins, why string along with them tamale eaters?"
I just told him I come to like tamales fine.
Two scabs got through on the other side of the hill.
- We chased the rest back. - Recognize them?
Anglos from out of town.
But they're not miners - I could tell that. They don't know zinc from Shinola.
Okay. Take five. Get yourself a cup of coffee.
Hey, Ramón, here comes the super...
- Mornin'. - How's it going?
Well, those new fellows you hired from out of town,
we brought 'em up here in a truck this morning,
but they took one look at that picket line and turned tail.
They don't look so rough to me.
Well, Mr. Hartwell, they've got some pretty tough hombres there,
'specially that picket captain there,
what's his name...
Ray, Raymond something-or-other
Oh, yes, I know that one.
That's the main picket line.
They have another post on the back road...
...and roving patrols all over the place.
On company property?
Why don't you have them thrown off?
This is all company property, Mr. Hartwell.
The store and the housing area,
...everything.
Where are you gonna throw them?
And who does the throwing?
Well, aren't they going to let us pass? Sooner or later.
Eventually. This is just a little ritual to impress us with their power.
Now why don't you let these gentlemen pass?
Cause, you know who is in that car?
It's the paymaster from Moscow, with our gold.
No, no, it's the president of the company himself,
come all the way out here to make Jenkins general manager.
Come on, let him go.
- How childish! - Well, they're like children in many ways.
Sometimes you have to humor them, sometimes you have to spank them...
and sometimes you have to take their food away.
Here comes the one we were talking about.
He's quite a character.
Claims his grandfather once owned the land where the mine is now.
Want to go up to your office, Mr. Alexander?
Naturally. You think I parked here for a cup of coffee?
- You're welcome to one. - No thanks.
The men would like to know who this gentleman is.
- That's none of their affair. - That's all right - it's no secret.
My name's Hartwell. I'm from the company's Eastern office.
- You mean Delaware? - No, New York.
New York? You're not the Company's President by any chance?
- No - Too bad.
The men've always wanted to get a look at the President.
But you've come out here to settle the strike?
Well, if that's possible...
It's possible. Just negotiate.
Are we talking to a union spokesman?
Not exactly.
But I wish he were one.
He knows more about mining than those pie-cards we've had to deal with.
I mean it. I know your work record.
You were in line for foreman when this trouble started - did you know that?
You had a real future with this company,
but you let those Reds stir you up.
And now they'll sell you down the river.
Why don't you wake up, Ray?
That's your name, isn't it, Ray?
No. My name is Quintero.
Mister Quintero.
Are you going to let us pass, or do I have to call the Sheriff?
There's nothing stopping you.
I was wrong! They don't want Jenkins for general manager,
they want me!
You shoulda heard that fellow! What a line!
I was up for foreman, he says. Fijate! You shoulda heard that fellow! What a line!
I was up for foreman, he says. Fijate!
- What's the matter? - It's nothing
Just a little catch...
Papa! Papa! Over here!
Is that Luís? What's he doing?
Playing hookey again?
Luís. Come back there!
Papa! We seen 'em! Two scabs! Over there!
They're hiding over there in the gully.
Hold it, brothers! You, Antonio, Alfredo, Cente, you come with me.
The rest of you stay on the line.
Luis, come back!
Over there. There they go.
Ramón, listen to me, In the name of God.
You!
I'd expect it of an Anglo, yes... but you...
Ramón... I'm in a jam ... I had to get a job
You Judas... blood-sucker...!
Ramón, my kids!
You! Traitor to your people! Scab! Wretch!
My kids don't have enough to eat!
You think my kids have enough to eat, you rat?
I know, it's wrong. Just let me go. I'll leave town... just let me go.
You think I was going to work you over?
I wouldn't dirty my hands on you...
Please! The baby! Get the women! Quick!
Why do you stop?
Wanna have a little talk with you, how you slugged that fellow back there.
But that's a lie. I didn't...
No way to talk to a white man.
No! No! Go back and get a blanket, you idiots! So we can carry her!
Hey, Vance. You said this bull-fighter was full of pepper.
He don't look so peppery now.
Oh, but he is. He's full of chili, this boy.
He likes it hot. His chiquita makes it good and hot for him, don't she, Pancho?
Sheriff, we need a doctor. Quick. There's a woman gonna have a baby.
What d'ya take me for? An ambulance driver?
But there's a company doctor in town.
We don't have a car. If you'd just go, get him...
You kiddin'? Company doctor won't come to no picket line.
We can't get her home, there isn't time. Take her inside...
Hold your head up, Pancho. That's no way to sit.
I'll outlive you all, you lice!
How's that? What's that Spic talk?
God forgive me for wishing this child would never be born.
Have mercy on this child.
let this child live...
Oooh!
Ramón was in the hospital for a week.
...and then in the county jail for thirty days
...charged with assault and resisting arrest.
But I made up my mind to postpone the christening
till he got out of jail.
We christened him Juan.
That night we had a double celebration:
Juanito's christening, Ramón's homecoming.
We put all the children to sleep in the bedroom,
...as usual.
And the men took over the parlor,
...as usual.
- Five thousand dollars. - Beats.
- Raise you ten thousand. - You dog. All right, let's see them.
Aces, wired.
Come to papa!
Hear those deputies slugged 'Cente.
Yeah. Lots of provocation lately.
They figure if they can lock up the leadership on some phony charge,
maybe they can bust the strike.
Are we gonna let them play poker all night?
- I want to dance? - With whose husband?
With any of them - even my own.
If you dance with my husband, you'll have to put up with this...
And another thing. Your attitude toward Anglos. If you're gonna be a leader...
What attitude?
You lump them all together, Anglo workers and Anglo bosses.
He's a guest in my house, isn't he?
You're even suspicious of him.
Maybe.
I think he's got a few things to learn about our people.
Go on. Spill it.
Well, you're the organizer
You work out strike strategy, and most of the time you're dead right.
But when you figure everything the rank-and-file's to do down to the last detail,
you don't give us anything to think about.
Are you afraid we're too lazy to take initiative?
You know I don't think that.
Maybe not. But there's another thing...
like when you came in tonight
I heard you ask your wife, "Who's that? His grandfather?"
That's Jurez, the father of Mexico.
If I wouldn't know a picture of George Washington,
you would say I was an awful dumb Mexican.
I've never seen it fail.
Try to give Ramón a friendly criticism and he gets you right back in your face.
No. He's right. I've got a lot to learn.
Now we've got that settled, deal the cards.
If it makes you feel any better, he's got even less use for women.
What are they talking about in there?
Discussing each other's weaknesses.
I didn't know they had any.
Right now, Ramón's on the receiving end.
If we shut out the women from life in the union...
Come on, bet!
Let's pick up that game.
We can't think of them just as housewives, but as partners.
And we have got to treat them as such.
Well. look who's talking.
The new World Champion of Women's Rights.
Aw, cut it out, Ruth.
Me, I'm a camp follower
following this organizer from one mining camp to another
Montana, Colorado, Idaho.
But did he ever think to organize the women?
No. Wives don't count in the Anglo locals either.
Not that I like the way you treat your wife, Ramón.
I think you're all wrong.
But when Doctor Barnes gives you his cure-all for female troubles,
just ask him if he's tried it at home.
Hey, Esperanza!
Esperanza's nursing the baby.
There goes the game.
Good, Consuelo, turn up the radio
Come on, Papa,
on your feet!
Look at him!
A fighter, huh?
He was born fighting.
And born hungry.
Drink, drink, Juanito.
You'll never have it so good.
He'll have it good.
...some day.
What were they saying about you in there?
They say I am no good to you.
You are no good to me,... in jail.
I'd lie in my cell on my cot and I couldn't sleep,
with the bugs and the stink and the heat.
And I'd say to myself,
"Think of something nice.
Something beautiful. "
And then I'd think of you.
And my heart would pound against the cot
...for love of you.
Not just Juanito...
You'll have it good too, Esperanza.
We're going to win this strike.
What makes you so sure?
Because if we lose, we lose more than a strike.
We lose the union. And the men know this.
And if we win, we win more than a few demands.
We win something...
...bigger
Hope, hope for our kids.
Juanito can't grow strong on milk alone.
- This the Quintero place? - What do you want?
- We got the warrant too. - We don't want no trouble.
All we want's this radio.
We hate to break in on you folks like this,
but this here fella owns the radio store, he got himself a repossession order.
Don't touch it.
We don't want no trouble, Mr. Quintero.
We got orders to repossess this machine.
I said don't touch it!
- Let them take it! - Over my dead body!
I don't want your dead body. I don't want you back in jail either.
But it's yours. I won't let them...
Can't you see they want to start a fight
so that they can lock you all up at one time?
What are you so sad about? Let's hear some real music!
But the strike did not end.
It went on and on,
into the fourth month, the fifth, the sixth.
The company still refused to negotiate.
They tried to turn the Anglo miners against us.
They said that all the Mexicans ought to be sent back where they came from.
How can I go back where I came from?
The shack I was born in is buried under company property.
Why don't nobody ever tell the bosses to go back where they come from?
There wouldn't be any bosses in the state of New Mexico if they did.
- Brother! Live to see the day. - Jenkins ain't no boss.
Mean we're gonna let people like Jenkins stay here?
You can't send him back to Oklahoma. It'd be inhuman.
But I was born in Texas.
Oh no. That's even worse.
And the seventh month came.
We couldn't buy food at the company store...
By now the strike fund was nearly gone.
A few families couldn't take it any longer.
and where they went we do not know...
And so it was decided by the union that hardship cases
...should seek work in other mines.
And this was done.
And the strikers who found jobs divided their pay with the union,
so the rest of us might eat.
Ramón was not a hardship case.
Only three children to feed.
Even so, the mine owners might have starved us out
were it not for the help we got from our International in Denver,
and from the other locals.
And we who thought no one outside our county
knew of our troubles, or cared if they did know
found we were wrong.
Letters came. From our own people, of the Southwest
From far away:
Butte, Chicago, Birmingham, New York...
Messages of solidarity...
and the crumpled dollar bills of working men.
We women were helping...
And not just as cooks and coffee makers.
A few of the men made jokes about it,
but the work had to be done
so they let us stay.
No one knew how great a change it was,
till the day of the crisis...
The Sheriff was smiling,
so we knew he brought bad news.
The company had got a court injunction
ordering the strikers to stop picketing.
A Taft-Hartley injunction, they called it.
It meant heavy fines and jail sentences
for the strikers, if they disobeyed.
A decision had to be made at once
whether to obey the order, or not.
If we obey the court,
the strike will be lost.
The scabs would move in as soon as our picket line is gone.
If we defy the court,
the pickets will be arrested,
and the strike will be lost anyway.
So there it is brothers.
The bosses have us coming and going.
I just want to say this
no matter how you decide,
the International will back you up
as it's always backed you up.
This is a democratic union.
The decision...
...is up to you.
Brother Chairman,
If we give up now,
if we obey this rotten Taft-Hartley law,
...we are fools and cowards.
There is only one way...
fight them!
Fight them all!
How? We don't gain nothing...
They'll arrest us!
The men quarreled. They made great speeches.
It seemed that Brother Barnes was right
the company had them coming and going.
It seemed the strike was lost.
Brother Chairman,
If you read the court injunction carefully...
you will see that it only prohibits striking miners from picketing.
We women are not striking miners.
We will take over your picket line.
Don't laugh.
We have a solution. You have none.
Brother Quintero was right when he said we'll lose
fifty years of gains if we lose this strike.
Your wives and children too.
But this we promise...
if the women take your places on the picket line,
the strike will not be broken,
and no scabs will take your jobs.
If that's a motion... only members of the union can make a motion.
- I so move! - Second!
You've heard the motion.
The floor is open for debate.
If we allow our women to help us at the picket line
we'll be the joke of the whole labor movement!
Look, brother, our women are ours, our countrywomen!
And Luz asked which was worse, to hide behind a woman's skirt,
or go down on his knees before the boss?
Comrades, we haven't counted enough on our women.
The bosses don't count on them at all.
Will the bosses win now
because there is no unity between the men
...their wives and their sisters?
And Carlotta Sanchez said she didn't think
picketing was proper for ladies.
It wasn't nice. Maybe even a sin.
I say, give the sisters a chance!
And what will happen when the cops come,
and beat our women up?
Are we gonna stand there? And watch them?
No. We'll take over anyway,
and we'll be right back where we started.
Only worse. Even more humiliated.
Brothers!
Brothers, I beg you, don't allow this.
Let's vote.
All right.
The question's been called.
You brothers know what you're voting on
that the sisters of the auxiliary take over the picket line.
All those in favor will so signify
Brother Chairman! A point of order!
I don't know anything... about these questions of parliament.
But you men are voting on something
the women are to do, or not to do.
So I think it's only fair
the women be allowed to vote,
especially if they have to do the job.
Brothers... and sisters. It would be unconstitutional
to permit women to vote at a union meeting.
If there's no objection,
we could adjourn this meeting.
No, no, no... Wait, wait...
and reconvene this meeting as a community mass meeting
with every adult entitled to a vote!
- I so move! - Alright.
On the motion to adjourn, all those in favor raise their hands.
All those opposed?
The ayes have it! Now, every adult is entitled to a vote!
Call to the original question.
All those in favor that the sisters take over the picket line
will so signify by raising their hands.
All those opposed?
The motion has carried, a hundred and three to eighty-five.
And so they came, the women
They came from Zinc Town and the hills beyond,
from other mining camps,
ten, twenty, thirty miles away...
women we had never seen before,
women who had nothing to do with the strike.
Somehow they heard about a women's picket line
and they came.
And the men came too.
I think they were afraid.
Afraid the women wouldn't stand fast
or maybe afraid they would.
But not all the women went to the picket line.
Some were forbidden by their husbands.
I was one of them.
It's not fair... I should be there with them.
After all, I'm the one who got the women the vote.
The union don't run my house.
Those Anglo dames stirred you up to make fools of yourselves
- but you don't see any of them down there. - Yes, I do. There's Ruth Barnes.
She's the organizer's, wife. She's got to be there.
No, she wants to be there.
And there's Mrs. Kalinsky.
There's Jenkins' wife. You don't see her on no picket line.
Anglo husbands can also be backward.
- Can be what? - Backward.
Can't I even put in an appearance?
- With a baby in your arms? - The baby likes to be walked.
It helps him burp.
Hey, girls! Wait a minute! Don't you wanna see my pistol?
Shut up!
What's so amusing? They're flaunting a court order.
I'm not so sure about that.
Letter of the Law, you know.
All the injunction says is no picketing by miners.
Which side are you on anyway?
Now don't get excited, they'll scatter like quail.
Well, let's get at it, before another hundred dames show up.
All right, boys.
- What about these? - Forget it. They'll scatter like quail.
Get back! Get back! Stay out of this!
But they're beating up my wife!
It'll be worse if you get in there. Then they'll start shooting...
They'll throw you in jail!
- Get back! Get back! - You're not needed here!
Why are you standing there? Do something!
Relax.
But women are getting hurt! We'd better take over!
They're doing all right.
Anyway, looks like you've got your hands full.
Let's go!
Now they go, gather the banners.
The Union Is Our Leader. We shall not be moved!
Just like a tree, that's standing by the water
we shall not be moved!
- Papa, I'm hungry. - So am I.
- Where's your mama? - She's coming. Charley Vidal gave her a lift.
Boy! Did you see the way Mama whopped that deputy and knocked the gun...?
I don't want you hanging around there, hear?
- You all right? - Sure.
- Must've been some experience for you, huh? - Yes!
I guess you got enough today to last a lifetime, huh?
I'm going back tomorrow.
- Listen, you might get hurt. - I might...
If you think I'm gonna play nursemaid from now on, you're crazy...
I had these kids all day!
I've had them since the day they were born.
I'm telling you. I don't stay home with these kids tomorrow.
Okay. Then, tomorrow,
I take the kids with me to the picket line.
And so I came back the next day
and every day for the next month...
I kept Juanito in the coffee shack,
and when the weather was good and there was peace on the line,
I brought his crib outside.
Estella played with the little ones,
...and Lus...
Lus was in school.
Ramón came every day, just watching.
The ladies
well, they criticized Ramón for not keeping the kids.
For a while the Sheriff's men left us alone.
But then they cursed us, insulted us,
called us foul names.
It started again.
They used tear gas again. This time the wind was against us.
We spread out, as we had planned,
and I took the baby away from the danger, as we had planned.
But they couldn't break our line.
They couldn't break it...
Well, I've tried everything but shootin' 'em down.
You haven't tried locking them up!
You want 'em all arrested?
No, just the ring leaders.
The fire-eaters. And the ones with big families...
Barton, where's that boy?
Hey, you, c'mere.
Awright, girls, I'm gonna give you a choice
you can go home or you can go to jail.
No ifs, ands or buts.
Get off the picket line or get arrested.
Okay. Point 'em out.
That one, Teresa Vidal. She's the leader.
You're under arrest.
Home or the hoosegow, what will it be?
Keep marching sisters. Let's show some discipline.
- But Teresa, we... - They'll charge us with resisting arrest.
Keep marching, sisters! Keep marching!
And Mrs. Salazar, the old one.
Chana Diaz, that one, in the blue dress.
Luz Morales, that one.
and Mrs. Kalinsky, the Anglo
and Ruth Barnes, she's the organizer's wife
And Ana Alvarez, the pretty one.
And that one.
- With the baby? - She's Ramón Quintero's wife.
He don't like her being here.
- We'll take the baby, Esperanza. - Don't worry about Juanito.
- We can take care of Estella too. - No. The baby stays with me.
Solidarity Forever.
The union makes us strong.
Solidarity Forever.
Solidarity Forever
The union makes us strong.
Be quiet!
I told you ten times.
We have no food.
We have no beds.
We have no baths.
So, will you please... please...
Shut up!
He can't drink this milk. It'll make him sick.
He's on a formula.
I was a fool! I shouldn't have kept him with me.
Don't you worry. We'll get some action.
The baby can't drink this store milk. We want his formula!
- You want what? - Formula.
The formula, the formula,
We want the formula. We want the formula!
Well, you can get the J.P. to swear out peace bonds.
Or heist the bail high enough so you can keep 'em in jail.
Keep 'em? What am I supposed to do, feed 'em outa my own pocket?
What I want to know, Mr. Hartwell,
is when you gonna settle this thing.
You won't negotiate with 'em.
What are you after, anyway?
The company has other mines.
You've got to see the larger picture.
Once these people get out of hand...
What you doin' here? Ain't you seen enough of me?
I come for my kids. They're in your jail.
But you've played every trump in your hand and they're not dead yet.
Not every trump.
Such as what?
I can't shut them dames up.
They keep yellin' about a formula.
- The what? - Formula for the baby or somethin'.
His kid.
Hush, hush!
Now look here. I got you some milk for the baby.
So what's all the belly-achin' about?
That milk is no good.
That baby has a formula..
If Juanito gets sick you'll be responsible
I'm not running a drug store.
You girls got only yourselves to blame for this.
You can be back with your families in an hour.
All you got to do is to sign a pledge not to go back to the picket line.
Don't sign nothin' for the stinker.
We want the formula!
Where'd that fellow go?
Hey, Pancho, come here!
Awright. Where's the baby?
And the little girl?
Will you kids get out of those baskets!
Three hours! Just to heat enough water to wash this stuff!
I'm telling you something,
if this strike is ever settled, which I doubt
I never go back to work for that company unless they install hot running water for us.
It should've been a union demand from the beginning.
Are you telling me...?
It's like Charley Vidal says, there's two kinds of slavery,
wage slavery and domestic slavery.
The Woman Question, he calls it.
The woman question?
Yeah, the problem is what to do about 'em.
So? What does he want to do about 'em?
He says give 'em equality. Equality in jobs,
equality in the home,
and also... sex equality.
What do you mean, sex equality?
You know.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
He's some organizer, that Charley.
He can organize a wife right out of your home.
Papa, can't I leave now? There's a meeting of the Junior Shop Stewards
The what!
The Junior Shop Stewards. There's lots of ways we can help.
Don't I have enough troubles without them shipping you off to reform school?
- But you need all the help you can get. - You've got to help around the house!
But you've got me doing everything. Mama never used to make me dry the dishes.
You should have helped her without being asked.
- How do you feel? - I'm okay.
Four nights. How did you sleep?
We raised such a fuss, they finally brought cots in.
I nearly lost my voice, yelling so much.
How's Estellita? And the baby?
They're asleep.
Did you have to sign a pledge? Not to go back to the line?
No, no... we wouldn't do it.
But if you go back they'll lock you up again.
No, no... the Sheriff had enough of us.
We drove him crazy.
It's all set. Consuelo's squad can take they day off tomorrow.
- We're taking over. - Alright, we'll work it out.
We've got to have a talk, you and me.
All right, but later. I've got a meeting now.
- A meeting? - Yes. To plan for the picket line tomorrow.
You can join if you want.
Now. Let's see. Who is available?
Chana's husband is out of town, on that delegation to see the governor.
And a whole lot of men are going on a fuel hunting expedition tomorrow
thirty or forty of them, so their wives are out too.
But we can ask them to keep our kids, so the rest of us can...
What are we going to do about him, Esperanza?
It's time he was house broken.
Maybe if a delegation of us talked to him...
I have to work it out with him myself.
I got a friend, he's got a friend in the Bureau of Mines.
You know what he says?
They ain't never gonna open up that mine again.
How come?
He says the ore's gone out. So help me.
Bull. Lotta bull.
That's a rich mine. I know.
But what's the difference? They'll never settle with us. Never.
Hey! What d'ya know!
It's him!
It's him! El Presidente! The President of the Company.
Let me see this.
Listen to this:
Man of Distinction: J. Hamilton Miller,
financier, Business executive, Board Chairman of Continental Factors,
and president of Delaware Zinc Incorporated.
- Let me see this. - Wait a minute, there's more.
An enthusiastic sportsman and expert marksman,
Mr. Miller manages to find time every year
for an African safari.
He leaves this month for Kenya,
where he hopes to bag his thirteenth lion!"
I'm gonna frame this. Look, Ramón!
Got to look at the larger picture.
The guy is a lion hunter.
What d'you expect him to hunt, rabbits?
Boy oh boy, I'd sure like to get me some venison.
I ain't eaten meat in four weeks.
How about it, Ramón? Let's take off for a couple of days, huh?
Why ask me? Am I runnin' this strike?
If you want permission to go over the hill,
go ask the Ladies Auxiliary.
I waited up till midnight.
You weren't waiting for me.
That meeting only lasted ten minutes.
The first night I am home,
and you run to the beer parlor.
What is it?
Can't you bear the sight of me?
Be still!
But you wanted to talk.
Tell me.
We can't go on this way.
I just can't go on living with you. Not this way.
No. We can't can't go on this way.
We can't go back to the old way either.
The old way? What's your "new way"?
What's it mean? Your "right" to neglect your kids?
- Where are you going? - Hunting.
- When? - Sun up.
- Alone? - No.
Ramón, you can't.
Why not? I'm not needed here.
But you are needed.
Especially now, with most of the other men away.
You are the captain of the stand-by squad.
Sure, the standby squad. Stand-by for the funeral.
Whose funeral? We're doing all right.
There hasn't been a scab near the picket line for three days.
And you know why? Because the company knows they can starve us out
even if it takes another two or three months.
What's it to them if the mine's shut down a little longer?
It's a lot to them. They'd do anything to open that mine.
Aah! They've got other mines.
You don't see the larger picture.
They've got millions. Millions.
They can outlast us, and they know it.
You mean you're ready to give up?
Who said anything about giving up?
I'll never go back to that company on my knees. Never.
You want to go down fighting, is that it?
I don't want to go down fighting.
I want to win.
Ramón, we are not getting weaker.
We're stronger than ever before.
They're getting weaker.
They thought they could break our picket line. And they failed.
And now they can't win unless they pull off something big, and pull it off fast.
Like what?
I don't know.
But I can feel it coming.
It's like a lull before the storm.
Charlie Vidal says...
Charley Vidal says!
Don't throw Charley Vidal up to me!
Charley's my friend.
I need friends.
Why are you so afraid to have me as your friend?
I don't know what you're talking about.
No, you don't.
Have you learned nothing from this strike?
Why are you afraid to have me at your side?
Do you still think you can have dignity only if I have none?
You talk of dignity? After what you've been doing?
Yes. I talk of dignity.
The Anglo bosses look down on you, and you hate them for it.
"Stay in your place, you dirty Mexican," that's what they tell you.
But why must you say to me, "Stay in your place. "?
Do you feel better having someone lower than you?
Shut up, you're talking crazy.
Whose neck shall I stand on, to make me feel superior?
And what will I get out of it?
I don't want anything lower than I am.
I'm low enough already.
I want to rise. And push everything up with me as I go...
Will you be still?
And if you can't understand this you're a fool
because you can't win this strike without me!
You can't win anything without me!
That would be the old way.
Never try it on me again
Never.
I'm going to bed now.
Sleep where you please,
...but not me.
So they had a little taste of what it's like to be a woman
and they run away.
With Ramón it's pride.
I spoke out of the bitterness in me.
And he was hurt.
Anything worth learning is a hurt.
These changes come with pain,
for other husbands too,
...not just for Ramón.
You mean you're ready to give up?
You want to go down fighting. Is that it?
I don't want to go down fighting.
I want to win.
Ramón, we are not getting weaker.
We're stronger than ever before.
They are getting weaker.
Have you learned nothing from this strike?
I can feel it coming.
It's like a lull before the storm.
They thought they could break our picket line. And they failed.
And now they can't win unless they pull off something big, and pull it off fast.
Brothers, we've got to go back!
Esperanza! Where is Ramón? Did he go hunting with the others?
Where? Where can we find him? Do you know?
Deer hunters! Deserters, that's what they are.
Something's wrong?
Charley, tell us.
The company has an eviction order.
Eviction!
Where?
Eviction!
Don't worry. Quintero's gone hunting with the others.
Evict him first; the rest will be easy.
Let their neighbors watch. It'll care some sense into them.
Can we do something?
All right, girls, get back, get back.
What's up? An eviction! At the Quintero's place!
We are going there.
Leave them brats alone!
Come on, let's get our work done.
Leave them! Just go back and get the rest of the stuff!
This is what we've been waiting for.
What are you saying?
This means they've given up trying to break our picket line.
Now we can all fight together, all of us.
Now see here, Quintero! These women are obstructin' justice.
You make 'em behave, savvy?
I can do nothing, sheriff.
You know how it is, they won't listen to a man any more.
You want me to lock 'em up again?
You want 'em in your lock-up again?
Form a cordon! Keep 'em away from the house!
Hey! The guys from the open pit... And the guys from the mill.
Got any more ideas?
I don't make policy.
I'll talk to New York.
I think... Maybe we better...
settle this thing.
For the present.
We did not know then that we had won the strike.
But our hearts were full.
And when Ramón said:
Thanks...
sisters... and brothers.
Esperanza, thank you for your dignity.
You were right.
Together we can push everything up with us
...as we go.
Then I knew we had won something they could never take away
something I could leave to my children
and they, the salt of the earth, would inherit it.