Locked Out

Featuring narration by actor-activist Peter Coyote, filmmaker Joan Sekler's Locked Out tells an all-too-familiar story about a land-raping corporation that plunders with impunity and treats grunt workers like Ancient Egyptians (mis)treated slaves. Only in this case, the workers at the Borax mine located in the Mojave Desert city of Boron, CA, aren't about to be stomped on by their new arrogant bully of a boss—the infamous multinational mining company known as Rio Tinto. The new honcho has torn up the workers' longstanding contracts with demands that they sign a new contract that would strip away most of their rights. The local union refuses to sign the contract, prompting a three-month-plus lockout, during which viewers get a glimpse into the lives of these defiant workers and witness the creatively nonviolent ways they fight Rio Tinto. The film also serves up a disturbing history lesson on the legacy of Rio Tinto: the company's roots lie in helping the fascist cause during the Spanish Civil War, and in the late 1980s the corporation essentially instigated a full-scale civil war on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea with their unethical mining activities. But even a $5-billion-a-year company has a lot to learn about American working-class solidarity, which they do in this powerful testament to the continued relevance of organized labor. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Sandlin)