Salt of the Earth

The movie Salt of the Earth showed me many hardships that members of the borderlands faced with the movement of the Anglo-Americans. The unsafe workspaces, the disrespect they received from coworkers, but it also showed me the strength of the native people of the area. The miners of the time were facing adversity from every aspect of the workplace therefore they decided to strike. Not only did the Anglo-Americans change the workplaces, they also changed the name of the town from San Marcos, to Zinc Town. All these affects were forced on the Mexican-Americans of Zinc Town. Although the Mexican-Americans faced struggles, they still had the power to strike. Once the president of the mining company decided that the men working in the mines did not need a worker for safety in the mines. The extra worker was used for safety and looking out for dangerous spots. Once these extra workers were taken away, not only the miners were affected, the entire town was affected because each worker had a family and everything was tied into the mine. Due to everyone involved with the town the strike was bound to happen. A labor strike is going to happen whenever workers are unhappy with wages, work conditions, or the way they are being treated. A strike is a massive work stoppage by the refusal of workers to work. Strikes occur all around the world today, and the workers are protected by Unions. The goal of a strike is to work out an agreement via contract between employee and employers. The strike from Salt of the Earth was possible because all of the workers stuck together and knew what they wanted, safer work areas. Ramon was a leader throughout the strike, he wanted rights, but he contradicted himself at home by treating his wife as inferior to him. But he later realized while on strike and at home with the kids the tough job she had to do every day while he worked. Strikes today are protected by laws and supported by workers unions, but during this time period they were not allowed to strike. They were forced off of the picket line by the Taft-Hartley Act, but this did not put an end to the picket line, the women supported their men and filled in for them while they were forced out. Although this was not the first strike of all time, it was a very important one and very influential on strikes that happen nowadays. There have been an infinite amount of strikes that have happened in the United States, and all over the world. It does not have to be just manual labor strikes it is any type of labor that can strike, for instance the writer’s strike during 2007 and 2008. The Writers Guild decided they need to strike because they were not receiving the large funds that all the studios were receiving. Writer's Strike The video shows that the writers were unsatisfied workers. Strikes are ways for workers to either get what they feel they deserve, or for safety reasons. The human right to a safe workplace is essential. An unsafe work area can cause more problems than any company would want to deal with, lawsuits and loss of employees can occur, or in the situation with Salt of the Earth they strike. The strike can only work if every employee joins in and there are not any scabs. A scab is a worker that crosses the picket line. Scabs In a picket line the workers stand outside the worksite with signs and chants and walk around, showing the people in charge that they are unhappy with the circumstances they face. Picket Line. As you can see the people doing the picketing do not always have to be against working they can also be picketing something they believe in. Picket lines are very controversial and can be dangerous at times. I feel that strikes and picket lines are a very unreasonable way of getting what you want. If a child is not allowed to play with a toy and they pout and cry for a time period, the parent is not supposed to buckle down and give the child the toy. The protestors do deserve better circumstances but I do not believe this is the proper approach. It works most of the time but I feel as if they are pouting about the situation instead of finding a solution to deal with the problem.


By: John Garvin