THE WIRE - SEASON 2 (2003) - Pro-union or anti-union?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Dymond on December 22, 2010 at 9:38

If I recall correctly the last episodes of this season, when the FBI get involved they make it pretty clear their main motivation is to break the union. The crimes and fate of Frank Sobotka are a secondary consideration. Throughout the series it is pretty clear from the words placed in Sobotka's mouth that he and the union are the only people who give a damn about the fate of the working class community around the Baltimore docks. Employers are embracing mechanisation; politicians want to build apartments; even the police aren't that interested in the community they are investigating.

Unions are corrupt in season two insofar as every institution is corrupt or opportunistic in the Wire. However I think that unions are also portrayed as the only institution that actually cares about the workers. Contrast the sentiments in this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33v78KL0DVM&NR=1 

with the last scene in On the Waterfront when the workers gratefully shuffle back to work asking to be forgiven by the boss and the government.

Permalink Reply by Alex Falconer on December 23, 2010 at 0:06

Hi Tim, do you have a link to the last scene in On the Waterfront?

Tim Dymond said:

If I recall correctly the last episodes of this season, when the FBI get involved they make it pretty clear their main motivation is to break the union. The crimes and fate of Frank Sobotka are a secondary consideration. Throughout the series it is pretty clear from the words placed in Sobotka's mouth that he and the union are the only people who give a damn about the fate of the working class community around the Baltimore docks. Employers are embracing mechanisation; politicians want to build apartments; even the police aren't that interested in the community they are investigating.

Unions are corrupt in season two insofar as every institution is corrupt or opportunistic in the Wire. However I think that unions are also portrayed as the only institution that actually cares about the workers. Contrast the sentiments in this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33v78KL0DVM&NR=1 

with the last scene in On the Waterfront when the workers gratefully shuffle back to work asking to be forgiven by the boss and the government.

Permalink Reply by Tim Dymond on December 23, 2010 at 7:22

I was afraid you'd ask me that. This isn't the complete scene - there is a line of dialogue before it about how if the longshoremen 'prove' to the shippers that they don't follow the gangster union leader no more, they will 'give us' back the union. The word 'give' in that context annoyed me, as did the door dropping shut like a big mouth behind them after they all walked in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6VBdu_ur48

 

Permalink Reply by lana fargis on January 14, 2011 at 17:30

just finished watching the Wire and I'd have to argue that despite its portrayal of union having its fingers in criminal activities, it is depicted as a positive force for good, or at least imbued with good intentions. The criminal element is introduced solely for the benefit of fundraising, most of which is either used to revitalize a dying port, or to subsidize working families who are facing financial ruin.

 

The president of the chapter, Frank Sobotka, is depicted as jovial, genuinely concerned, and selfless, a man who devoted his life to his union, often at the expense of his own family. Even the cops behind the wiretap lament his death, viewing a departure of a good man in bad circumstances.

 

If for naught, it was at least refreshing to see union depiction in its meaty, three-dimensional, complex characterisation.

Permalink Reply by Jill Biddington on October 15, 2011 at 0:35

It's a bit hard to judge what we see of the union in the episode without understanding that what we see is a small snapshot of the efforts to break the union.  I think that part of the episode that really hits home hard is when Frank explains that without doing what he did there wouldn't be any work or income for the waterfront.  I am agreeing with Irma.

Frank isn't an angel, I get that.  He might have made different decisions if he was organising in a neutral territory.  Doesn't this highlight what happens when there is an imbalance of power in society.  It's like when the wealthy blame the poor for their poverty when the wealthy are the ones have all the power.