Back to selection
“What Solidarity Really Looks Like”: Yael Bridge on Who Moves America
Who Moves America When the UPS Teamsters—the largest bargaining unit in the country at 340,000 strong—were negotiating their 2023 contract, it became increasingly clear that management wasn’t looking to ameliorate legitimate workplace woes. Drivers were delivering packages in deadly heat with no air conditioning; part-time employees, the majority of UPS’ workforce, experience massive turnover rates; and, as is true across the country, wages aren’t rising at the same rate as the cost of living.
So when director Yael Bridge and a collective of labor-oriented filmmakers got wind that the Teamsters’ newly-elected president, Sean O’Brien, was advocating for a strike if UPS leadership refused to improve conditions across the board, they knew they had to follow the lead. The result is Who Moves America, the second feature from Bridge after her 2020 doc The Big Scary ‘S’ Word about America’s inherently socialist nature.
The last UPS strike, back in 1997, lasted for 15 days and cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars. Some of the subjects that Bridge and her team follow even picketed back then, while others had yet to develop a class consciousness—or, as for some young Gen-Z workers, consciousness in general. Critically, the title of the film features no question mark. The sentiment isn’t up for debate—you, me, we keep the country moving. Unions help workers preserve the dignity we deserve.
After world premiering at True/False last month, Who Moves America screens Wednesday, April 8, as part of the Spring 2026 edition of DOC NYC Selects, an extension of the annual non-fiction fall festival. Bridge spoke with Filmmaker about filming across three cities, getting unique access to labor meetings, and her optimism for the future of American organizing.
Filmmaker: Issues of labor have long been a focus of your work and I’m curious what made you feel like UPS was fertile ground for exploring?
Bridge: Anyone following labor issues knew it was a pretty big deal, so around a year before their contract expired, we all connected and put together this super team of filmmakers to see what that trajectory would look like. Jeremy Flood was making a short film about the 1997 UPS strike. Mars was making Union. And Me and Yoni [Golijov], had collaborated before on [“When We Fight,”] a short about the 2019 LA teacher strike. In 2022 Yoni and I were at an editing retreat with Erick Stoll, who’s a DP on this film and was one of the editors on that film. We were all hanging out for a week just collectively thinking, “What should be next?” I believe Sean O’Brien, who’s president of the Teamsters, had just won [his campaign]. With the Teamsters’ previous contract in 2018, they had lost a lot of ground, which [is a concept] people maybe aren’t familiar with. You can lose on a contract, not just re-up or stay neutral. So the Teamsters’ membership were really pissed off, and Sean O’Brien was really vocal about going on strike. The group of us knew right then that we should be keeping an eye on this.
Filmmaker: How did you decide which UPS locations you were going to focus on?
Bridge: We wanted to have a diverse array of characters and in different places to show not just geographic diversity, but diversity within the union. There were 340,000 members within this contract—the largest bargaining unit in the United States. Some of those people are like, “I’ve been a union member for 30-40 years and I have a Teamster tattoo,” or “I’m in the union, but it’s not important to me, this is just a part-time job.” I was trying to find people of different ages, involvement, geography and needs for this contract. We were trying to show what solidarity really looks like.
We knew we wanted to be in New York, just practically because a lot of our film crew is in New York. So that was sort of a no-brainer. Then we wanted to juxtapose that with somewhere that would have different temperature issues. The Teamsters in general are more politically conservative and in the San Diego area, so we were also trying to show this bipartisan straddling that would need to happen to organize. Then Louisville, Kentucky is where where UPS has their central hub out of Worldport, this huge facility where everything comes in and out. That factoid didn’t quite make it into the film, but that was how we sort of triangulated.
Filmmaker: How did you navigate getting access inside and around UPS facilities and gaining the trust of your characters?
Bridge: [The Teamsters] were, ultimately, extremely generous with their time and let us into some pretty private conversations and strategy meetings. But filming around Worldport is not an option. Even when filming outside—which is totally legal—our crew had the police called on them multiple times. We had to be really sensitive around that.
I think we started filming with Tony, and that was just by virtue of being in New York. Jeremy has just filmed with Tony for his 1997 short film, and Yoni and Tony had met in 2018. He’s pretty involved politically, anyway, so there were people early on that could vouch for us in overlapping social circles. In California, Mars called teamsters she knew who connected us with Justin. Kentucky was the hardest to cast because we were specifically looking for someone who wasn’t involved in the union. Ultimately, it was someone’s neighbor’s cousin who was like, “Oh, I think these sisters work for UPS.” The process, as always, is just like, “Hey, let’s just hang out. We won’t bring the camera. We’ll just talk.” They were interesting because one was in the union and one wasn’t.
Filmmaker: I’m curious about those generational observations you may have had, particularly between those who had participated in the ‘97 strike and those, like in the case of the sisters, who weren’t alive, let alone working at UPS, during that time.
Bridge: A side effect of labor organizing is radicalizing. It is inherently empowering. We go about our lives, we maybe vote every four years for president. But we certainly don’t have economic or employment democracy. You can go to your boss and say, “Hey, it’s really hot in the trucks. Can we get AC?” And your boss would be like, “No. What are you talking about?” That’s why you can see how nostalgic they were for ’97. For a moment, you’re a superhero, but that should just be the normal way you navigate your life. You should be able to say, “You guys, why would we offshore jobs? We work here.” Or, “Let’s not pour the toxic sludge from our factory into our backyards because this is our drinking water.”
Through organizing, you just end up talking to your neighbors, your co-workers, and that process builds that solidarity, and then you do see that developmental growth. I’ve been making these films for a long time, and you just see that every single time.
Filmmaker: As someone who’s been making these films for a while, what felt unique about the UPS union?
Bridge: Well, it’s very male-dominated. Historically, a lot of unions were physical labor jobs, and we’re now seeing the rise of nurses and teachers unions. But this was a different experience for me because it’s a specific type of masculine performance and behavior—hanging out in D.C. with the IBT (International Brotherhood of Teamsters) leadership and their double-breasted suits. The legacy of the Teamsters isn’t the same as other unions I’ve been with. UPS jobs are also really important in communities of color. It’s a really good paying job once you get to the driver level. Despite all the hardships, it’s a job that you can have with no college degree and bring in six figures.
Filmmaker: Did you try to have Sean O’Brien be more of a concerted presence in the film? Had you tried to reach out to him and make him a figure that was directly addressing the camera? Or was that never really in the cards for what the film wanted to do?
Bridge: We filmed with him a little bit more than what is shown. The danger there is representing him as a figurehead and then everyone else as below him. I don’t think that that’s true. So trying to highlight him more, I think, would be reinforcing a false understanding of where power lies. He is a leader as much as he is led by the 340,000 members pushing him in a direction—just like in this country, theoretically, though not at the current moment. But that is how it ought to be. You can see that much more clearly when we were filming: Sean O’Brien might want one thing, but the members have to vote and they’re the ones out there doing the organizing. They’re the ones saying to vote yes or vote no. I think he’s aware as well of what his role is—he’s motivating. Maybe he’s the icon, but it’s not his emotional journey.
Filmmaker: When the contract was brought to a vote, were you at all surprised by the overwhelming decision to vote yes? And do you think that not striking ultimately hurt the union?
Bridge: I’ve been preparing for this question. I am not a Teamster and I do not work for UPS. I don’t know what my personal benefits would have been from this contract. So that’s sort of an impossible question for me to answer. I can maybe answer if narratively, do I think it would have been better had they gone on strike? There are a lot of strike films, and I really think there’s a huge benefit in seeing the power of organizing without going on strike. Just being able to show that people are organized, communicating, and can withhold their labor if needed was enough for them to make huge gains in their contract.
Filmmaker: Have you been keeping abreast of what the climate might be with the Teamsters and their next contract?
Bridge: Yes. We’re still in close contact with all the people that we filmed with. Five of them came to the premiere. I’m also in touch with IBT leadership. Their contract expires in 2028. Sean O’Brien is also up for reelection pretty soon before that. A lot of unions have been working towards aligning their contracts to all expire in 2028 with the idea that maybe they would all be ready to organize some much larger, more unified general strike. That’s a thing that has been happening with nurses, flight attendants, UAW. It’ll be an interesting time ahead to see how we who are not organized—like documentary filmmakers—can support, participate, and bring what we learn into our own workspaces.
Filmmaker: This country has been notoriously resistant to unions and abusive to workers. But the fact that we’re all struggling so much has made the union feel like a real option again. Do you think American constituents are more actively inclined to organize now? What do you see as the future trajectory of labor unions?
Bridge: We’re at this interesting pivot point where union density, which is the percentage of people who are in unions, is at a historic low. But union popularity is at a historic high, so that is new and is especially true for younger generations. Frankly, you can see it in the audience of our films. College students and kids in their 20s keep stopping me on the street being like, “I loved your film. I want to join a union.” They see how much has been eroded. There isn’t really job security, and unions are the only way that you will be getting anything. I think we can look to see what happened in Minneapolis as an example of what happens when everyone can organize together. It’s not just a way to fight back, but perhaps the only way that we’re able to push back against what we’re seeing. I’m ready to keep telling these stories and trying to get people to see that, because for me it’s pretty obvious.
