On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight To Build a Union

Pitkin has an agenda: to protect workers. Over a five-year period, Pitkin and Alma Gomez García, a second-shift immigrant worker, fight to unionize industrial laundry factories. They routinely deal with biohazardous waste, harsh chemicals, and faulty protective gear, and they attempt to make changes within the broken U.S. labor law system. Moving between the present and the history of the labor movement during the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly with regard to contributions from women, Pitkin deftly demonstrates the parallels of now and then; how in order for American industries to save money and produce faster, some workers have paid with their lives. Pitkin’s narration makes the choice to write as though in conversation with Alma a great one. She gives depth, soul, and a human face to what it takes to organize.