HARD WORK” A Locally produced documentary by MFVA member Jim Sharkey will air on MPBN COMMUNITY FILMS.

The documentary was made by Brunswick resident Jim Sharkey in collaboration with University of Maine, Orono, Maine Studies Professor Carol Toner in 2005.

Synopsis:
In 1888 the Maine State Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics conducted a survey to assess working conditions for women in the state’s shops and factories. The bureau hired Flora Haines, of Bangor to complete the survey. She spoke with women in the workplace and handed out over six hundred questionnaires that asked about health and safety issues, wages and work hours, sanitary conditions in the boarding houses, and other matters. At the end of the questionnaire was this statement: “Make any suggestions that you think will tend to improve your condition at work.” Hundreds of women responded:

My health has failed in last four months, and my doctor says I must rest for two or three months or break down entirely. How can I rest when I have not been able to save anything out of my wages?  A woman’s life is pretty hard nowadays, I think. (Shoe worker)

In this documentary the women’s voices are brought to life again to tell the story of working conditions for women in the latter part of the 19th century in Maine. Using interviews, historical photos, and video from present day factories “Hard Work” details the rise of the female labor force in the state’s mills and factories and explores the conditions that women had to endure both on and off the job. 

“Hard Work” will be broadcast at 11am on Saturday, June 5th and repeated at 11:30pm on Sunday, June 6th on Maine Public Television.

For more information please call Jim Sharkey at 798-9975 or email

http://www.folkfilms.com