Award-Winning Documentary on Workers' Rights and Community Organizing Available for Purchase

For law courses and clinics addressing labor and employment, human rights, immigration, public policy, civil rights, law and activism, social justice lawyering and poverty. A DAY’S WORK, A DAY’S PAY follows three welfare recipients in New York City from 1997 to 2000 as they participate in one of the largest and most aggressive workfare programs in the nation, the Work Experience Program. They face major obstacles such as laws that classify them as non-workers, a mayor and general public that is unsympathetic to their plight, and a national anti-welfare sentiment that stigmatizes them further. When faced with the injustices of workfare, these welfare recipients become leaders, demanding jobs creation, health and safety protections and a grievance procedure for workfare workers.

A DAY’S WORK, A DAY’S PAY provides law students with a concrete example of how laws impact real people. Through its up-close portrayal of political activism, the film explores the fascinating interplay of the political process, popular mobilizations and the evolution of American law. When the bills that the welfare recipients have been fighting for are passed, vetoed, veto overruled, then thrown back into the courts, viewers are left with important questions and opportunities for discussion about where real change happens and how. A DAY’S WORK, A DAY’S PAY was broadcast on PBS and won the prestigious Harry Chapin Media Award.

"This powerful film dramatically portrays the real-life impact that law has on human beings. It shows how welfare recipients can be organized to stand up for their rights, and in the process transform themselves from victims of the system to citizens who take control of their lives and futures." —Stephen Wizner, Professor of Law, Yale Law School

"This remarkable film is about mean social policy and the impressive efforts of grassroots organizations to fight back. Documentaries often fail to tell both the human and the political story. A DAY’S WORK, A DAY’S PAY tells both."—Peter Edelman, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

" *** (Three Stars) Recommended! A well-shot, nicely edited piece of documentary journalism that effectively manages to convey both the frustrations of individuals caught in the web of welfare and their growing political empowerment through grassroots activism." –Video Librarian

To purchase a copy, click here. -jl