The Resource Center of the Americas offers a series of programs this month focusing on immigrants in the labor movement, starting with a film this Friday and discussion on Saturday.

Matewan, the John Sayles' film that chronicles the struggle among workers in the coal mines of Matewan, West Virginia, will be screened Friday, Dec. 3, at 6:30 p.m. at the Resource Center, 3019 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis. When the miners strike, the company brings in strikebreakers and the workers must find solidarity across ethnic and racial divides.

The showing is free and open to the public and will be followed by a discussion led by Chris Nisan.

On Saturday, Dec. 4, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., the topic of the Coffeehour will be "Race and Worker Organizing." Macalester College History Professor Peter Rachleff, who has researched, written and taught about labor movements and race for decades, will lead the discussion. Admission for the Coffeehour is $4 ($3 for Resource Center members) and includes free coffee refills.

Other upcoming programs in the December series are:

* Dec. 10, 6:30 p.m. -- Film: The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers' Struggle
* Dec. 11, 10-11:30 a.m. -- Coffeehour: Thirty Years of Organizing Latino Workers in Minnesota
* Dec. 17, 6:30 p.m. -- Film: Bread and Roses
* Dec. 18, 10-11:30 a.m. -- Coffeehour: From the Truckers' Strike to Jennie-O and the Franklin Street Bakery

Participants in these programs can also check out the Fair Trade Holiday "Shopportunity," taking place through Dec. 30 in the basement of the Resource Center. It features a variety of fair-trade crafts from throughout the Americas. Also on sale are various fair-trade foods, greeting cards, music, books and more.

For more information
Visit the Resource Center's website, www.americas.org