See Us Come Together

In 2020, when factories were forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an ophthalmic lens workers union created mechanisms to protect their workers with the ultimate goal of changing labour conditions in their factory. Exploring what is necessary to keep a country running in times of adversity, See Us Come Together is a documentary following members of the Optodev Inc. Workers Union, tracing the union’s activities from its origins through the present-day crisis. While the pandemic turned the spotlight on essential and frontline workers, it was the union that was most crucial to the Optodev workers.  

Mayday is an independent multimedia collective of artists committed to the struggle for free exercise of labour rights in the Philippines. The group collaborates with people’s organisations and unions to produce audiovisual works. Mayday was conceptualised in 2004 as the video production unit of the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, an independent, pro-worker think-tank, to meet the need for alternative media that can genuinely portray the situations and struggles of Filipino workers.