44 Hours or Strike!

The Toronto Dressmakers’ Strike of 1931 brings young sisters Sophie and Rose together in their fight for better working conditions, decent wages, and for their union. It’s a tough battle as distrust and resentment of immigrants is growing, with many people blaming their poverty and difficulties on these workers. Sophie and Rose are faced with unexpected – and sometimes violent – barriers, and they quickly find that a strike is more than just a march. Barely into the strike, Rose is imprisoned after a fight in a picket line, leaving fourteen-year-old Sophie to take care of their ailing mother at night and spend her days protesting in the freezing wind. Rose’s isolation in prison weakens her resolve for change. Will they be able to continue the fight for what they once so strongly believed in? In the midst of anti-Semitism and the Great Depression, Sophie, Rose, and their union come together to try to make a lasting change.