This Armstrong's Circle Theatre segment is relentlessly downbeat and maudlin, until an "inspirational" happy ending is tacked on. It's hard to stomach nearly 70 years later.
Eg Begley, so good at playing the man on the spot in such dramas as the classic "Patterns", is cast as an Italian hiring boss on the docks, whose taken to drink since the death of his beloved son Julio in the Korean War -adding to his troubles, his wife (Florence Anglim) is leaving him. Racketeers led by a smiling villain (Frank Downing, perfect as a heavy) have just raised the kickback required to be paid by stevedores if they're hired for a day's work, and Begley plans to stage a wildcat walkout by the men to protest the way the mob is treating them, with Cliff Robertson (who refuses to pay kickbacks) as his helper in the plan.
Both our heroes are beaten up and Begley even lands in the hospital, but he's regained his dignity by standing up to the goons. The word "blacklist" is bandied about in John Hanley's screenplay, an indication of this show broadcast during the McCarthy era. It's heart is in the right place, but the dramatization is quite poor.