Blue Collar

Fed up with mistreatment, Zeke, Smokey, and Jerry decide to rob the United Auto Workers union headquarters. They stage a plan to crack the safe and relieve mounting financial pressure, hoping for a windfall or leverage. The decision sets the trio on a dangerous path that will test their loyalties.

They pull off the robbery but only find $600 in petty cash, a meager haul that underscores their desperation. More importantly, they seize a ledger detailing the union's illegal loan operation and ties to crime syndicates. The ledger becomes the catalyst for their bid to blackmail the union.

With the ledger in hand, the trio resolves to leverage the union's corruption for their own gain. They plot to threaten exposure of the illegal operations to force favorable treatment. The risk escalates as the union notices the breach and prepares a fight back.

Smokey enlists a local loan shark who offers tips on cracking the safe in exchange for a share of the proceeds. The arrangement drags external criminal interests into their plan. The looming involvement of the loan shark foreshadows broader danger.

The loan shark is busted by police for unrelated crimes and tries to bargain by spilling information about the trio’s robbery and blackmail. The leaked info circles back to the union, which vows retaliation. The trio realizes they are now targets in a larger power game.

Hired thugs show up at Jerry’s house to threaten his wife, but Smokey and the others intervene and beat them back. The assault heightens the stakes for the trio and deepens the conflict with the union-backed factions. The incident reinforces the dangerous ground they have entered.

The plant experiences a suspicious accident that is initially blamed on negligent safety protocols. The trio suspects foul play and deduces that union bosses orchestrated the incident to silence them. The murder plot anchors the escalating danger around their actions.

Agent John Burrows tries to coerce Jerry into becoming a material or cooperating witness against the union. The move casts Jerry as a potential foe to his coworkers and the bosses, pushing him toward a dangerous decision. Tensions rise as leverage and loyalty clash.

Corrupt union leaders win Zeke over with promises of promotion to shop steward and higher pay. Zeke begins acting in the bosses’ interests and withdraws from seeking justice for Smokey’s murder. The partnership fractures the trio’s earlier camaraderie.

Jerry tries to persuade Zeke to take steps to avenge Smokey, but Zeke rebukes him, insisting that nothing can bring Smokey back and that they should move forward. The ideological split cements the growing rift within the group. Their friendship frays as loyalties diverge.

Two gunmen hired by the mob ambush Jerry in a drive-by shooting through the Detroit–Windsor tunnel. The pursuit turns into a high-speed chase, and Jerry crashes his car before police arrive to rescue him. The relentless threats push him toward deeper cooperation with investigators.

Disgusted by Zeke’s capitulation and terrified after the renewed attack on his life, Jerry chooses to cooperate with the FBI and a Congressional committee investigating union corruption. This marks a pivot toward exposing the bosses’ crimes. The investigation gains a decisive ally in Jerry.

As Jerry enters the plant with federal agents, Zeke confronts him in a heated clash that cements the end of their friendship. The confrontation reveals the depth of the union’s corruption and how it has driven a wedge between former allies. The ending underscores the divide between workers and the corrupt leadership.