Essay on Matewan and Norma Rae

In the chapter, “Underworld”, the author asks the true purpose of coal mines. After getting a sarcastic joke from a worker, she writes, “Every time we flip on a switch, we burn a lump of coal, each of us consuming about twenty pounds of those lumps a

The workforce constituted mainly of immigrants. Well-connected railway networks allowed the United Mine workers of America to bring immigrants to Colorado. It surely proved to be cost-effective for the company. The migrant workers were paid too poorly for them to be able to sustain their families. Miners were forced to work 10-12 hours a day. “Mine work seemed to turn boys into drones, women into men, and manly laborers into an inferior class of beings.”The company employed women and children in arduous working conditions with inadequate pay, compromising their health and well being. This in turn reduced the wages of the miners as they became easily replaceable.

In the film, Matewan, director John Sayles paints a 1920’s picture of a small, West Virginia coal-mining town. Over the course of the film, this seemingly American Township reveals itself as the site of feudal hardship for its citizens. The Stone Mountain Coal Company was the sole employer in Matewan. The company’s laborers struggled for autonomy and for freedom from the company’s grasp. The ideal method for this achieving such autonomy was organization of a union. This idea of union struck a cord with the company, and the conflict between employer and employee soon escalated into a battle. The laborers began to realize, in certain terms, that the Stone Mountain Coal Company is not simply a corporation but a

In the film Norma Rae, the textile workers were unsatisfied with many aspects of their Capitalistic work environment. They fought to form a union so that they could change the undesirable characteristics to better meet their needs. Political, environmental and cultural processes all played a part in the workers struggle to form an effective union.

The working conditions in factories were so bad during this time that it often led to sickness, injuries and death. People who worked in mines had to face many dangerous disadvantages every day. The working conditions in mines were very unsafe,

In the film, “October Sky”, the main occupation during that era was to work at the coal mine; almost every man worked as a miner to obtain money to raise their family. The coal mine is a very dangerous place to work however: a large amount of dust in the coal mine can cause respiratory damage to the miners and the rocks and debris can kill the miners if it falls on them.

Due to the monopolistic control by the coal company, perfect competition didn’t exist in Matewan. Businesses were not competing to gain workers, as there was only one source of employment for the inhabitants. One member of the town said, “If you ain’t with the company, there ain’t no work.” Because of the lack of competition, the employer does not have the need to market their establishment to a potential workforce or maintain desirable working conditions.

In the coalmine, it was rare to come across a boy that was in decent shape. “From the cramped position they have to assume, most of them become more or less deformed and bent-backed like old men” (Document A). From this, many kids had hunches at the age of 12. For a 12 year old boy, a workday included hard work “for ten hours at a stretch, for sixty cents a day” (Document A). Not only that, but the job was very dangerous. Cuts and bruises from the col happen all the time and cleanliness is never thought about. Infections take place, and even worse, often “a boy is mangled

Reforms were made during industrialization to help improve the poor working conditions present in mines and factories that had been created by the rapidly expanding workforce. Workers often worked in conditions that had detrimental effects on their long term health and had many hazards. Miners were exposed to heavy falling rocks, excessive smoke, poisonous gas and bad air. They often got what is known as miners’ asthma and many died from it (Doc 1). Factory workers worked in cramped, unclean buildings that had many fire hazards and safety issues.

3. Miners were sometimes brought up from the mines by hanging from rope, which could sometimes break and cause them to fall to their deaths. 4. Women who worked in the mines frequently suffered pelvic damage due to the baskets used to carry coal up from the mines, which could lead to death in childbirth later on. 5.

Unit 306 - (HSC037) Promote and Implement Health and Safety in Health and Social Care

Toward the end of 1948, the Harpenau’s realized that the new technology was advancing past their old mining practices; the crew began to remove the equipment and track from the Christmas Mine. The once believed, “safe mine,” now shows signs of just the opposite. One story that proves the mine unsafe was that a wooden pole propped gently against the ceiling one day wouldn’t budge just days later. On the calm morning of December 16, 1948, the 12 employees of the Christmas Coal mine, continued to remove the expensive metal track along with the last layer of coal. Jacob Harpenau, in charge of the Christmas Mine, had a reputation that is one to look up to. He was known to never send anyone to do a job that he wouldn’t do. He held true to his reputation

In Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh”, after Leroy’s accident in his truck, the pleasant illusion that he is in a perfectly functioning marriage is shattered leaving the reality that he and Norma Jean have ongoing issues that have been hidden and ignored for the majority of their marriage. The log cabin he never builds, the couple’s new hobbies, the baby they lost, the dust ruffle Mabel makes for them, and the trip they take to Shiloh ultimately cause Norma Jean to decide to leave Leroy. “Shiloh” is laden with symbols for the state of Norma Jean and Leroy’s marriage, and each situation introduced since Leroy’s accident forces them to look at how little they know about each other.

Reuben Warshovsky is a labor organizer from New York representing the Textile Workers Union of America is committed to convincing the workplace that unionization will increase wages and better working conditions at the O. P. Henley Textile Mill. With the assistance of Norma Rae and by working day and night he was able to pull off an impossible feat of unionizing the workers at the plant. Manipulation, bribery, retaliation and intimidation are one of the few issues Norma Rae, Reuben Warshovsky and other textile workers encountered. The film reveals what the type of strings management was willing to pull in order to prevent unionization in the workplace

I strongly believe that people should be educated about the December, 1907 3,000 coal mining deaths. In 2001 there were 42 coal mining deaths. All these deaths meant wives loosing husbands and sons. These deaths cause the lost of the bread winners in many house-holds; which, would later add to poverty and single parents.