Norma Rae Essay

This film is based on the real life story of Crystal Lee Sutton and her involvement with Ruben Warshovsky and the organization of the textile workers at the J.P. Stevens Company in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina (Labor Films). Sally Field plays the lead role of Norma Rae (Crystal Lee Sutton) fighting poor working conditions at O. P. Henley Company in 1978. This company is a southern textile mill, working with a union organizer to overcome pressure from management, implied dangers, and the struggle to organize her fellow employees. Although, the film is very entertaining, there are many examples of labor and management interactions including unfair labor practices by management, unfair labor practices by

Study of a Leader –Identify and discuss key leadership skills, traits, and styles appropriate in pharmacy practice.

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Reformers’ participation in the strike benefit the strikers; before, doubts plagued them that their cause would have been extinguished if not for “progressive money” (70). However, frustration arose amongst picketers as these progressive women transform a strike based on class struggle into a “broader feminist revolt” (68). Anne Morgan blames the immigrants’ foul treatment in the factory on women’s inability to vote (67), not their inability to unionize, which is one of the main pillars of their movement. An unnamed waist maker retorted, asking how the ballot could possibly improve the conditions of the factory, for the “right of men to vote does not prevent strikes” (70). When Triangle’s head honchos, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, offer the strikers higher wages and shorter hours, Lemlich, along with other socialists, refuse and hold out for union recognition.

Unionists always wanted higher wages, a reduction of hours and better working conditions. (Document 6) Workers were being abused and injured and wanted to have protection over their bodies and hearts. Because the workers were being told their exact jobs and orders, they lost all of their independence and individualism and workers no longer saw pride in their work. (Document 2) In the railroad industry, workers could be fired by the railroad president (railroad king) at any time without any reason. (Document 1)

Labor conflict is strongly portrayed in Norma Rae, especially since in the second half of the 20th century labor unions were taken for granted as a basic worker's right (even as membership declined). Norma Rae both emphasizes the power unemployment has over the worker and shows the power that unions can have in the capitalist system. Companies want to control every aspect of the labor process because they need to make profits, and the way in which they control the labor process in Norma Rae (in an attempt to manipulate worker behavior) infringes on basic human rights. Norma Rae, however, has never behaved, and it is her strength and gumption that bring humanity (and a labor union) to the O.P. Henley Mill.

The women’s movement for the right to vote provided a basis for similar movements to commence as the entire nation struggled to gain social and political equality. While the women’s suffrage movement remained the largest and most successful, its platform of success elevated skeptical citizens captured in harsh working conditions to speak out about this mistreatment: “The employers didn't recognize anyone working for them as a human being. You were not allowed to sing. Operators would have liked to have sung, because they, too, … weren't allowed to sing” (Newman 2). Because the progressive period exposed social standards in general, this exhibition of unsatisfactory treatment by corporations of all employees provoked anger in the nation’s working

The Academy Award winning movie Harlan County USA is an emotional depiction of the events that surrounded the strike of the Eastover Mine workers in 1973. Barbara Kopple directs a moving film and gives an up close in-depth look into the struggle for a livable wage, healthcare that covers the ailments that arise from mine work and safer working conditions. While all of these were issues raised by the striking workers; they were also striking for respect as human beings, an upgrade to the only way of life they knew, and hope for their future. Most men understood that their family’s destiny was deeply rooted in coal and since leaving was unlikely, they would be best served by allowing the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) to represent them instead of the company friendly Southern Labor Union (SLU). “Which side are you on” is a song written to explain that the issue is as simple as black or white, left or right and right or wrong. There is no doubt which side the film is created from and the position is justified. Kopple makes no apology for the one-sidedness of her documentary. Kopple said “We’re pro-union, this is a story about the union, and this is the way it is from our point of view.” The grievances of the miners were just and needed to be addressed. She does an excellent job of creating sympathy and empathy for the deserving strikers and their families.

Although the world of work has evolved immensely since the first emergence of unions, there are characteristics of labor organization that remain the same. Norma Rae, set in the 1960’s exemplifies the common themes of union campaigns. Taking place in a small Southern town, the movie illustrates the efforts of a labor organizer to unionize a textile mill factory. By analyzing the union and management side of Norma Rae, one can see the tactics and strategies used in an attempt to win the campaign. Norma Rae emphasizes the importance of implementing a strong strategy and tactics in creating a union.

Norma Rae feels trapped within the rules of the workplace - even though there does need to be an increase in safety regulations as people are losing hearing, limbs, and so on. As she is approached by Jewish New Yorker Union Leader, she distances herself from his project of reforming labor laws, as she does not want to cause issues

The mind and mental processes can affect and shape human behavior. Some of the subtlest actions are outcomes of a person’s emotion, treatment, and provide underlying messages unknowingly exhibited and communicated. This occurs internally and is exposed through accidental or unintentional conduct. Hedda Gabler is an affluent European woman living a life of nobility and service. Pampered and easily neglected by her companions, she is unfulfilled by the amount of praise she receives in her household. Her strange and awkward behavior reveals the lack of foundation in her marriage. In Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen uses stage directions to portray Hedda as a furtively vexatious, manipulative, and discontented woman trapped in marriage and in doing

Unions played the vital role of providing a voice to the much needed desires of American workers that were suffering under harsh and cruel working conditions. By giving a voice it made it possible for unions to provide a platform for ideas to be secured and projected in appropriate methods. Through unions, standards were then set which overall improved the quality of life for all workers and provided benefits for those

The case of Sherry Hunt is an extremely complicated one. The fraud that she witnessed while working at Citibank was significant, and her report of it to the Federal Government was extremely honorable. Hunt had values and motivations in relation to this case, however I would boil them all down to the categories of first her own financial and physical well-being, as well as a feeling of responsibility she felt to correct these issues that she was seeing and helping all the people negatively affected by them. I certainly share these same feelings as Mrs. Hunt did in whistleblowing. The ability to financially support your own family, especially in the situation as Sherry Hunt with a disabled husband unable to work she had to be able to support

"Norma Rae" – is an American drama of 1979 directed by Martin Ritt, which I saw as a strong and vital film. The whole idea of the movie is shown in it’s slogan: «The story of a woman with the courage to risk everything for what she believes is right». Movie is filmed believable and realistic, and this story really touches everyone. We see how regular people, like all us, are working hard from early morning to night in a textile factory in intolerable conditions and get a pittance. Nobody cares about them, and these people work like robots. The main character of this story, Norma Rae, meets a man from the Union, who promises to help people and introduce them to the factory union. We can see how Norma Rae struggles against injustice and how it is extremely difficult to do it, because she had two children who need to be fed. We see the story of change and courageous act or one fragile, but very strong woman.

The movie Norma Rae does a tremendous job showcasing working conditions in the 1900s. Oftentimes, employees were overworked, underpaid, and forced to work in hazardous environments. It is evident that industries such as the textile industry, cared very little about the well-being of their employees. Take Norma Rae’s father, for instance, he literally worked-himself to death. What’s very important about this movie is that it showcased how fearful of unions employees were; not because Unions did not do them good, but because they were manipulated by employers to think that unions were evil. As a result, labor disputes continued to increase. Nevertheless, we see the importance of Unions in the shirt-waist factory. Like the textile factory that Norma Rae worked in, women in the shirt-waist factory were getting poor wages with dangerous working conditions. Women were locked in their bays for hours on end, oftentimes unable to use the restroom. Poor working conditions lead to the loss of lives. If labor unions were in place back then, employers would have been forced to provide safe working conditions to