Norma Rae and Labor Issues

Eventually, the workers of American Coal, who were once the landowners of the very area they were mining, formed a labor union to fight for better working conditions. The union was met with great opposition by the company’s secret police. As time went on, the coal miners continued to fight for their rights, only to be put down violently by the coal company’s strikebreakers. Union leaders were also fired and blacklisted from the company as a means to put a stop to union activity.

The authors of The Voice of Southern Labor outline the story of the 1934 the textile mill strike. Their focus is on the use

To understand the nature of the West Virginia labor movement, one must understand the unique sociopolitical and economic conditions in which it was born. Regardless of race or creed, all West Virginian miners had the same basic common experience at the turn of the 19th century: they worked in company owned mines, used company owned tools and equipment, wore and ate clothing bought from the company store, worshiped in company churches, and lived in company owned housing located in company built towns. The cost of their rent and all purchased items, whose prices were wildly inflated as the company store exercised a complete monopoly on all consumer goods, were deducted from their pay. Miners were rendered further economically dependent on

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

I will fight this to the bitter end. I will never recognize the union, never, never.” (Document D.) Henry Clay Frick, the person from whom this quote is taken from, was the president of Carnegie Steel. He was making his workers work much harder, long, strenuous hours with poor conditions and little pay. “Exhaustion from overwork. In consequences of the long hours of labor, the great speed the machinery is run at… So much exhaustion is produced. (Document F.) This definitely needed to be addressed and it wasn’t. Unions were forming to try and help workers get more fair jobs, safer and better pay, but they often could not come to an agreement with the company. Then the workers would strike. When workers went on strike, profits and production stopped. If the company did not want to come on a consensus, often, strikes would become violent. The owners could have hired perhaps two shifts of workers, one to work during the earlier part of the day and another to work the later part of the day. This would have reduced exhaustion in workers, which also meant they would work faster if not

During 1877, railroad workers in West Virginia went on strike. The railroad industry had grew following the Civil War, and wage cuts during the Panic 1873 established anger among workers. Later B & O Railroad stated a second wage cut later in the year. On the other hand employers believed business owners were terrible for business. Business owners wanted to keep costs down, which would cut jobs and wages. “Business owners fought against unions and able to keep their factories and mines operating, they hired strikebreakers, often employed immigrant workers from other areas who were hungry for jobs and had no stake in the union struggle.” (Schultz, p. 305, 2009) However, family and small factories were united as one and controlled by large

Despite being able to cause a small improvement in workers’ pay and hours, labor unions ultimately died out by the 1900s due to their methods. Unable to truly focus on the plight of skilled workers, most labor unions instead focused on that of unskilled workers, pushing aside the skilled workers. (Doc D). The actions of labor unions ended up being counterproductive, forcing companies to wage war against the labor unions. These stricter contracts such as that of Western Union Telegraph Company, forced workers to affiliate themselves against labor unions. (Doc E) One important thing to note is that the workers’ rights advocates were never able to coincide on one factor. As evidenced in an illustration in 1887, labor unions had to compete with other movements such as socialism, anarchism, and other labor unions. (Doc F). Because of this, the media, although recognizing the labor union movement, began viewing the labor unions as dangerous entities. Although the initial strikes such as the Wabash strike were successful, the ones that followed proved detrimental to the movement, and caused the steady decline of the labor unions. Because some of the strikes were dangerous, many strikes resulted in the deaths of those involved, such as the Homestead Crisis, and Pinkerton (Doc G). Combined with events such as the Wildcat strike, Haymarket strike, the Pullman Strike, the public began to associate a negative

There was much dissatisfaction throughout the plant among the workers due to workers being treated unfairly by management (Engelmann, 2014). According to Engelmann (2014), “Foremen “traded” workers back and forth between departments – one of them laying off a worker and the other hiring him back at a lower wage”. Many workers throughout the plant would complain about being denied a day off to attend the birth of a child or a funeral service of a friend or family member or to care for their ill spouse or child. Furthermore, company foremen were instructing workers on how to vote in local and national elections, and threatened with layoffs if they did not comply (Engelmann,

With Babies and Banners the major accomplishments of the labor movement gave women respect and dignity during the time because society only looked at women as stay home mothers/wives. After they helped the union men during the strike they were able to have a voice in the workforce and be seen as equal in the work environment as well. With the help of women the union was able to organize and collectively bargain with General Motors. This was the first time the union was successful in doing so because before women got involved there were many strikes and riots in the town amongst workers and the police. In Bruce Nelsons Radical Years Working Class details the major accomplishments of the labor movement. The “Big Strike” railed other workers coast

Nevertheless, workers’ complaints went beyond low wages, as they became increasingly upset at how much autonomy and control over the working process they had lost. This disappointed those who had previously took pride in their work, as well as those who had previously controlled their own working conditions. As a result of these new happenings, workers began forming and joining unions, or labor organizations, in hopes of advancing their cause through collective bargaining, and, if absolutely necessary,

The film which is based in the 1970’s primarily focuses on the trials and tribulations of two individuals organizing a labor union at a textile mill company located in North Carolina. Norma Rae is textile loom worker for the O. P. Henley Textile Mill and mother of three children who is opinionated about the poor working conditions, long hours and poor wages of her workplace. Her frustrations began when her mother temporarily loses her hearing at the textile mill but is not treated well by the workplace doctor. Norma Rae’s father dies while experiencing pain in his arm and requests for a break by management only to be denied at the textile mill. Norma Rae’s character is played by Sally Field whose story is based on a real life person by the name of Crystal Lee Sutton who tried to organize the J.P. Stevens textile mill.

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 economy, the government, and labor as a whole all became menacing enemies of the movement for organized labor. The world was changing, altering the government and the minds of the people along with it. Laws were passed to protect workers. Unions began to be looked upon as a negative, annoying influence on the economy. Despite the enormous wave of impact and support for unions and the rise of several influential coalitions in the 18th through 20th centuries, too many components turned against the movement and their hold on society was forever

“Eight for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for will” (Martha Bridgeman 2010). Have anyone in the audience ever experienced a time when you made a decision because you took information from your coworker or friend, instead of researching the information for yourself? Recently, I had to deal with my employer making a decision on becoming unionized and took information from coworkers that could have possibly changed my future in an economic way without knowing all of the facts. When faced with dilemmas that allow us to make choices, it is extremely important that decisions come from one’s own rational and informed conclusions, rather than relying upon what others present as unsubstantiated truth. Today, I will inform you on how I recently was involved in making a life altering decision of unionizing my employer, and my decision made after researching for answers; but first it is necessary to provide a brief history on labor unions in the United States.

Usually, management discourages having a union part of their business but in this case Volkswagen welcome the UAW to its planet. However, they were surprise to learn that at their Chattanooga,, Tennessee location employees voted against becoming unionized. The main reason why employees voted against having a union was because they feared that a union would create division and conflict. Moreover, the governor of Chattanooga stated that if Volkswagen became unionized the state would probably not give the company any incentives for locating their business in their state. The governor went on to say that he had information that Volkswagen will not be developing a second production line in Chattanooga.