Norma Rae: Unionization That Was Needed

      The opening scenes of the movie exhibited early signs of hazardous conditions in the workplace. An employee’s environment needs to be safeguarded from the potential dangers of the job, in this case, the heavy machinery used in the textile mills. Without a comfortable and secure atmosphere, workers are prone to be less efficient and more worrisome. For example, the main character of the movie, Norma Rae, turned to speak to her mother during her lunch break, only to find that her mother had temporarily gone deaf. Horrified by her discovery, Norma Rae rushed her mother to the textile factory’s physician, who greeted the issue with a lack of concern and minimal sympathy, barely permitting the older women to leave work and rest at home. This type of blatant apathy on the part of a doctor, who by oath should nurture and try to restore health, demonstrates just how fragile and defenseless the workers of this textile factory are. Although some dismiss this as just a side effect of the aging process, to indicate beyond any doubt that the cause of her temporary deafness was the loud, incessant machinery of the factory, the movie presents many scenes in the factory where the audience can not hear anything the characters are saying to each other. However, if the workers had been unionized, the outcome would have been different. Unionization of a textile mill, particularly in the late 1900s when technology played a larger role in the development of industrial machinery, has lead to decreasing numbers of textile workers with noise-induced hearing loss (Oates 117). Through a union, operatives may share their health concerns with management and effectively force mills to update machinery in order to provide an improved working atmosphere (Leiter 545). A union provides workers the opportunity to voice their work-related distress through an organization with the proper financial and political backing necessary to provoke positive outcomes. Unions can equal or overmatch the financial muscle of businesses, and therefore advocate reform concerning workplace hazards, that would otherwise have been overlooked.

      To further the complaints expressed by textile workers, several have added that their situations resembled slaves before the civil war. Low skill requirements in textile manufacturing and the presence of a vast pool of potential mill workers in the large black population of the region were factors which workers could not control, and effectively spelled defeat for any attempt to organize the industry. The textile operatives were worked “grueling hours in inhospitable prisons called textile plants, yet were paid on average less than any other industrial worker in America. A sentiment of contempt began to grow between the laboring lass and the all-powerful corporation (Leiter 479).” The low wages were mostly attributable to the “homogeneity of the operatives, their agrarian background and lack of education, which resulted in a basic naiveté which militated substantially against organization (Oates 116).” Simply put, workers were exploited because they were uneducated to the benefits of a union and the management of the mills used this to pressure operatives to work harder for minimal pay, or face unemployment. However, in southern areas and industries where unionization sentiment was strong and favorable, union workers were “enjoying greater economic growth than the southern areas, which have demonstrated the greatest resistance to unionization (Hill 478).” Such positive results depict the importance and usefulness of having a union to better the living standards of workers. A union could ameliorate the “low status, poor wages, unsafe conditions, and monotony of their jobs” and provide them with the economic growth and strength of other regions that have unionized and stopped the exploitation of mill owners (Simpson).

      Lastly, the underhandedness of management and the conniving methods they have applied would not have been tolerated in a unionized shop floor. Management in any industry exists to mediate between workers and owners and responsibly work towards the enhancement of the company as well as its employees. However, the management portrayed in the movie created racist rivalries and mistreatment of workers. For example, when unionizing began popularizing amongst the workers in the mill, management lead the white workers to believe that unionization would cause black workers to steal their jobs. With this in mind, a few white workers attacked a black one during their break, raising racial tensions. This problem did not only occur in this one particular mill. White employees enjoyed protection from job competition with blacks, which mill owners portrayed as a privilege extended within the “white mill family” as long as the operatives remained loyal, hard working, and unorganized (Leiter 124). Leiter explains that the mill’s management used illegal promises to impede union efforts and therefore did not respect the equal rights and opportunities of all their workers. Leiter went further to say that blacks were grateful for union support concerning the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, and advocated textile unionization as whites rarely had (124). The organization of this textile mill would prevent management from overlooking the Civil Rights Acts and illegally threatening worker’s job security in order to pit them against each other on the grounds of race. All operatives should be free of a shrewd management group willing to sacrifice harmony on the shop floor for their own benefit.

      Another instance of management’s transgression against its workers is its harsh tactics to minimize participation in union activities. Textile workers have been poorly educated and largely unskilled beyond the machine-tending requirements of the mills. This has limited their employment opportunities even as better jobs have appeared in the region. Mill owners have often worked hard to limit desirable employment alternatives in the towns where they have had considerable influence through local government on zone, building permits, sewage hookups, and the like (Hill 478). At the same time, cooperation was growing among mill owners in response to union efforts, culminating in the formation of the powerful Southern Cotton Spinner’s Association (Oates 117). Management increasingly took a united stand when confronted with organizing workers (Oates 117), and simply abused their ability to recruit new operatives. The inspiration for Norma Rae came from the unionization of J.P. Stevens (Weissman). The company used “heavy-handed and blatantly illegal tactics to frustrate workers and union leaders, apparently willing to accept the fines and legal fees that accompanied such a brazen strategy (Weissman).” If a company would be this willing to avoid unionization to the point that it would hurt its own employees by thwarting their efforts to obtain other jobs, the firm must be regulated to prevent the mistreatment of their workers. Workers should not be helpless when it comes to stopping abusive and manipulative businesses, and with the help of a union to boldly stand up to these firms, communities will be better off.

      The facts of reality as well as the portrayal of textile mills in Norma Rae would lead any person to agree that the workers of this factory needed unionization to shelter them from the unpleasant experiences of their work environment. No longer would mill owners exploit workers within America, utilizing harsh tactics to inhibit participatory democracy on the shop floor. Through unionization, many more employees would be safeguarded from the dangers of the workplace and start to enjoy economic freedom and success. This has allowed many of the southern areas once dominated by textile mills to advance their economic prospects and grow out of their dependence. The textile industry stands as an example for other un-organized industries, proving that although the situation may be difficult to confront, with persistence and the help of a union, individuals can better themselves. Through this, every employee in America will have a union to help resolve their work-related issues, providing the citizens of this country with the means of reaching a higher living standard. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Work Cited

Hill, Lewis. “Labor in the South”. The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 28, No.3 (Sept.,  1968), 477-479 < http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0020- 0507%28196809%2928%3A3%3C477%3ALITS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K>

Leiter, Jeffrey. “Continuity and Change in the Legitimation of Authority in Southern Mill Towns”. Social Problems. Vol. 29. 29, No. 5 (Jun.,1982), 540-550 <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037- 791%28198206%2929%3A5%3C540%3ACACITL%3E2.0.CO%3b2-M>

Leiter, Jeffrey. “Hiring the Black Worker: The Racial Integration of the Southern Textile  Industry 1960-1980”. Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 30, No.2(Mar.,2001), 124 <  http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0094- 3061%28200103%2930%3A2%3C124%3AHTBWTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U>

Leiter, Jeffrey. “Reactions to Subordination: Attitudes of Southern Textile Workers”. Social  Forces, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Jun., 1986), 948-974 < http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037- 7732%28198606@3964%3A4%3C948%ARTSAOS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3>

Oates, Mary. “Paternalism and Protest: Southern Cotton Mill Workers and Organized Labor,   1875-1905”. The Business History Review, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Spring, 1972), 116-117. <  http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0007- 6805%28197221%2946%3A1%3C116%3APAPSCM%3E2.0.CO%3B-U>

Weissman, Robert. “Victories! Justice!” Multinational Monitor. Vol. 26, No.7&8    (July/Aug. 2005), <http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2005/072005/weissman.html#J.P.>