Abstract
This movie Norma Rae is established on the genuine life of Crystal Lee Sutton as well as her connection with Ruben Warshowsky plus the association of the textile employees at the J.P. Stevens Company North Carolina. Sally Field takes the lead role and is seen combating poor working circumstances at O. P. Henley Company. This corporation is a southern fabric mill, functioning with a union manager to conquer the force from management, indirect dangers, in addition to the fight back to arrange her co-workers. Even though, the movie is very enjoyable, there are lots of instances of labor as well as management interactions, which include unjust labor patterns by management, unjust labor patterns by the union, as well as the bureaucratic procedure of unionization development.
Effective Labor Management An Analysis of Norma Rae
Introduction
According to Fossum (2012) “Labor relations is the set of processes and activities that unions and employers develop and use to clarify, manage, reduce, and resolve conflicts between employees and their representatives while accommodating the various goals of each” (p. 1).
In the movie Norma Rae, the textile employees were not satisfied with a lot of portions of their capitalist work situation. They struggled to shape a union through which they could alter the adverse features to better convene their wants. Political, ecological as well as intellectual actions all acted as a part in the struggle of the workers so as to create an efficient union. The working situations at the O.P Henley Mill were very unwelcome. In the opening of the movie the onlooker witnesses an event in which Norma Rae’s mom loses her hearing power temporarily. To amend these unacceptable conditions, a lot of of the employees want to organize a union. The leaders of this group were Norma Rae and Reuben. They functioned to stretch the word to their other co-workers with regard to the opportunity of building a better work atmosphere. They emphasized the truth that, the workers need not have to carry on working along with the un-pleasantries found in the textile mill. They said that the workers had the command to kick off alteration in their favor. Norma Rae as well as Reuben Warshowsky underlined the control of “security in figures.”
“A union's primary function is to give voice to the workers who are employed and who do not get a say in how they are treated, what benefits they receive, and the security of their job” (“importance of Civil-society,” 2011). In fact a union is not meant for threatening the columns of large business except when these huge businesses jeopardizes the cost-effective life of the employee, and hence a union will surely put forward resisting the prejudice and negotiate to solve the issue than a route to aggression. If anything, this film is classic because its message is still relevant after more than thirty years. In a civil society, a union would be respected for its primary functions and what it does to better the workplace environment and it's atmosphere for the worker.
“The term ‘economic democracy’ is also a synopsis with capitalism; it is as simple as saying and believing that capital is only made from the fruits of one labor and that it should be more respected than capital itself” (“importance of Civil-society,” 2011). Finally, it all boils down to social esteem, if a manager gives due respect to his or her employee. The management may reciprocate the effort of the worker by providing the payment they deserve, and also offer excellent benefits for maintaining the health of their employee, vigilant, and ensure that the worker in turn will do the best for the company. In fact, when such a situation exists, then it is found that it is neither very difficult to give or even to receive. If not anything else, Norma Rae strikes a chord in our mind that a union in our present working conditions and our society is very significant to the development of mankind and maintain a very healthy society.
Why employees unionize
According to Fossum (2012); “employees become union members through one of the three processes” (p 8). Unions are generally formed to provide collective bargaining for themselves, they may join the union, which has a collective bargaining agreement and finally, when new workers join they may do so due to the collective bargaining agreement. According to Fiorito, Gallagher and Greer (1986); “ the monopoly and voice power of unions are attractive to workers, but job content, experience, youth, social-democratic political beliefs, lower educational level, and lower personal income also relate to a willingness to form or join a union” (pp. 269-306).
The motives of the workers to form a union in the movie Norma Rae
“Unionization offers employees a method they can use to counter employers’ power to unilaterally change employment conditions. It is, to an extent, the corollary of incorporation” (Fossum 2012; p. 2)
Norma Rae employs proletariat coordinating to make clear to the workers with regard to the advantages of a union. She begins at the foot, the workforce, and endures till the entire factory gets the right to structure their union. Finally, Norma Rae as well as her partner in unionization that is Reuben, succeeds in creating the union.
Even though, the movie is very amusing, there are a lot of instances of labor as well as management interfaces and includes unjust labor patterns by management, inequitable worker applications by the union, plus the practical procedure of unionization development.
Norma Rae, who is a loom worker in the threading room is a frank individual, and is very honest with regard to her pitiable working circumstances. She has to face unwarranted noise, lengthy working hours with small breaks, physical pressure due to long hours of standing and working plus unusually high heat in the factory. When Norma Rae’s mother loses her hearing temporarily the company doctor does not show any sympathy towards her even though they know that this is a very common problem for the workers who work with heavy noise in the background, and this adds to the management’s indifference towards the working situations. With this background, the movie advances throughout the majority of the phases of worker organization. While organization attempts to obtain the workers backing to keep away the unification, and labor fights to find a grip to expand worker harmony and receive the union selected as the representative bargaining mediator both sides infringe federal regulations or seem come dangerously close to breaching.
“Other things equal, higher pay and other improvements in employment lead to lower returns to capital. Thus, the goals of capitalists and unionists are inevitable, in conflict” (Fossum 2012; p 2).
Employees during these days were not allowed to quit or even find work somewhere else. The mill chiefs were aware of that and oppressed it to the degree that they could. The personality Norma Rae is exciting for a lot of reasons; the clearest is that she is an uneducated woman. She does not have any knowledge in public works; however, her appeal and traits win her colleagues faith and admiration. Norma Rae is in fact a model instance of somebody complying with the lower-class American vision.
The functioning class can’t look forward to to become as triumphant as those who take birth in the higher tax group. Seldom will a capitalist without any financial conditions come through, but it does not occur that frequently. The dream of Norma Rae is merely to have a defensive union that will make certain that she in addition to her co-workers have a job in time to come, that their effective conditions should not be dangerous so as to affect their health. Also, she dreams about getting a fair pay for the work done by her and her fellow workers.
Role of Union and labor relations:
According to Dunlop, 1958; “One response by workers is to act collectively by forming and joining labor unions, organizations formed for the purpose of representing their members’ interests and resolving conflicts with employers. Unions have a role because some degree of conflict is inevitable between workers and management” (pp. 230-145). In fact, it is in the hands of the managers to augment profits by decreasing the pay of the workers’, but workers will gain temporary if profits decrease as their pay becomes higher.
Increasing profits can aid employees by pushing up profit allocation or other gains, whereas a decrease in profits can effect in layoffs plus a need for savings. Even though employers can employ plans like profit allocation to aid bring into line employee stakes with their own, yet a few of the resultant deviation of interests are unavoidable. Labor unions symbolize employee interests plus the group bargaining course paves a way to handle the conflict. Put differently, through systems for trial and managing labor contracts, unions as well as managers determine clash amongst employers and workers.
Unions and the relationship with labor should be such that collective bargaining is possible. According to Fossum (2012), “clearly, the outcome of contract negotiations can have important consequences for labor costs, productivity, and the organization’s ability to compete. Therefore, unions and management need to prepare carefully for collective bargaining” (p 262).
Violations of ULP
The movie also shows how ULP is violated by both the employer and the union. Throughout an approved plant check by Ruben Warshovsky, a component of the unionization crusade, the union agent would discontinue plus speak to workers’ “Hello, I am Ruben Warshovsky from the United Textiles Workers Union of America,!" or some other greeting identifying himself as a union representative while traveling through the plant”(Norma Rae, 1979).
Management menaced to get an order to prohibit any additional intrusion if he did not end, as the work process was slowing down. This is a prospective abuse, by the union of ULP section 8b-1 blocking the work procedure and it could induce management to single out against precise employees involving the association drive 8b-2.
At the conclusion of the movie the management queried Norma Rae with regard to her illegal usage of the company phone during working hours. Norma Rae turned protective during the querying and desired to call the complete name of all organization in the office during that hour. Hence management asked Norma Rae to go away, but she denied, but finally left when the management said that they would seek the help of police to get rid of her. Returning to the weaving room, Norma Rae stood up on a bench carrying a crude sign having words ‘UNION’ on it.
Immediately the workers started to switch off their equipment till there was no sound from the weaving room. At this point she was informed to go away from the company while her actions displayed that of a union agent, and the ensuing work closure is a latent ULP section 8b-7 infringement.
But when the management understood that the actions of Norma Rae pointed towards the possible activity of union formation; Norma Rae was offered a promotion so as to make her silent of even buy her due to her innocent and outspoken background. This offered advancement in her job put her in a situation where she was to trace other workers' actions to follow through reports to the administration. Ultimately, she found that the promotion brought about a conflict in maintaining an excellent association with colleagues and members of her family and hence abandoned the promotion by returning to her position she had held before the promotion. This is interpreted as administration seeking to control the employee’s rights to manage and a possible breach of section 8a-3 of the ULP.
ULP Section 8a-1 states, “An employer may not “interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 (Unfair labor practices based on National Labor Relations Act of 1935). This means that when the management attempts to
The employer tried to force the workers to stay away or not attend union meetings with unconstructive remarks by stating that staying away from the meetings of the union was the best for them. This was manifested quite a few times in the movie, particularly when workers were going to and returning from work where Ruben at the gate passed out pamphlets.
The company as soon as it realized that organizing a union was going on in the factory, they started to hinder the progress by increasing the workload of the workers and decreasing the workweek which is known as a stretch out. Hence this is a connoted monetary intimidation by the organization that they restricted the employees, their earnings as well as their capability to get a job including their break from work.
The most noteworthy prospective breach was committed when the management put up a letter expressing the information that the black workers would capture if a union is created and take vengeance on the whites. This letter added fuel to the fire of the black in addition to white racial stresses that were prevailing in the southern states at that time.
This effort to divide the blacks and whites, just before the vote, was an eleventh-hour attempt by organization to disintegrate any unity of those attempting to set up the union. Norma Rae replicated this note for Ruben, eventually leading to her dismissal. This unprincipled management approach was the almost certain breach of ULP law section 8a-1.
Conclusion
The film tries very hard to be an engrossing analysis of modern union organizing. That is not a simple achievement. Union forming is pretty dull of late. It is mostly a matter of making employees to sign union authority cards in addition to assuring that the provisos of the NLRA are conformed to. The authority that was in employees' hands several years ago is at present conveyed via stringent labor laws. But if the management provided better pay and better working conditions there would be no need of any unions.
According to Kaufman (2001) “To the extent that there are large or changing differences between managers and workers within the same organization in terms of the distribution of pay, safety, and employment security, class consciousness in increased and the demand for unionization increases”( pp 433-457). Whenever the conditions existing in the film Norma Rae are amended and / or other means for instance HR management practices which are more favorable to workers are enforced, claim for unionization is ought to be very low.
References:
B.E. Kaufman, “The Future of Private Sector Unionism: Did George Barnett Get it Right After All?” Journal of Labor Research, 22 (2001), pp. 433-457
Fossum, J. A. (2012). Labor relations: Development, structure, process (11th Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
J. T. Dunlop, Industrial Relations Systems (New York: Holt, 1958); American Journal of Sociology, 230-245
J. Fiorito, D.G. Gallagher, and C.R. Greer, “Determinants of Unionism: A Review of the Literature,” in K. Rowland and G. Ferris, eds., Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, vol. 4, Greenwich, CT: Jai Press, 1986, 269 – 306.
Raymond A. Noe (2003). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, Irwin, McGraw-Hill
The-importance-of-unions-civil-society. 2011. Retrieved, March 10th, 2014 fromhttp://www.examiner.com/article/norma-rae-the-importance-of-unions-civil-society
The movie Norma Rae, 1979, Directed by Martin Ritt
