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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Unions exist in the United States to represent the interests of workers who form the membership. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 is the primary statute that gives US unions rights. These rights are governed by the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. A union organizer is an appointed official who recruits groups of workers under the organizing model. In the United States, a union organizer is a union representative who “organizes” or unionizes non-union companies or worksites. I recently watched Norma Rae and learned it was based on Crystal Lee Sutton. Sutton was an American union organizer and advocate who gained national fame in 1979 for her role and events related to being terminated from her job at the J.P. Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, on May 30, 1973. She was fired for “insubordination” after copying an anti-union letter posted on the company bulletin board.
Norma Rae is directed by Martin Ritt and is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton. The story was told in the 1975 book Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance by reporter Henry P. Leifermann of The New York Times. The film follows Norma Rae Webster (Fields), a factory worker in North Carolina who becomes involved in trade union activities at the textile factory where she works and fights to improve poor working conditions. Norma Raw is a thirty-one-year-old widowed mother who lives in the southern US town of Henleyville, which contains one major employer, O.P. Henley Textiles. Most of, if not the whole town, works at Henley’s mil. The work at the mill is the only way people survive, even with the harsh conditions. Norma Rae is extremely outspoken in her complaints about the conditions. She will do whatever she can to earn a good wage to support her two young children. Norma also has causal sexual partners for the sole reason of combating her boredom. She considers herself a whore as one child’s father left, and another died in a bar fight. Even with her string of bad relationships, she gets married to a former classmate by the name and recently divorced Sonny Webster (Bridges). A Textile Workers Union of America representative arrives in town every few years. This time the representative is Reuben Warshowsky (Leibman), from New York City, who aims to unionize the workers. The Textile Workers Union of America has failed miserably in the past as many of the workers fear they will lose their jobs. Norma Rae doesn’t think of being unionized, but she strikes up a friendship with Reuben. As she listens to Reuben, she decides the best way forward is to work with him to unionize. As the union work takes over her life, she risks many things as her livelihood becomes the center of attacks. She continues to push forward until a vote is taken. Will she win or lose everything?
The story was interesting, entertaining but also educational. Made after a true story, you learn of a small town that depends on a mill for work. The staff of the mil is straight-up assholes, and they abuse their power because they know people need them. I found it interesting when a union representative, Reuben, rolls up to the mil, no one pays attention. Trying to form a union is tough, but when you look around, nothing is fair. Norma seems interested, but what do the mil executives do to detour her? They give her a promotion to be a snitch. She takes it because it sounded like her pay increase would be a nice heft sum. She does the job and tries to be fair to her friends, but soon she is ostracized because she is a snitch. She can’t take it anymore and returns to her former role.
What I like about the film is the dynamic between Reuben and Norma. Reuben knows that the mil is mistreating the workers and wants to help but has no one to help him. Norma joins the cause, and they seem so different. Reuben comes with that NYC attitude, and Norma is a Podunk woman. They hit it off, with Norma realizing that shit is terrible. With Reuben’s guidance, she gains information. One of the most powerful scenes was when Norma’s father died and then the racist strategy. Norma’s father is working hard, and he looks like he needs a break. His supervisor pushes him and says he can take a break in fifteen minutes. He works for like a second, and then BOOM, dude dies of a heart attack. That shit is messed up.
The other scene that was telling was when management rearranges shifts so that workers are doing more work at less pay. shit got real when they posted racially insensitive fliers with the hope of dividing white and black workers. Reubens demands that Norma copy the flier word for word so they can use it for evidence. When Norma tries to write it, management rolls up on her and tries to stop her. They straight up fire her on the spot and call the police. Damn bitches. While Norma is waiting, in one of the most powerful scenes, she climbs up on one of the workstations, takes a cardboard, and writes “UNION” on it. Seeing this, every member of the mill stops their machine.
The touching moment of the whole film comes at the end when Norma and Reuben listen to the election to unionize outside the factory. The votes are counted, and we hear that they won by 100 votes. It’s touching because you see that people are happy and the sacrifice that Norma had to go through to make it happen.
Speaking of sacrifice, Norma goes through a lot. She has two kids with two different me, and the men in her life are deadbeats. She sleeps around and seems to have a strained relationship with her parents. When she meets Sonny, it is cool at first, but when she becomes consumed with being in a union, he becomes frustrated. When Norma gets arrested, she has a tough conversation with her kids because they are about to hear things that no young child should hear.
I have to give MAJOR props to Sally Fields. I didn’t realize that she won two academy awards. I thought she only won for Places in the Heart. I didn’t know that this was the first time she had won for Best Actress. I thought she was phenomenal and made this film go. Her performance was outstanding as the sassy, tells it how it is Norma who sleeps around but becomes an advocate for a union. Fields was extremely sassy, and I just love her performance because even though she took shit and was arrested, she never lost sight of the goal. We do really like you, Mrs. Fields.
Norma Rae is a great film about a woman who takes on her mill’s executives with the help of a union representative to bring a union to her workplace. Norma goes through the grind and has many sacrifices, but in the end, she succeeds. Sally Fields is excellent in this role, and once again, I didn’t realize this was her first Academy Award win. Watch this film and if you are mad, stand on your desk and raise up a “union” sign.
