One of the managers of the factory makes her feel as if her demands have paid off and offers her a promotion to be a "spot checker." She accepts the promotion and soon has to record how efficient everyone is doing their jobs. Her former coworkers are now resentful of her because the managers laid off all of the inefficient employees. She then moves back down to her former position and contacts Ruben about organizing a union. .
Ruben and Norma begin to contact other employees to tell them about the union. She marries a former coworker (Beau Bridges character) who expects her to do all of the chores that women are "supposed" to do. The managers go on the offensive to quell labor movement by starting a smear campaign on Norma Rae, and posting a notice saying that African Americans are planning to take over the union. Norma writes down the notice to give to Ruben but is fired by the managers for "making a personal phone call on company time." This seems to be an excuse to fire her for trying to organize a union. She walks out stands up on a table in protest. This galvanizes the rest of the workers and they stop working. At the end of the film, we learn that the workers voted for a union. .
"Scientific Management is an attempt to apply the methods of science to the increasingly complex problems of the control of labor in rapidly growing capitalist enterprises (Braverman 86)." It investigates the adaptation of labor to the needs of capital. According to Taylor, there are three distinctive principles to scientific management which are the dissociation of the labor process from the skills of the workers, the separation of conception from execution and the use of the monopoly over knowledge to control each step of the labor process and its mode of execution (Braverman). Each principle is demonstrated in the factory setting in Norma Rae.
The dissociation of the labor process from the skills of the workers is referenced in the movie multiple times.
The movie Norma Rae, is based in a small southern town. Norma Rae is a single mom who lives with her parents. Everyone in town works in one factory and they want a union, so Norma Rae leads it. although she portrayed to be a strong women, she is portrayed to be a strong women, and she fights for the union she still sleeps with a married man. ...
In the book "Nickel and Dimed," and in the movies Matewan, Norma Rae, and Kramer v. ... Matewan and Norma Rae, both inspired by actual events, show the damaging impacts that arise in the absence of government regulation. ... Although Norma Rae presents a more capitalistic society, in which the workers in the town have a choice as to where they work, this "choice" is not much better. ... Norma Rae, fed up the over-working, unfair treatment and lack of concern towards the employees wants change. ... In situations like the one in Norma Rae and Matewan, often the best solution is to form a union...
Erin Brokovich" is the kind of terrific storytelling that does two things. First, it renews my faith in the good neighbor. These are the unsung heroes that toil endlessly on behalf of others. Their payment comes from the personal satisfaction of righting a previous wrong. They buck the system, overcome daunting obstacles, and move forward with unbridled determination in order to see that justice is served. ...
