One woman, one word, one sign held high above her head standing alone and defiant atop her work table: ‘UNION’
For those who have seen 1979′s Norma Rae, it is impossible to forget Sally Field’s Oscar-winning portrayal of a textile worker who defies the establishment for the greater good. That real-life scene, which ignited a movement to unionize, took place on May 30, 1973 at the J. P. Stevens Textile mill in North Carolina, then the country’s second largest textile manufacturer. The real Crystal Lee Sutton would be fired that very day but would find eventual redemption in unionizing and would not only be reinstated, but receive back pay to boot.
Sutton’s drive for change was rooted in her own roots as a second generation mill worker who witnessed her parents’ lifetime of work for that same company, J. P. Stevens, amount to nothing. After 30 years, they had one week of paid vacation. Her then husband, a unionized paper mill worker, had four weeks of paid vacation.
As today’s clarion calls for a higher minimum wage rise to a fevered pitch, it’s worth noting that in inflation-adjusted dollars, Sutton was making nearly $15 dollars an hour. She wanted more and got it, but, sadly, it should be noted that unionization didn’t just land them better working conditions and benefits. It bought mill workers something their 1970′s era minds could never have envisioned. From that zealous bargaining, higher everything emanated swelling cost structures overnight and laying the ground work for the subsequent gutting of the south’s textile industry.
This post was published at David Stockmans Contra Corner by Danielle DiMartino Booth ‘ July 6, 2016.
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