A young single mother and textile worker agrees to help unionize her mill despite the problems and dangers involved.
Like a lot of her family before her, Norma Rae works at the local textile mill, where the pay is hardly commensurate with the long hours and lousy working conditions. But after hearing a rousing speech by labor activist Reuben, Norma is inspired to rally her fellow workers behind the cause of unionism. Her decision rankles her family, especially her fiancé, Sonny, and provokes no shortage of contempt from her employers.—Jwelch5742
Thirty-one year old widowed mother Norma Rae Wilson lives in the southern US town of Henleyville, which contains one major employer, O.P. Henley Textiles. Like most of her friends and family, she works in Henley's mill - eight hundred on the line - those jobs on which the townsfolk rely to survive. Norma Rae is outspoken in her complaints about the working conditions at the mill, and will do most whatever to ensure a good wage for herself to support her two young children. She has a stable of casual sexual partners purely to relieve her boredom, she not having had a good history with men, with her one husband having died in a bar brawl, and the father of her younger child not having taken any responsibility at all after their sexual encounter. So she is surprised when she runs into a childhood mate, recently divorced Sonny Webster, the two who end up getting married. For Norma Rae, Sonny seems to be the kind of man who will make a good husband and father, the most important qualities in a man at this stage of her life. Like they do every few years, a Textile Workers Union of America representative, this time in the form of New York Jew Reuben Warshowsky, arrives in town, his goal to unionize the workers. They have been unable to do so as the workers fear losing their jobs, Norma Rae no exception. But as she begins to befriend Reuben and trust what he has to say is true, Norma Rae decides to work for him to unionize. As this union work takes over her life, her marriage is in jeopardy. But as the local face of the union, she may risk more in the form of her livelihood, her standing in the community and her family and friends, especially if they do not follow what she and Reuben are espousing.—Huggo
Norma Rae is a southern textile worker employed in a factory with intolerable working conditions. This concern about the situation gives her the gumption to be the key associate to a visiting labor union organizer. Together, they undertake the difficult, and possibly dangerous, struggle to unionize her factory.—Kenneth Chisholm <[email protected]>
Norma Rae is a lively, but dependable, wife and mother in an Alabama mill town. Like her father, her mother and most of her friends, she works at the Henley mill, spinning and weaving cloth as the days go by without much apparent purpose. Her "nothing special" life changes when she and her coworkers meet Reuben, a dedicated, smart-mouthed labor organizer down from New York to teach the Henley crew about solidarity in a place where workers and owners alike think "union" and "trouble" are synonymous.—Mike Rogers <[email protected]>
Summer 1978
Norma Rae Wilson (Sally Field) works at the O.P. Henley Textile Mill. She is having lunch with friend and co-worker, Bonnie Mae (Gail Strickland). Bonnie Mae saw Norma in town last Sunday. 'Your friend drives a mighty big car.' 'If you looked in the motel register, you'd see my name, too.' 'None of my business.' Norma turns away and says to her mother, Leona (Barbara Baxley): 'Mama, you haven't opened your sack yet.' Her mother doesn't respond. 'Mama, can you hear me?' Norma takes her by the hand and hurries to the doctor's office. She tells him her mother didn't hear one word she said. The doctor replies: You know that happens ...it's just temporary. Norma: She's only deaf for 'one hour'...'two hours'... 'all day'. Doctor: She can always get another job. Norma: There are no other jobs.
Norma is at home. Her mother is outside potting plants. Norma shouts from the window: 'You alight out there?' 'I'm fine,' her mother replies without hesitation. Norma tells her kids to do their homework, then goes into the bedroom and changes her clothes. Her father (Pat Hingle) enters. She says she's going into town. He offers to drive her. She's going to J.C. Penny's to buy underwear. 'You want to come along and sit outside the dressing room and have all the ladies look at you, then come on.'
There's a knock at the front door. 'Mr. Witchard?' Norma's father answers: That's right, Vernon Witchard. Reuben Warshovsky (Ron Leibman) wants to rent a room with a mill family. He's a labor organizer. Come to put a union in the O.P. Henley Textile Mill. Vernon replies, 'You people are Communists, agitators, crooks, or Jews, or all four rolled together. You make folks lose their jobs.' Reuben asks Vernon how much he makes. A dollar thirty-three cents a frame. Reuben says he's underpaid. 'You need me, sir.' Vernon replies, 'If you run real fast you may be able to get back to your car before my dog bites you.' Reuben leaves.
Norma is in the lobby of the Golden Cherry motel. Reuben enters and stops to chat, then asks the clerk behind the counter for a room with a view. 'Give him 31, Alston,' says Norma. 'Can't hear the drunks from in there.'
Norma is in one of the rooms, putting her clothes on. She tells her lover, George Benson, she's ending the relationship. 'Didn't you get your steak dinner...your box of pralines,' George asks. Norma Rae says, 'You got your kids. There's a lot of gossip. I've got my two kids.' George: 'You're a hick...you got dirt under your fingernails...pick your teeth with a matchbook...What the hell are you good for anyway.' He slaps her so violently she falls against the wall. She leaves, her nose bleeding. Reuben is in the room next door and invites her in as she passes his door. He puts ice on her bleeding nose.
Norma extends her hand: 'Norma Rae Wilson...Are you a Jew?' 'Born and bred,' Reuben replies. 'I never met a Jew before.' 'What makes you different from the rest of us? 'History.
The bleeding stops and Norma leaves.
Reuben is outside the textile mill handing out fliers. He's from the Textile Workers' Union of America. Norma passes Reuben to start her shift. Reuben asks, 'How's your nose?' A plant manager asks Norma if she knows the organizer.
A mill manager, Jimmy Jerome Davis (Jack Stryker), says to Reuben, 'One of you guys shows up every four years, about the same time we get the locusts.' Reuben: We got six of you boys in civil contempt. Would you care to make it seven? Davis: We plaster the toilet with them things.
Norma is called into the boss' office. The boss, Tommy Gardner (Lonnie Chapman) says, 'Norma you got the biggest mouth in this mill. "Give us a longer break. Give us more smoking time. Give us a Kotex pad machine."' The only way to get her to close that mouth is to give her a promotion. She's going to be a spot checker. 'Well, hell, it sure ain't gonna make me any friends.' 'It'll make you an extra dollar and a half an hour. '
Norma accepts the position. On the mill floor, she monitors employees as they work. She comes to her father's station. She asks him to speed up if he can. 'I'm going as fast as I can.' 'They're watching me. They're watching you,' she says. At home, her father gives her the silent treatment, then, 'I don't think you should push your own Daddy. I don't need that from my kid.'
A nighttime softball game. Norma goes to the concession stand to buy a hot dog and runs into Reuben again. She also comes across Ellis Harper, the father one of her two children. Reuben follows her back to her seat. 'I climbed into the backseat of his Cadillac one rainy night six years ago, stuck my feet out the back window, and got myself my little Craig off that Southern gentleman. He ain't done nothin' worthwhile since.' She asks Reuben: What do you think of me? 'I think you're too smart for what's happening to you.'
Back at the mill. Norma is spot-checking Sonny Webster (Beau Bridges). He mocks her, speeds up, jumps into a cart of loose cotton, weaves in and out and around the machinery. 'Come on, lady. I'm over here now! Mark me down! Mark me down!' 'You damn fool! You're gonna get us both to lose our jobs.'
Norma is at home folding laundry and the doorbell rings. It's Sonny Webster. He's come to apologize. He got handed divorce papers that morning. Norma steps out on to the porch to speak with him. He asks if she would have a drink with him. She agrees and goes inside to get ready. Her father reminds her of all the men she's had relationships with, none of whom are taking care of her now. She goes out anyway.
At the bar, Sonny and Norma are drinking. Reuben appears. A song comes on the jukebox that reminds Norma of her husband's death-Buddy Wilson was killed in a fight in a 'beer joint.' Reuben drives Sonny and Norma home.
Back at the mill. Norma is ignored by her co-workers. She goes to the boss' office. She's quitting. 'You're speeding up the machines to weed them out.' 'You knew all that.' 'Yeah. I was greedy, and I was dumb.' She throws down her clipboard, takes off her spotter's jacket, and goes back to her machine. One of her co-workers helps her on with her apron.
Sonny takes Norma, her kids, and his daughter, Alice, to the lake. There he describes the type of husband he will be if they were married. They get married.
Bonnie Mae hands Norma a flier. Reuben is speaking at a meeting that evening, and she's going.
The meeting is at a local church, a black church. Norma and Bonnie Mae are seated in the front row. They are the only white people present, other than three white men at the back. Reuben gives an impassioned speech about what a union is: One. Different people, different races, different religions, speaking with one voice. The textile industry is the only industry in the United States that is not unionized. 'They are free to exploit you, to lie to you, to cheat you, and to take away from you what is rightfully yours. I urge you to come over to Room 31 at the Golden Cherry Motel and pick up a union card and sign it.' Norma's is transfixed with Reuben as she applauds.
Reuben arrives at the mill for an inspection. Even though the O.P. Henley mill is not unionized, a federal government court order stipulates the textile union has the right to inspect every bulletin board in the mill to ensure its notices are not being stripped off.
Accompanied by a group of managers, Reuben inspects the first bulletin board. The notice is way above eye level. After Reuben threatens to call his lawyer, the notice is lowered so that its easily seen. He reads the notice and demands to see the other bulletin board. He is ushered through the weaving room. On his way he passes Norma at her machine. The second bulletin board is almost entirely hidden behind rolls of textile material. He has the textiles removed. Norma follows the developments from a distance.
Norma visits Reuben at the motel. 'If I joined up with you will I lose my job?' Reuben: No way. You can wear a union button, talk union to co-workers during your break, hand out union pamphlets. They can't touch you. Norma Rae: I'll go along with you. Reuben: You're the fish I wanted to hook. Norma Rae Webster signs up and begins recruiting volunteers.
Norma asks her reverend to allow a union meeting at the white church the following Saturday. 'Blacks and whites sitting together.' The reverend refuses.
Norma invite black and white co-workers to her house for the union meeting. Norma explains to her neighbor why black men are at her house. 'The shades are going to be up.' Sonny takes Norma aside: You're going too far, Norma. This is our home. Norma Rae: How am I going too far? Sonny: There's a bunch of black men in there. You're gonna get us in a whole bunch of trouble. Norma Rae: I never had any trouble with black men. The only trouble I ever had in my life was with white men.
The mill workers tell their stories of hardships at the mill.
After the meeting Reuben tells Norma he isn't getting his message across. 'Only 17 people out of 800.' It's because you're an outsider, she replies. Reuben: You got any ideas? Norma Rae: Get some corn whiskey and meet on Saturday. We're gonna hit the back roads.Reuben and Norma drive around the back roads handing out fliers. At one stop Reuben slips, falls, and soils his shirt on a mound of cow dung. Norma Rae: Its only grass and water, Reuben. At a waterhole Norma washes the shirt while Reuben swims in the nude. Reuben: This is the life! Norma finishes washing the shirt, strips off, and jumps in.
Late at night Norma is seated at her dining table, on the phone doing union business. Sonny emerges from the bedroom: You ain't gettin' any sleep. I ain't gettin' any sleep and I got to get to work in the mornin'. Norma says she's got a hundred phone calls to make. Sonny is angry. Norma didn't get to the market, to the kids, and 'to me!' Norma, even more angry, rises, and mocks doing the household chores-cooking, washing, ironing, making love. Sonny calms down, strokes her face, and kisses her on the cheek.
Norma is handing out union information during her break. Unlike Reuben, she can relate to the workers on a personal level. Norma's father, Vernon, is sitting by the gate. 'Well I don't bump into you much anymore now, do I?' 'You alright Daddy?' 'Sometimes I wonder when I lie down if I'm gonna get back up again'. 'Don't talk old to me. I don't like it.' 'I'm gonna come over there one of these nights...and take you out to a grand supper.' 'OK.'
Millworkers are being stretched at the mill. Then, at the next union meeting, no one shows up. Reuben visits one of the volunteers who quit volunteering, Warren Latting. Warren: 'They got us on a stretch-out. Put us on a three-day week. Twice as much work for half the pay. All on account of you.' He shows Reuben six turnips and two quarts of water. Dinner for seven people. 'Just go sell your union someplace else.' He slams the door in Reuben's face.
Vernon is working feverishly at his post. Jimmy Jerome Davis comes over. 'My arm's going numb on me, Jimmy. I think I better go and lie down.' 'You got a break in fifteen minutes.' Minutes later Vernon collapses. Norma and family attend Vernon's funeral.
At the Golden Cherry motel, mill-workers are back doing union work. Norma chews out a worker who shows up late. Reuben throws her out of the room but catches up with her at a nearby diner. 'You can't come down that hard on a man...Leave him his balls.' 'You ain't mad at me?' 'If the situation ever called for a smart, loud, profane, sloppy, hard-working woman, I'd pick you every time, kid.'
Late one night, Norma is napping at the Golden Cherry motel. She is awakened by two men. They're from the union national headquarters. When Reuben arrives, they suggest Norma leave. Reuben: 'What do you guys want?' 'This is a small Baptist town,' one man replies. 'The mill hands in this town go to church every Sunday. They say she's made a porno movie with a local police officer. Very explicit...' 'Show it to me.' 'There doesn't have to be a movie, people just talk like there's one. The lady has an illegitimate child. She's slept around.' Reuben: 'I don't believe this. Are we in the union business or are we in the character assassination business...Do you know that this woman has broken her ass for this organization? She doesn't see her kids. She doesn't have time to take a bath...Get the hell out of here!' He shows them the door.
The O.P. Henley management posts a letter saying the black workers are going to take over the union. A group of white thugs beat up a black mill-worker. Several black men come to his defense, and a fight breaks out between black and white mill-workers. Norma calls Reuben. 'We can take legal action,' he says. He asks Norma for a copy of the letter. She can't do that. 'How good is your memory?' 'I still don't know the pledge of allegiance to the flag.' Reuben: Get someone to help you. Write it down a line at a time.
Norma tries to memorize the letter but can't. Reuben is furious. 'Don't tell me you can't remember. You walk up to it. You stand there. You copy it down, word for word, line for line. You get me the date. You get me the signature. You get it all and you get it back here to me.' At the mill, Norma, with pencil and paper, copies the letter. Two managers tell her to stop; more managers gather around until she's surrounded by seven men. One manager, Mr. Mason (Noble Willingham) sticks his face mere inches from hers: 'You stop what you're doing. Right. Now.' She defiantly continues copying the letter.
When Norma's done, Mason summons her to his office. 'Lady, I want you off the premises. Now!..I want you outta here right quick.' Norma refuses to leave. She brushes past the other managers, into the factory floor, among the other workers. She screams above the din of the machinery. 'It's gonna take you, the police department, and the fire department, and the National Guard to get me out of here! I'll wait for the sheriff to come and take me home. And I ain't gonna budge until he gets here. She jumps up on a table, writes 'UNION' on a piece of cardboard, and holds it with both hands high above her head. The workers stop to see what's going on. Norma's mother shuts down her machine. One by one the workers turn off their machines until the mill is dead quiet.
Sheriff Lamar Miller escorts Norma off the premises. There is a police car waiting outside. Norma realizes she's not going home, but to jail, and puts up a fight. Several policemen carry Norma, kicking and screaming, to the car, and throw her into the back seat. At the station, Norma is booked. Charge: Disorderly Conduct. Norma has one phone call-- 'You can call Sonny.' 'I'll be calling my union organizer.'
Reuben bails Norma out and drives her home. She immediately wakes up the kids and sits them down in the living room. You kids are going to be hearing a lot of things about me, she says, but 'you're going to hear it from me first.' She tells them she loves them, and who their fathers are. 'If you go in the mill, I want life to be better for you than it is for me. That's why I joined up with the union, and that's why I got fired for it...Now, you kids, you know what I am. And you know that I believe in standing up for what I think is right.' She kisses each one of them and sends them back to bed. She leaves to take a bath, and Sonny and Reuben are left alone in the living room. Sonny: She had one call, and she called you. Reuben: She knew I could make bail. Sonny: You come in here, you mix her up, you turn her all around...She's all changed...What's gonna happen to us now? Reuben: She's a free woman. Maybe you can live with it, maybe you can't. He turns and leaves.
Norma is in bed. Sonny enters. 'Did you ever sleep with him?' 'No. But he's in my head.' Sonny: 'I'm gonna see you through getting tired, getting sick, getting old. I'm gonna see you through anything that comes up. And there's nobody else in my head. Just you.' He turns the light off and lies down, his back to her.
The ballots are counted. 'Folks, ballots tabulated for the O.P. Henley Company. Against the union, 373. The count for the union, 427.' The workers erupt in cheers, hugs and tears, and chant: 'U-nion! U-nion! U-nion! U-nion!' Outside, beyond the fence, Reuben and Norma hear the cheers. They walk towards Reuben's little car, crammed with union materials. Reuben: What're you gonna do now? Norma Rae: Live. What else? At the car, parked directly in front of the O.P. Henley Company sign, Reuben says, 'I don't say goodbye. I have been known to cry.' 'Well, what do you say?' 'Be happy. Be well.' 'Same to you.' 'Best wishes don't seem hardly enough. I'd like to thank you. I thank you for your companionship, your stamina, your horse sense, and 101 laughs. I also enjoyed very much looking at your shining hair and your shining face.' 'Reuben, I think you like me.' 'I do.' 'I was gonna buy you a tie clip, or shaving lotion or something, but I didn't know what you'd like.' 'Norma, what I've had from you has been sumptuous.' He extends his right hand. She takes it. They look into each other's eyes for what seems like an eternity. He gets into his car. She watches him drive away, and is left standing alone in front of the O.P. Henley Textile Mill building.
