Real Norma Rae Passes Away

Crystal Lee Sutton, the woman whose real life experiences served as the inspiration for the 'Norma Ray' movie, has died of brain cancer at the age of 68. In 1973, Sutton attempted to get the employees of the J.P. Stevens textile mill in North Carolina where she worked to join the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. That union later merged with the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union to create the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), which in turn merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) to create the union, UNITE HERE.

At the time Sutton tried to unionize, she and her fellow employees were earning just $2.65 per hour. That, combined with the working conditions in the mill, the lax the safety standards, and the long hours they had to work qualified the facility as "sweat shop." With no union to represent them, they were completely at the mercy of J.P. Stevens management.

When you consider the long history of anti-unionism in the American south, the odds facing Sutton were staggering. Ostracized by both hourly and salaried employees, and made the target of taunts, ridicule, insults and even death threats, Sutton nevertheless persisted in her efforts to unionize the plant, holding rallies, disseminating union literature, and urging her fellow workers to join the union.

Despite her best efforts, her initial unionization efforts failed. Although many of the mill's workers were sympathetic to her cause, they were too fearful of losing their jobs to openly say they wanted the union. The company openly gloated at the lack of support for a union. Then, in retaliation for her union activities, the company abruptly fired her and ordered her to leave the premises.

Showing almost unbelievable courage, Sutton refused to leave the building. The company called in the police to have her forcibly removed from the mill. But before they arrived Sutton wrote the word "UNION" on a placard, stood atop her work table and held the sign above her head, an extremely brave show of defiance.

What happened next was memorably depicted in the award-winning 1979 film, 'Norma Rae' starring Sally Field. As Sutton held the sign over her head and slowly turned so all could see it, one by one, her co-workers, inspired by her courage, began shutting off their machines. Even though under company policy shutting down equipment without permission was grounds for immediate termination, work throughout the mill came to a halt.

In an interview, Sutton told the reporter "The workers started cutting their machines and giving me the victory sign. All of a sudden the plant was dead quiet."

Less than a year later, the union won the right to represent approximately 3,000 employees at seven textile plants in North Carolina, including the extremely anti-union company where Sutton worked. Several years later, a court ruled that Sutton had been fired and she was reinstated with full back pay.

Sutton quit her job just two days later and became a union organizer for the same union that represented her plant. Eventually Sutton left the union, earned college certification as a nurse's assistant, and spent the rest of her working days running a day care centre in her home.