“They are free to exploit you, to lie to you, to cheat you and to take away what is rightfully yours: your health, a decent wage, a good place to work” (Asseyev , Rose, Ritt, 1979). In the film Norma Rae, trade unionist Reuben Warshovsky, gave this powerful speech to the OP Henley textile mill workers. He warned them that without union representation they would continue to take advantage of management. The film, set in 1978, showed garment workers in a small Southern town forced to work long hours for meager wages in deplorable and dangerous conditions. These workers were typically “poorly educated and largely unskilled” (Leiter, 1986, p. 951). Management was negligent and apathetic towards the health and safety of their workers. Norma Rae, a factory worker, knew that her children were destined to work in the mill like the generations before them. It was a life they couldn't escape. Therefore he decided to defend his rights, empower his colleagues and effectively improve the quality of life of the paper mill workers of the future. Norma Rae chronicles the union organizing process from the expression of workers' discontent to the union's final victory. Workplace discontent motivates workers to form a union. Although the mill workers in the film were accustomed to a modest life, they became angry at their grim working conditions and the treatment they received. In one scene, a worker expressed his discontent by referring to factory work as a prison term. Another worker told the story of losing her husband to brown lung, a condition caused by prolonged exposure to cotton dust (Lynn, 1976). Plus, Norma Rae has seen firsthand how obnoxious…middle of the paper…is about representation and getting a fair wage and work environment. References Asseyev, T. and Rose, A. (producer). Ritt, M. (Director). (1979). Norma Rae [film]. United States: Twentieth Century Fox.Fossum, J. (2012). Work relationships: Development, structure, process (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Leiter, J. (1986). Reactions to Subordination: Attitudes of Southern Garment Workers. Social Forces, 64(4), 948-974. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Lynn, F. (1976). The dust in Willie's lungs. Nation, 222(7), 209. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2007, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P.M. (2007). Fundamentals of human resource management (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.Weil, D. (1991). OSHA Enforcement: The Role of Unions. Industrial Relations, 30(1), 20. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.