Norma Rae: The Birth Of The Office
Many people in our society today don’t associate dignity with blue-collar jobs. Most don’t aspire to be plumbers or construction workers. But, after analyzing the pieces we read for class, my views have changed. I believe there is a good amount of dignity that comes along with people working blue collar jobs. In the setting of The Case for Working With Your Hands, the author describes how working in a motorcycle shop was more rewarding than working a traditional white-collar job. The role of hierarchy played an important in many of these pieces, especially in Rivethead. Management at General Motors prevented employees from feeling a sense of dignity by dehumanizing them and treating them with no respect. Similarly, in The Birth of The Office, management took many actions to prevent employees from feeling a sense of pride and self-worth, including making them do the same action over and over
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Norma Rae is inspired by Rueben Warshowsky who speaks about how they are earning much less than they should be. Norma Rae holds up a sign that says “UNION”, and the workers band together and hold an election unionize the factory. In the end, they win the election and successfully create a union in order for them to have fair pay and better working conditions. This shows how despite the less than ideal circumstances, Norma Rae and the employees preserved their dignity and fought back against management. Another example of this is in Rivethead, when Ben preserves his dignity in an unconventional way, by writing about it. Ben Hamper becomes well known for his articles about General Motors that criticized management. When Ben is called in to his boss’s office about these articles, management realizes there was nothing they can do about it. In my eyes, Ben keeps his dignity by this rebellious act, and the fact that there is nothing General Motors can do about
Norma Rae is inspired by Rueben Warshowsky who speaks about how they are earning much less than they should be. Norma Rae holds up a sign that says “UNION”, and the workers band together and hold an election unionize the factory. In the end, they win the election and successfully create a union in order for them to have fair pay and better working conditions. This shows how despite the less than ideal circumstances, Norma Rae and the employees preserved their dignity and fought back against management. Another example of this is in Rivethead, when Ben preserves his dignity in an unconventional way, by writing about it. Ben Hamper becomes well known for his articles about General Motors that criticized management. When Ben is called in to his boss’s office about these articles, management realizes there was nothing they can do about it. In my eyes, Ben keeps his dignity by this rebellious act, and the fact that there is nothing General Motors can do about