Norma Rae Essays -- Labor Analysis Film Movie Rae Essays

Norma Rae   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This film is based on the real life story of Crystal Lee Sutton and her involvement with Ruben Warshovsky and the organization of the textile workers at the J.P. Stevens Company in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina (Labor Films). Sally Field plays the lead role of Norma Rae (Crystal Lee Sutton) fighting poor working conditions at O. P. Henley Company in 1978. This company is a southern textile mill, working with a union organizer to overcome pressure from management, implied dangers, and the struggle to organize her fellow employees. Although, the film is very entertaining, there are many examples of labor and management interactions including unfair labor practices by management, unfair labor practices by the union, and the procedural process of unionization process.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Norma Rae a loom operator in the weaving room is an outspoken individual and is very out spoken about her poor working conditions such as excessive noise, long hours with short breaks, physical stress from standing for long periods and abnormally high temperatures in the work areas. Added to all this is management ¡Ã‚ ¦s apathy for the working conditions, as seen when her mother looses her hearing temporarily with little or no sentiment from the company doctor, who knows this is a common problem for the workers. With this setting, the film progresses through most of the stages for employee organization. While management tries to get the workers support to keep the union out, and labor struggles to get a foothold to develop worker unity and get the union elected as the official bargaining agent both sides violate federal laws or come precariously close. First the Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) of the union will be examined.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After reviewing the film a rather short list of union ULP ¡Ã‚ ¦s, but they are potentially damaging and could be used by management to contest the outcome of the election if so desired. One committed by labor representative, the other by Norma Rae and are summarized as follows. During an authorized plant inspection by Ruben Warshovsky, part of the unionization campaign, the union representative would stop and address employees  ¡Ã‚ §Hello, I am Ruben Warshovsky from the United Textiles Workers Union of America, ¡Ã‚ ¨ or some other greeting identifying himself as a union representative while traveling through the plant. Management threatened to get an injunc... ...in the film the results were announced immediately and the union had won. After the votes are counted either labor or management could file to have the results overturned based on violations of the other party or challenges the vote count due to ineligible voters. Barrick  ¡V 7   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion there were violations of the Unfair Labor Practice laws committed by both parties during the organization process, which were identified in the film. I have identified two committed by labor representatives, not particularly grievous, but significant enough that ULP ¡Ã‚ ¦ violations could be filed. Based on the violations committed by labor, I do not think there would be any ruling by the NLRB that would affect the election results. If the election had gone the other way I could not say the same for the violations that were committed by management. The film depicted many aspects of the union organization process including the interactions of all parties involved. The organization process is more detailed than what was shown, but the general ideas of most of the major steps were accurate. Those steps that were not shown were invisible to the film but not the formal organizational process.

Building Brand Community Essay

1.HOG has been phenomenally successful at attracting members and chapters. From nothing in 1983 it has grown to half a million members in 1,160 chapters. This is the core of Harley-Davidson’s market and it is easily reachable through Hog Tales magazine. This is particularly important for Harley given that its customers are so varied making it hard to reach them through traditional marketing methods. HOG overcomes the wide differences in its membership by focusing on their common passion, motorcycle riding. While members get to meet fellow enthusiasts, Harley gets to keep their attention on Harley. As it cannot compete with Japanese imports on price, and perhaps quality, Harley has to focus on its brand. HOG builds brand community and dispels the old image of Harley owners as Hell’s Angels gangs. In fact, Harley has been so successful in building its brand that BusinessWeek ranks it as the 44th most valuable in the world. Retaining Harley owners is clearly lucrative; Harley estimates that active HOG members spend an extra $850 a year with the company. This translated into over $140 million, money that can easily be spent elsewhere by less loyal customers. 2.Given that HOG serves to retain and reach customers by building a brand community, the Posse Rides serve to create a brand within the brand. Lisa Laundry describes Harley as â€Å"a mystique, a lifestyle as opposed to a brand.†Ã‚  This kind of awe is mixed with a cultist sense of community, a dollop of patriotism and Americana, and commitment to riding to create your average Harley rally pilgrim. The Posse Rides focus on the latter part of that physiological make-up, on the hard-core riders. It allows these people to differentiate themselves from the larger group of Harley owners. The first Posse Ride was a big success, giving participants bragging rights that they promptly exercised on return to their HOG chapters. This word of mouth raised expectations for the sequel which, like many sequels, it failed to live up to. Participants expected their T-shirts stop after stop, and they expected to mingle with management to share their views. The results of the pre and post-ride surveys (see Exhibit 1) show high satisfaction with their bikes and the ride itself, but much lower satisfaction with HOG and Harley as a company, particularly afterwards. This is dangerous as it undermines brands loyalty. Barbara Hammet is right when she says â€Å"Harley certainly has enough money that if they have to eat a shirt or two, it shouldn’t matter.† Given the importance of T-shirts as souvenirs, or markers, to participants there is no excuse for not having enough on hand. If management had been paying attention on the 1st Posse they should know this. One has to ask why the mangers ride together at all? They can meet at the office, or have their own intra-office Posse. They should be seen to be part of the larger group. 400 people over ten days is not many people to ‘meet and greet’ for say, four managers. Mike Keefe defends management by saying â€Å"What they don’t see is the research that occurs unobtrusively†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The end of his sentence is unimportant because if they do not see it, or more importantly feel it, it is worthless. The old axiom, ‘If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right’, applies here. Harley should spend more time and resources doing so. 3.That the Posse Rides are worth doing should not be doubted. They are part of the brand image; a two-mile long rolling billboard for Harley. Seeing old and young, male and female Posse Riders traveling together projects an open, inclusive image for Harley. The Posses are advertising for Harley and its dealers and Harley should exploit this more. It should encourage, even subsidize, dealers to build on the Posse Rides in ways such as the dealer in  Duluth did on the 1st Posse. Coordination with local TV and radio should be used to raise awareness and crowds. The dealer network should also be used by the Posse Rides to solve logistical problems such as the T-shirts fiasco. Given that Posse Rides have different routes, most dealers will be able to participate over time. 4. While the visual promotional effect of the Posse Rides should be exploited as much as possible, commercializing them should be avoided. Participants are Harley’s best customers and it should take the opportunity to reward them, not exploit them. These people are not stupid and will soon notice if Harley tries to squeeze out every last cent from them. The indirect benefits, such as building brand awareness and loyalty, are much more important than short-term sales. If participants want to shop at every dealer, great, but their direct costs should be kept as low as possible. Given their wide differences in income, raising prices will simply drive off working class participants that blow their annual wad on one rally. This would change the nature of the Posse from an open, inclusive group to a rich, closed one. Over time, as Posse Rides become a feature of Harley’s brand, it would depreciate the brand. Posse Rides will also have to maintain their exclusivity if they are to be continually successful. If everyone can get a Posse T-shirt because of merchandizing they will not be worth having to real Posse Riders. Keeping the number of participants small also adds to the feeling of exclusivity, as does not running the Posse Rides more than biannually. This should also help to maintain a feeling of spontaneity that is missing from regularly scheduled, annual events. Exhibit 1 1.I will definitely sign up for another long distance HOG rally 2. If I were to replace my motorcycle I would buy another Harley 3. I would recommend this ride to a friend 4. I feel a sense of kinship with other Harley owners 5. I have made lifelong friends because of my Harley 6. My Harley says a lot about the kind of person I am 7. I really understand what Harley is all about 8. No one but Harley-Davidson could put on an event like this 9. Harley-Davidson really understands what riding a bike is all about 10. I am satisfied with HOG 11. Harley-Davidson really cares about me as a customer 12. Harley really understands my needs 13. My Harley is an integral part of my daily life

Anne of Green Gables Personality and Destiny - 9447 Words

Anne of Green Gables: Personality and Destiny Abstract Anne of Green Gables is the first long novel of famous Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, published in 1908. Its publication lightened the spirit of Canadians of that age, giving a place to Canadian native literature in the literary world. Current studies on Anne’s personality is mainly about Anne’s lunacy, mercuriality, narcissist, rebellion,precocity, imagination,love for nature and life. These personalities are considered fixed and invariable .But there is few studies comprehensively exploring the development of Anne’s personality and destiny as well as their interactions. So this topic is new to us and worthy of thorough study. The thesis will be divided into three†¦show more content†¦From 1895 to 1896, Montgomery studied literature at Dalhousie University, Halifax. Then she returned to Cavendish, Prince Edward Island to take care of her widowed grandmother in 1898. Beginning in 1897, she beg an to have her short stories published in various magazines and newspapers. Montgomery had over 100 stories published from 1897 to 1907 inclusive. In 1908,she had her first novel Anne of Green Gables published and got a immediate success. After her grandmother died in 1911 , she get married with Reverend Ewan MacDonald, a Presbyterian Minister . Lucy Maud Montgomery was a very prolific writer and she published over 500 short stories, many poems, and twenty novels, as well as journals, essays, autobiography and letters. Today, Montgomerys novels, journals, letters, short stories, and poems are still read and studied by general readers and scholars from around the world. Among her most famous writing is the Anne series, consisting of eight books: Anne of Green Gables (1908), Anne of Avonlea (1909), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne’s House of Dreams (1917), Rainbow Valley (1919), Rilla of Ingleside (1920), Anne of Windy Poplars (1936) and Anne of Ingleside (1939).Other series wri tten by Montgomery include the Emily and Pat books, which, while successful, did not reach the same level of public acceptance as the Anne volumes. She also wrote a numberShow MoreRelatedLiterary Criticism : The Free Encyclopedia 7351 Words   |  30 Pagesmore loosely used to describe coming-of-age films and related works in other genres. Examples[edit] Precursors[edit] Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, by Ibn Tufail (12th century)[18] Parzival, by Wolfram von Eschenbach (early 13th century) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late 14th century) Lazarillo de Tormes (1554)[19] 17th century[edit] Simplicius Simplicissimus, by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (1668) The Adventures of Telemachus, by Franà §ois Fà ©nelon (1699) 18th century[edit] The History of