Norma Rae - Emma G.

 With work being crucial to the well being of society, it is important the the rights of workers are protected within their workplace. It has been evidenced throughout society that when either the state or the business itself has total control over its workers, there is a strong potential for abuse. Rather than caring about rights of the workers, many companies simply care about profit. This leads to underpaid workers and an unhealthy society. 

In order to protect the rights of workers, it is important to balance the control that the state and business have over their employees. State regulations must be followed, while businesses still have freedoms to run their businesses as they choose. In addition, "workers can leverage their power to negotiate better wages and working conditions" through forming unions (Pelles and Barber, 2022). Such actions were shown in the film Norma Rae (set in the 1970s) and continue today. An example of this is when a handful of Starbucks workers in Buffalo, New York voted to form a union. The workers believed that "if society calls you 'essential' and asks you to work on the front lines during a pandemic, it is immoral to then treat you as though you are expendable" (Pelles and Barber, 2022). 

Although within the United States working conditions have improved, the ultimate goal to have a large profit remains unchanged. How do working wages and conditions improve while still achieving a large profit? Abuse against workers occurs overseas. It is important as a consumer to be knowledgable on the treatment of these workers overseas, even when they physically may feel far removed. 







Comments

  1. David BernellFebruary 22, 2023 at 7:10 PM

    This post brings up a couple of points that warrant additional treatment. One is how underpaid workers lead to an unhealthy society. Second is the role and perhaps responsibility of the consumer in knowing how products are made that they purchase.

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