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Show Sunday. November Despite 'Norma Rao J. P. Stevens Still Battles Textile Plants Union Drive ROANOKE RAPIDS. N.C. (UPI) -Some of the leading actors in the real "Norma Rae" story are refusing to follow Bollywood s script The g movie about the unionization of a textile mill ends with whipped company officials leaving the plant dazed. But in the story that inthe 1974 vote at J.P. spired the film Stevens and Co.'s seven Roanoke Rapids plants Stevens' officials have emerged looking anything but beaten. e At the "Potato Rouse," the storage room where the election votes were counted Stevens executives and Oscar-winnin- - one-tim- officials from the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union now come every few weeks for contract talks that have dragged on for six years with no forseeable end. . In New York, Stevens and ACTWU executives are continuing talks that Burt Beck of the ACTWU says could "settle the whole issue of the relationship between the two parties." There were reports last summer that Stevens was growing weary of its role as the union's chief organizing target since 19(3. The union used many of its members to organize boycotts against Stevens' products and to protest at Stevens-relate- d board meetings. But spokesmen for both sides refuse to say what is now being discussed. The bottom line reportedly is that neither side wants to emerge as a loser. The talks and boycotts have made Roanoke Rapids the focus of the unionization drive but not a part of it. Instead, the city of 15,000 near the Virginia border has taken on symbolic value: the home of "Norma Rae," the scene of unionization struggles since 1934, the place where Stevens first was cracked. The stalled contract negotiations here also make it clear America's last unorganized industry could stay that way a long time. The union made Stevens its top organizing target in 1963, figuring if that firm could be beaten the others would follow. Yet, after 17 years of organizing, ACTWU now is in just 9 of the 80 Stevens plants. Stevens has been cited for more than 1,200 labor law violations and found guilty by the National Labor Relations Board for over 111 illegal acts. One administrative law judge nas said Stevens approaches its contract negotiations "with all the tractability and of Sherman at the outskirts of Atlanta." There are about 3.000 Stevens employees in the home city. Nearly everyone in Roanoke Rapids either knows or is a mill worker. But residents say the union's work is rarely discussed. "The only time I ever hear about it is on '60 Minutes'," said a saleswoman at a downtown dress shop. "If you have 10 topics to talk about, it or (the union) probably rates 10th 11th," Mayor Carolyn Little said. Ms. Little said that when ACTWU is discussed, it's usually in relation to Stevens' decisions in 1978 and 1979 to withhold the pay increase it gave its workers elsewhere. Stevens claims it ss had to hold back to jolt ACTWU into bargaining reasonably. The union has protested, filing a complaint with federal labor relations officials. The holdouts shrink Stevens' workers already small paychecks, which in September 1979 averaged $5.13 an hour. That's above the $4.81 an hour paid the typical textile production worker, but still far below the average national production pay of $6.31. Low pay is part of the heritage of Roanoke Rapids, born in late the 1800s when a mill town really was a sort of War plantation. The mill post-Civprovided the housing, the hospital -even the baseball team. That tradition continued until 1956, policy to break down sales and earnings figures to show textile activity alone. Union officials say a contract at Roanoke Rapids is crucial to an industry that is just 15 percent unionized in the South. "We'll be here as long as it takes," ACTWU Executive Director Scott Hoyman said. "When it began it was just a textile thing. Now it's known in the entire il when J.P. Stevens bought the mills. Stevens shut the mill houses and recreation centers, withdrew its support from the hospital. What Stevens still provided was a job, a fact that local newspaper editor Richard Kern said hasn't been lost on Roanoke Rapids' older residents. "What people don't realize is that job security in this day and time is vital," Kern said. "For those who reported to work each morning, worked their eight hours, Stevens has provided security. "These people realized the mills have provided over the years what little they had." The tendency in small Southern towns to smooth over differences out of fear holds true in Roanoke Rapids. "You could walk down the street and see one person after another and ask them about the union and they'd all say they have no opinion," said Bud Harrison, a retired Stevens worker and president of the area Brown Lung Association, "A lot of them have friends that still are in the plants and they're afraid of retaliation." Several events have brought unionization fight to national attention. Most important was the movie Rae," inspired by the story of Crystal Lee Jordan Sutton, a union organizer. She was fired in 1973 from her job in a Stevens' Roanoke Rapids plant for "insubordination." "Unfortunately, there is no insistence in the movie that it is set in modern times. A lot of people think this is a movie about the 1930s,'.' said Pam Woywod, who directs ACTWU's anti-Steve- campaign. Now Mrs. Sutton is getting national coverage by speaking about ACTWU's work. ACTWU is promoting the boycott of Stevens products at J.C. Penney, Woolworth's and Macy's. Ms. Woywod claims the boycott has dented the firm's sales. Stevens spokesman Paul Barrett denies that. Barrett said Stevens has reported record sales each year since 1976, reaching $1.8 billion for the period ending in November 1979. Ms. Woywod says Stevens' corporate health stems from success of its lines. The firm's percentage of income from its home furnishings division has dropped from 34 percent of total income in 1978 to 29 percent in 1979, she said. Barrett said it was against company 1980. THE HERALD. Provo. L'tah-P- OR ffiffi in r JV UUVI UWWUtt LI ACTWU. Some Roanoke Rapids residents claim that if a vote were held today, Stevens' seven plants would be nonunion. They say government intervention and the company's usual improvements have changed mill conditions significantly. They cite: Adoption March 27 of Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards limiting the amount of cotton dust permitted in mill rooms. An agent in cotton dust causes byssinosis, or brown lung disease, when it clogs the lungs and makes breathing difficult. The industry has been fighting these standards with which it must comply 599 by 1984. improved processing by state officials of brown lung claims. a court ruling that a person suffering breathing problems partially caused by cotton dust can collect full benefits. agreement among doctors on defin- ing and diagnosing byssinosis. Disagreements had made collecting compensation difficult. Stevens' expenditure of $30 million since 1974 to bring 85 percent of its g plants into OSHA compliance. Stevens will spend another $13 million, Barrett said. Hoyman said those improvements are not enough to swing the vote to the company. He said the union has represented thousands of workers in grievances. To the claims of waning union strength, Clyde Bush, one of. two ACTWU employees in Roanoke Rapids, said, "That's a damn lie. In the last three years a lot of the people who voted against the union in 1974 are among the strongest supporters we have today." cotton-processin- fsru non-texti- le A cor- Lady inquest one of Britain's most popular television panelists of the 50s, who admitted being a compulsive shoplifter, killed herself with an overdose of ' painkillers. e Lady Barnett, 62, a magistrate, was found dead in her bath Oct. 20. four days after being fined $180 and ordered to pay $480 court expenses for stealing a can of tuna and a carton of one-tim- cream worth $2. Police testified she wore an extra spacious pocket, known as a "poacher's pocket", inside, her coat when caught stealing the groceries in a store near her home. Two days before her death, 15 told Lady compulsive shoplifting years. the title came from her late Lady Barnett husband sprang to nationwide celebrity over three decades for her appearances on radio and television panel games such as "What's My Line" and "Twenty Questions." a physician Finding that Lady Barnett killed herself deliberately with an overdose of arthritis painkiller, coroner Guy Tooze said, "She had recently suffered one of the most traumatic experiences any woman could suffer. "I am satisfied she took a fatal overdose deliberately and knew what she was doing," he said. RENT A NEW 1981 CURTIS MATHES TV checks Own set in 1 V years No credit RejularMce L Lj Regular Price SEES? L jy 4 Year warranty levolors Free delivery No deposit Order by phone 224-73G- G interwest television 624 STATE N. d Bridal OREM t T 30-5- K 0 Over 150 books to choose from. FEE Your Choice J50,5 S 7 VINYLS ! MttS Xo Purchase Necessary o two $50.00 wallpaper gift certificates Where else but Schubach? 20 o 20 o yards ma!::::::gto: aristocoh vinyl YARDS CARPET BASSETT KIRR0R ? fr Selections Fit For Where e Ise would you find such a varied selection of attractive diamond brida sets at this incredible value? Beautiful diamonds, 14 kt gold settings, and a style to suit your taste. We have it all. A King. HURRY ! Open an account. Layaway for Christmas. Schubach JEWELERS . Illustration cnl.irm'd In .hi ilri.nl 17 age labor movement and across the nation. In a sense, the Roanoke Rapids employees have become Exhibit A... The Stevens thing as such has become a symbolic struggle." Jim Walraven, ACTWU's director for the Carolinas, said the union wins less than half the dozen or so organizing elections held in North Carolina and South Carolina each year. He said the most recent big victory occurred in July, when 1,000 workers at Wellman Industries in South Carolina voted to join Coroner Calls Barnett Death a Suicide Barnett an interviewer she was a England (UPI) oner's ruled that thief and had been for Isobel Barnett, LOUGHBOROUGH, m . University Mall, Orem Phone: Hours: Mon-Fr- i 10-- 9, Sat 225-916- 0 10-- 6 Hours: J 9 a.m.-- 9 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m.-- 7 p.m. Hon.-Fr- i. 590 H State, Orem 226-660- 1 |