Crystal Lee "Norma Rae" Sutton Dead of Cancer at 68

Icon of labor movement leaves a legacy of 'UNION'

The day before the start of our state AFL-CIO convention in Atlantic Beach, we received notice that Crystal Lee Sutton, the real life Norma Rae, had entered hospice care in Burlington for the final stage of her battle with cancer:

"She is with the Convention in spirit, and sends you all greetings: 'Be strong, fight for justice, UNION!' "

At the convention, a motion was made to take up a collection for her care and delegates all signed a card to wish her well. She would not live in time to receive either. As delegates traveled home on Friday, September 11, word came that Crystal Lee had died. She was 68.

Her heroism inspired the 1975 book Crystal Lee, A Woman of Inheritance, which was later adapted into the movie Norma Rae. Sally Field, who won her first oscar for portraying Crystal Lee in the film, released a statement on her passing:

"Crystal Lee Sutton was a remarkable woman whose brave struggles have left a lasting impact on this country and without doubt, on me personally," Field said in a statement Friday. "Portraying Crystal Lee in ‘Norma Rae,' however loosely based, not only elevated me as an actress, but as a human being."

In 1973, Sutton (then Crystal Lee Jordan), had worked on and off for 16 years at the J.P. Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids. Low wages and poor working conditions were the norm in textile mills across the South. She earned just $2.65 an hour folding towels to support herself and her three children. Then Sutton met a union organizer, Eli Zivkovich, who was trying to organize the plant's workers.

Sutton dedicated herself to the cause of organizing her coworkers. In a 2008 interview, she explained to the Burlington Times-News why she risked everything on getting a union, "I've always been a take-charge person and if anything isn't right, I'm going to put my two cents in. If I see someone getting hurt, I'm going to help them."

Management hounded Sutton when she started showing up for work wearing a union pin, and Sutton dutifully took notes of their every action. When Sutton made a copy of a racist flyer management posted in the plant to dissuade white workers from supporting the union, she was fired on the spot.

What followed was the iconic moment portrayed in the film. In the book Hard Times Cotton Mill Girls, Sutton explained what happened next when she asked a coworker to use her marker:

"I grabbed it and I took a piece of pasteboard and I wrote the word UNION on it and, for some reason, I don't know why I did it, I climbed on the table and I just slowly turned the sign around. Everybody was in a state of shock and the machines started shutting down and everything got quiet. People started giving me the V sign."

The workers at J.P. Stevens won their struggle to join the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1974, but it was years before the company signed a first contract. During that time, Sutton worked as an organizer for the union and led a boycott of J.P. Stevens products.

After leaving the union and divorcing her second husband, Crystal Lee settled in Burlington, NC, where she studied to become a nurse until her illness. After being diagnosed with cancer, the insurance company refused to cover potentially life-saving chemotherapy for two months, Crystal Lee told the Burlington paper:

"How in the world can it take so long to find out (whether they would cover the medicine or not) when it could be a matter of life or death. It is almost like, in a way, committing murder."

In 2007, Sutton donated her photographs, papers, and other material chronicling her life to Alamance Community College, which houses the collection in their library and online. She is survived by her husband of 30 years, Lewis Sutton Jr.; her three children; two stepchildren; two sisters; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

One of our delegates, Richard Koritz, NALC, has since delivered our card to her family. We will forward in memoriam the $340 collected at our convention to the Crystal Lee Sutton Foundation at:
Truliant Federal Credit Union
P.O. Box 26000
Winston-Salem, NC 27114

A sampling of obits and remembrances for Crystal Lee "Norma Rae" Sutton on the net:

• Burlington Times-News: Sutton, inspiration of 'Norma Rae' and Burlington resident, dead at 68
• Greensboro News & Record: Remembering inspiration behind movie 'Norma Rae'
• LA Times: Crystal Lee Sutton dies at 68; union organizer inspired Oscar-winning film 'Norma Rae'
• Washington Post: Labor Organizer was Inspiration for 'Norma Rae'
• Huffington Post: ReThinking Norma Rae: A Union Icon Falls Fighting the Healthcare Industry
• Daily Kos: Lessons from Crystal Lee Sutton
• Facing South: Real 'Norma Rae' dies of cancer after insurer delayed treatment

For more information about the life and times of Crystal Lee Sutton, visit the Crystal Sutton Collection at Alamance Community College online.

"It is not necessary I be remembered as anything, but I would like to be remembered as a woman who deeply cared for the working poor and the poor people of the U.S. and the world. That my family and children and children like mine will have a fair share and equality."
--Crystal Lee Sutton, June 2008

Health Care Can't Wait -- Major Actions Next Week (9/29)

Wendell Potter, CIGNA whistle blower leads 'Crucial Conversation'

The NC Justice Center will hold the next installment in it's 'Crucial Conversation' lunch series next Tuesday, September 29, 2009. The guest speaker will be Wendell Potter.

Until recently, Potter was a senior executive for corporate communications at CIGNA, a major private health insurance company. His job was to shape the communication strategy to kill any efforts to reform the private health insurance market - something he did quite well before his conscience got the better of him.

What: Crucial Conversation with Wendell Potter, former CIGNA executive
Where: Marbles Kids Museum, 201 E Hargett St, Raleigh, NC
When: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 11:30 am

There is a $10 registration fee (includes lunch). RSVP to annette@ncpolicywatch.com

Take a walk to Senator Hagan's office to show support for reform

Supporters of health care reform including a strong public option will gather outside the Marbles Kids Museum immediately following the Wendell Potter luncheon. We will then walk over to Sen. Kay Hagan's office at the Federal Building (the walk is only about two blocks).

What: A Walk to Kay Hagan's Office
Where: Start at Marbles Kids Museum, 201 E Hargett St, Raleigh, NC
When: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Rev. Dr. William Barber of the NC NAACP and a small delegation will go inside and let Senator Kay Hagan know that North Carolinians support health care reform that's affordable for working families. We are urging the Senator to continue to support a strong public option, not a watered down co-op model.

The delegation will deliver a statement to the Senator along with 5,000 letters and petitions, which demand affordable coverage and a strong public option as part of health care reform.

This event is sponsored by Health Care for America Now, the HKonJ coalition, the NC NAACP, AFL-CIO, and NC Justice Center. Please join us for this walk for health care. We hope to see you there!

Local Health Care Horror

Earnestine Mitchell, Workers United 565, knows all too well the need for reform

Earnestine Mitchell of Workers United local 565 has a story to tell. With a diabetic son, a granddaughter with cerebral palsy and a daughter-in-law with lupus, this family has experienced first hand the failure of the American health care system to provide for our sick people.

"Because my daughter-in-law has lupus, the doctor advised against having children, but she got pregnant and my granddaughter was born 25 weeks early. She was sent home with an oxygen tank, feeding tube and a heart monitor because the insurance company at that time capped off the amount they would continue paying for her health care."

"A few years later my daughter-in-law lost her health insurance because her company downsized and stopped paying benefits. She shopped around for insurance they could afford, and when they finally found some, my son couldn't get it because he was diagnosed with diabetes. He takes two shots a day."

"The doctor filled out papers so my granddaughter could apply for [supplemental security income to afford] braces for her legs and a wheelchair to go to school, but they have been denied because they say my son and his wife make too much money…my son has been paying taxes for years, and to be turned down is a slap in the face because there are people who are not working and continue having children, and they have Medicaid."

"My son's family just found insurance that would cover their pre-existing conditions, but they have to pay a minimum of $1300 a month."

"I'm all for health care reform, whatever can be done to make it affordable for everybody." Let's hope that health care reform is passed so that families like Earnestine's can find relief.

66th Annual NAACP State Convention is Oct 8-11

Join us for the Labor & Industry Breakfast on Friday, 9 October

Our HKonJ ally on many issues important to workers and working families in North Carolina - like the long-fought campaign to organize Smithfield Foods and our effort to win collective bargaining rights for public employees - the NC chapter of the NAACP will hold it's 66th Annual State Convention in Hickory next month.

The NC NAACP has invited us to join them at the Labor & Industry Breakfast on Friday, October 9, 2009.

What: NAACP Labor & Industry Breakfast
Where: Hickory Metro Convention Center, 1960 13th St NE, Hickory, NC
When: Friday, October 9 at 7:00 AM

Civil rights and labor leader the Rev. Nelson Johnson will deliver the keynote address at the Labor & Industry breakfast.

For more information about the 66th Annual NAACP State Convention, visit www.naacpnc.org.