Eli Zivkovich

 

Eli Zivkovich is the real life labor union organizer that in part inspired Reuban Warshowsky in the 1979 film Norma Rae. Information on Zivkovich's early life is difficult to come by, however his career as a labor organizer is easier to track down. Zivkovich got his start in labor organization in West Virginia. Zivkovich was a 55 year old West Virginian coal miner who was once an organizer for the United Mine Workers (UMW) union, and prior to his arrival in North Carolina had no experience within textile mills or factories. Interestingly, Zivkovich was fired from from his organizing role in the UMW from the fallout of the union's 1969 election. He was the supporter of Tony Boyle, the current UMW president, and Boyle played a role in orchestrating the murder of his presidential rival Yablosnki and his family. Despite Zivkovich having no participation in the murders, his connection to Boyle lead to the UMW firing him in 1974. This left Zivkovich unemployed with two school age children, and Zivkovich searched for further work within the labor organization movement sweeping the South East which lead him to settle in North Carolina.

Zivkovich found work with the Textile Workers Union of America in 1973 and started in Greenville, NC, passing out leaflets for the organization. He relocated to Roanoke Rapids shortly after to work on the Steven's mill TWUA campaign, where mill workers harbored preexisting union sentiments which inspired Zivkovich to increase his leaflet campaigns and house calls for organization.  The vast majority of his initial following were the African American mill workers, who made up one third of Steven's mill employees. It was at a union meeting in Roanoke Rapids regarding the Steven's plants that Zivkovich first met Crystal Lee Sutton, the woman for whom Norma Rae is based. Sutton attended the May 13th meeting at the Chockoyotte Baptist church wherein she heard Zivkovich's speech, and decided to join the TWUA. 

Zivkovich and Sutton formed a quick friendship and mentorship that led to greater success in unionizing the Steven's plants and mills. In one example, the mill issued a notice that the TWUA was a front for the Black Power movement, given that the vast majority of union members in the early days were African American laborers. Supervisors were said to have been watching the bulletin board on which the letter was placed to fire suspected union members, and Sutton made it her goal to either copy or steal the letter for Zivkovich. 

This is the link to download a dissertation titled "THE MANY NORMA RAES: WORKING-CLASS WOMEN IN THE 1970s CAMPAIGN TO ORGANIZE J.P. STEVENS" that was used as a reference in this blog post: The Sweat Stains of Sally Field | Norma Rae (1979)www.brightwalldarkroom.com › 2020/10/05 › sally-fie...

Here is an hour long interview with Zivkovich from Youtube