Ethical Issues In North Country Lois Jinson

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After watching the film North Country (Caro, 2005), my own awareness of the Human Resource professional in the area of employee and labor relations has been broaden. I watched the history making events that impacted the lives women and could not help to think of what the workforce would be like if those women had not gone through the horrible things that they did. Would women continually be abused as openly today as before? “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin” (EEOC, n.d.). Therefore the law was violated. Did Lois Jenson’s (the real woman behind the character Josey) dissatisfaction of the behavior and negative treatment of women catapult change…show more content…
While she stayed with family, she knew that she needed to make good money to move out on her own. In 1975, Jenson, along with other women began their mining careers, not to make history but to earn a descent living wage. Unbeknownst to them at the time, they would encounter abuse like never before and become the change that the illegal workforce needed. From the beginning, abuse from male co-workers would come to include verbal, offensive materials, unwelcome physical contact, and threats of rape. A class action suit was eventually filed and won because the civil rights of women were violated. NWHM (n.d.) wrote, “The women did not profit greatly from the class action suit, but society as a whole has benefited immeasurably because they did not surrender their beliefs”. Warren (2012) mentions that, “God gives us our time on earth to build and strengthen our character for heaven” (p. 222). Jenson and the other women from the mill definitely stood the test and trials that strengthened them and brought about change for others. Warren (2012) suggests that people should move in his or her weakness, doing what is right in spite of fears (p. 224). Lois Jenson (Josey) did that by standing up for others and her own…show more content…
The film showed some of the least likely people making a choice to show support for what proved to be morally correct. In one moment, the words of Attorney Bill White spoke to the spirit being of the people in the courtroom saying, “What are you suppose to do when the ones with all the power are hurting those with none? Well for starters, you stand up and tell the truth. Stand up for your friends. You stand up even when you're alone" (North Country, 2005). Of course, the real-life situation did not happen as quickly as the film, but because Jenson (Josey) saw life better than the situation she began with, and lives changed forever. The mining corporation had to pay for the horrible decisions their HR professionals and Employee/Labor relations

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