The Maya of Morganton

the long version

"The arrival of several hundred Guatemalan-born workers in a Morganton, North Carolina, poultry plant sets the stage for this dramatic story of human struggle in an age of globalization. Virtually overnight, a once quiet industrial center nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains finds itself the new home to one of the hemisphere's oldest cultures - and to a protracted struggle for social justice.". "When workers' concerns about safety and fairness spark a strike during the early 1990s and, ultimately, a unionizing campaign at Case Farms, the resulting decade-long stand-off pits a classically recalcitrant New South employer - in a state with a burgeoning immigrant population and the nation's lowest rate of unionization - against an unlikely coalition of antagonists. Mayan refugees from war-torn Guatemala, Mexican workers, and a diverse group of local allies join forces with the Laborers union, an organization determined to shake off an unsavory reputation. The ensuing clash becomes a testing ground for "new labor" workplace and legal strategies." "A story set at the intersection of globalization and community, two words not often linked, The Maya of Morganton addresses fundamental questions about the changing face of labor in the United States."--BOOK JACKET.