My presentation will offer a synthesis of a few works that I have written on the Nashville-labor revitalization-immigrant worker nexus, examining a range of models of labor organization--rather than only one type of labor organization--for addressing the range of employment and related issues facing the diverse group of immigrants and refugees in Nashville. This paper would not only describe the scene in Nashville, but also serve as a case in point for examining the prospects for immigrant labor organizing in the "globalizing U.S. interior."

Dr. Smith-Nonini will talk about her research on the working conditions of farmworkers recruited by the North Carolina Grower's Association -- the largest H2A guestworker program in the nation -- and new efforts by organized farmworkers to reform aspects of the program, thanks to recent successes of FLOC -- a farmworker union that signed a contract with the NCGA in 2004.