"No Sobra Y No Falta": Recruitment Networks And Guest Workers In Southeastern U. S. Forest Industries

Abstract

The southeastern United States has become the most important timber producing region in the country. Guest workers and migrant forest laborers from Mexico and Central America have played an important role in the transformation of the south- ern landscape from one dominated by agricultural production to intensively managed plantation pine forests. This article exam- ines the recruitment and employment of guest workers for forest management work, specifically focusing on the H-2B program, a Department of Labor sponsored initiative to bring in temporary, foreign workers for tree planting and herbicide application. Based on semi-structured interviews with 58 H-2B guest workers and 15 labor contractors, the article analyzes the linkages between the recruitment of temporary workers and the organization of labor in the forest products industry in Alabama and the southeastern U.S. This study illuminates the government's role in facilitating guest