Annotated Bibliography

The following sources were used in research for this project, and they may be useful to anyone else who is interested in the topic:

• Bobo, Kim, and Marien Casillas Pabellon. The Worker Center Handbook. Cornell University Press, 3 Aug. 2016.
  Worker centers are a common organizing form for immigrants in industries with a weak union presence. This book covers everything from beginning technicalities to long-term strategy when forming a worker center. It includes several highly relevant chapters, such as “Organizing around Health and Safety Issues” and “Working with Faith Communities.”
• Champlin, Dell, and Eric Hake. “Immigration as Industrial Strategy in American Meatpacking.” Review of Political Economy, vol. 18, no. 1, Jan. 2006, pp. 49–70, https://doi.org/10.1080/09538250500354140.
  This article uses changes in immigration policy, migration patterns, and the structure of the meatpacking industry to argue that a supply of undocumented immigrants is used by companies to decrease worker bargaining power and maintain low wages. Although it is not a study of the dairy industry, meatpacking shares many characteristics and is far better studied. This paper could help understand the difficult position of Mayan workers in West Texas dairies.
• Fink, Leon. The Maya of Morganton. UNC Press Books, 11 Oct. 2024.
  Fink’s book tells the story of the union campaign of Guatemalan and Mexican workers at a poultry plant in Morganton, NC. It is based on oral histories and, in this edition, includes a twenty-year follow-up. One highly relevant element is the analysis of how modes of protest developed in Guatemala helped these immigrants once in the US.
• Gabriel, Jackie. “Si, Se Puede: Organizing Latino Immigrant Workers in South Omaha’s Meatpacking Industry.” Journal of Labor Research, vol. 29, no. 1, 21 Aug. 2007, pp. 68–87, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12122-007-9025-y. Accessed 17 Aug. 2018.
  This is a case study of a collaborative union campaign for 4,000 immigrant Latino meat packing workers in Omaha, NE by the UFCW and Omaha Together, One Community. It argues against the view of Latino immigrant workers as “unorganizeable” and shows that these groups have ways of organizing already. Particularly useful are the sections on how soccer teams and struggles with poor INS services were used as bases for launching the campaign.
• Konefal, Betsy. For Every Indio Who Falls: A History of Maya Activism in Guatemala, 1960-1990. Albuquerque, University Of New Mexico Press, 2010.
  This book provides a detailed history of the development of Maya activism during the Guatemalan Civil War. This could help identify the starting point for how modes of protest and organizing found among Indigenous people in Guatemala have come into the US as part of immigration.
• Lindahl, Cecilia, et al. “Occupational Health and Safety Aspects of Animal Handling in Dairy Production.” Journal of Agromedicine, vol. 18, no. 3, 2013, pp. 274–83, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23844794, https://doi.org/10.1080/1059924X.2013.796906.
  This study discusses the injuries and fatalities that can result from handling cows in the dairy industry, what situations they arise in, and what can be done to avoid them. Although it has a narrow focus, this will be helpful to put together a picture of working conditions in the dairy industry (along with the oral history interview).
• Reed, Thomas F, and Karen Brandow. The Sky Never Changes: Testimonies from the Guatemalan Labor Movement. Cornell University Press, 1996.
  This book is a collection of oral histories by Guatemalans about their experiences in the country’s labor movement. It may help us to get a sense of the previous exposure of Mayan immigrants to labor organizing before arriving in the US.
• Sittig, Ann L, and Martha Florinda González. The Mayans among Us : Migrant Women and Meatpacking on the Great Plains. Lincoln, University Of Nebraska Press, 2016.
  This book is based on conversations with Mayan women working at meatpacking plants in Nebraska. It focuses on how they negotiate their various identities and experiences. This could be useful to understand the experiences of some workers in West Texas dairies.