A small company in North Carolina and its former unionized employees (mostly black) faces disaster. Kristin Collins of the Raleigh News and Observer reports:The union workers at Moncure Plywood had no idea when they walked off the job in July that they would be on the picket line through the tropical storms of fall, the chill of winter -- and the near-collapse of the U.S. economy.There were already rumblings of distress in the economy last summer. Might have been a time for people to tighten their belts rather than demand more.Now, after seven months of picketing beside a rural road in Chatham County, they find themselves at the center of a rare and protracted labor dispute, fighting for shorter work weeks, lower health-care costs and other workplace rights in the worst of economic conditions.High labor costs and restrictive work rules have killed the American Auto industry. It can do the same in plywood.Laid-off workers from other factories flocked to take their...(Read Full Post)